joytimes10
New Member
ics:Hi Ladies,I’m checking in with a quick transitioning update.
I have been planning since June to indulge in some direct heat and flat iron my hair for a family function.
I haven’t used direct heat since I started transitioning in April 2009 so I was anxious to see if I had made any progress in length and/or thickness. I also hadn’t been to my stylist since my last relaxer because I decided to transition.
Here is where I started from on my HHJ
Thin, see-thru ends and dry as the Sahara, relaxed hair – 12-24-08 – Here I was 6 months post relaxer
I tried to transition but I couldn’t counter the damage that had already been done.
At 8 months post, wash day was hell and I was losing a lot of hair
So, 4/14/09, I texlaxed and trimmed back to this:
The moment my stylist was done, I wished I hadn’t done it. Anyway, that very day, I vowed never to relaxed my hair again and began the transitioning journey with a lot more knowledge about how to care for my hair.
Braidouts, buns, and cowashing became essential.
In October 09’ I was a little past neck length with lots of new growth:
:update:Here is my latest length check!!!! 09/24/10 :woohoo:
I’m back to a full, healthy APL and I only have about 2 ½ inches of relaxed ends left. I’ve been snipping away at it little by little.
Front View:
Rear View:
My Reggie:
- Shampoo maybe 1x/ month with Giovanni moisturizing poo
- Clarify once every 3 months w/ VO5 Clarifying poo
- Cowash each weekend w/ Tresemmee Naturals Moisturizing condish
- Rinse out partially and dry to 80% in a bun. Continue with braidout or take down bun, apply Giovanni direct leave in, seal with coconut oil and re-bun until the following weekend.
- If I do a braidout, I use the same combination of products above and I re-braid each night w/out detangling.
- After wash day, I do not comb again until the next wash day. During the summer months, I may cowash mid-week if temps are in the triple digits. Wet hair keeps me cool in the heat. During the winter, I never go out with wet hair.
- I recently (August 10) started adding wheatgerm oil to my DC for the ceramides benefits everyone is raving about. I have seen an improvement in my hair’s ability to retain moisture between wash days.
- I henna (Karishma brand) 1X/month. This month I added wheatgerm oil to my plain water and henna mix. It was definitely a better result than usual. I rinse out the henna after a minimum of 3 hours and follow-up with a DC. I try to Henna on a week that I would regularly DC.
- I DC bi-weekly w/ Kenra MC on dry hair w/ heat for 1 hour under a hooded dryer, or I will sleep in the condish overnight, no heat.
- Before my most recent flat iron, I DC’ed every week overnight for 4 weeks and henna’d 2X in September. I needed to make sure my protein/moisture balance was near perfect to avoid a heat damage set back.
I don’t plan to straighten again until Christmas and I will not cut off all the relaxed ends until I reach past BSL.
:thatsall: Thanks for reading my ramble….
