I just completed a 33 week stretch......

Omggg. Your hair looks so fabb! This inspires me to continue my long stretch. Thank you for posting! The thickness is amazing! I hope my results are like yours.
 
congratulations on your stretch!!! you did a great job & your hair is really showing it. 33 weeks -- you are hardcore. :grin::grin::grin: threads like this remind me of the first time i ever heard of stretching relaxers, back in the 90's. there was a hair stylist at the mall who only relaxed her hair 2-3 times a year. she had the thickest longest midback hair, i'd ever seen at the time (at least on a real person that i knew:) stretching really works & you're a great example of it.
 
Your hair looks VERY nice. I may have to rethink my relaxing every 5 weeks.

I am two weeks post now and I am already getting nervous. :look:
 
Hi ladies-This is kind of long sorry!!!

I just wanted to share my experience and progress with everyone.....

I hope you don't mind.

I joined the board in Dec 08, however, I did not really become active until Feb 09. In Feb, I came across Sylver2, and looking at her youtube vids and her fotki, I decided I'd stretch my relaxer. My initial thought was to stretch for, 17 or 19 weeks. Once I hit that mark I said, ok I'll go 6 months, I hit the 6 month mark and decided, why not do 9 months.

Several times during my stretch I'd feel like I was shedding too much and that I was actually damaging my hair. Every time I'd feel that way I'd go see my stylist and have to do an inspection. Each time, it was just paranoia from my new hair practices. I'd never cowashed prior to this, never done braid out or twist outs. I was used to combing my hair everyday, but when you are doing braid outs and twist outs not combing your hair as often, when you do finally comb of course ALOT of hair will come out....It took a while for that to sink in!

We'll I didn't quite make it to 9 months, I made it to 8 months, 33 weeks post to be exact, but I'm still very pround of myself none the less.

Prior to this I was relaxing every 9-10 weeks. I was not retaining much length at all, but my hair was fairly healthy.

I was so excited about relaxing I bought the relaxer Friday and almost put it in myself, and no I am NOT a self relaxer...LOL...Thank goodness my BFF talked me out of that quickly!

So my niece came over yesterday, she sectioned my hair into four sections and started the relaxer in the back. As she began working on the second section in the back she said, umm Aunt Angela, we have to send Uncle Dean (DH) to Sally's, you are going to need another relaxer. Thank goodness I didn't try this on Friday night is all I could say, because I was the only adult at home and would have been stuck with half of my hair relaxed, lol....In the end we used 1 and ½, my hair was literally soaking it up.

She also told me that some shops would have charged me the price of a virgin relaxer because of all my NG.

I normally use Affirm but this go round I decided to try the Silk Elements MegaSilk Olive Oil Relaxing system....I'm very pleased, I didn't burn, it did not have the relaxer smell, over all it was a GGGGREAT process!




Here are my back shots showing a comparison from Feb 09 and last night Aug 09:



I want to thank a few members by name:
Sylver2 (for all the tutorial and vids), mummysgirl (all the help with my twist outs and braid outs), Aggie, Tiffers and FlowingLocs (all three of you were a wealth of information for me when it came to cowashing and ayurveda), dlewis (all the flexi rod help)

To all the ladies in the long term stretchers challenge, it was soooooo worth it to me, keep up the good work! I've decided I'm going to stretch 6 months (24 weeks) between each relaxer from now on and I have this board to thank!

Congrats...I feel you when u were saying the shedding had you paranoid....Thats exactly how I felt....But isnt amazing when you finally relax and you see the thickness you gain...It makes it so much worth it

Your progress was great !!!!
 
I loved reading your post! Look at that thick head of hair?!!!! :love: Stretching is one of the best techniques I've ever done for my hair. Thanks for sharing.
 
Congradulations, you are such an inspiration :) 'm working on stretching 6 months now and just hit 16weeks. To make is 8 months is definitely something to be proud of!
 
I've been rocking a ponytail since my relaxer on Sat, I oiled before going to bed and pretty much kept it in the ponytail all day yesterday. Today I curled it to give it some life and I had to comeback here and say, I am totally IN LOVE with my hair....The high here is 100 today, so I'll be putting it back into a ponytail, but I'm even loving the way my ponytail looks. My daughter wants to keep touching my hair, DH can't stop complimenting me....I'm just sooo happy! Thank you ladies of LHCF!!!!
 
Enjoy!!!! More to come after your 24 week stretch :grin:
I've been rocking a ponytail since my relaxer on Sat, I oiled before going to bed and pretty much kept it in the ponytail all day yesterday. Today I curled it to give it some life and I had to comeback here and say, I am totally IN LOVE with my hair....The high here is 100 today, so I'll be putting it back into a ponytail, but I'm even loving the way my ponytail looks. My daughter wants to keep touching my hair, DH can't stop complimenting me....I'm just sooo happy! Thank you ladies of LHCF!!!!
 
I'm curious, is the second pic relaxed or this is before you relaxed? Your hair is really thick, I'm lovin it! The pics are not aligned so it does not look like it grew really long but thicker. BTW is the first pic after a wash n set cause mine depending on who washes it looks really thick and full.

Anyway, I would like to know what products you used while stretching? When I got mine relaxed I could have waited longer because the comb was going through about 4 months because I colored the front. Something did not go right in the relaxing process now I am paying for it. My hair was so good before I got this touch up. The beautcian said how beautiful my hair was due to it being thick with both relaxer and color, right up until I got the touch up.
 
I'm curious, is the second pic relaxed or this is before you relaxed? Your hair is really thick, I'm lovin it! The pics are not aligned so it does not look like it grew really long but thicker. BTW is the first pic after a wash n set cause mine depending on who washes it looks really thick and full.

Anyway, I would like to know what products you used while stretching? When I got mine relaxed I could have waited longer because the comb was going through about 4 months because I colored the front. Something did not go right in the relaxing process now I am paying for it. My hair was so good before I got this touch up. The beautcian said how beautiful my hair was due to it being thick with both relaxer and color, right up until I got the touch up.

Thank you...the second pic is right after I relaxed, I'd just finished blowdrying and pretty much the only thing on my hair at the time was the heat protectant I added before blowdrying. The first pic is about a week or so after a rollerset.

While stretching I used Aussie Moist for my cowashes, for leave ins I used Paul Mitchell 'The Conditioner' or my Glycerin/AVJ/Water spritz mixture. I am also an ayurveda user, I use the Brahmi, Maka, and Amla Powders, as well as the shikakai bar. I Oil using a mixture of the oils thats the same as the powders listed as well as the shikakai oil, vatika coconut oil and 100%AVJ. That's about it...HTH.
 
ooh WOW!!!Wonderful progress. im so glad my album and videos were useful to you:) thk u! and your hair is looking great! sooo healthy.
 
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