Hello everyone! I just joined the forum after viewing it for a couple of days. I have to admit, I was a little reluctant to join due to the dangers of posting personal information online. I decided not to post too much information for safety reasons
Well enough about that. Let me tell you a little about myself. I am a graduate study studying to be a child psychologist. I have two more years left (huray!!!!!) For years I would burn each time I got a relaxer (scabs, puss, etc.). In fact, many times the hairdresser would be in the middle of applying my relaxer and my hair would star to burn. Several beuticians would resort in washing out the part that was burning and continuing to apply relaxer on the rest of my hair. Over time I had associated getting a relaxer with burns and scabs. It seemed as though the two were inevitable for me. All of this torture lead me to consider going natural. My hair has always been shoulder length but I just could not stand getting a relaxer. I would even try and prolong my relaxers (every 9 weeks verses 6) as much as possible, even after being told over and over again by stylists that this was not good for my hair.
After switching from stylist to stylist with every relaxer application, two months ago I finally was led to a beutician who sympathized with me in terms of my past experiences and frustrations. I told her that I had been searching for a good hairdressher for years and honestly had not found one. I also told her about my burning issue. She told me that the burning was due to bad application. She instructed me to trust her. I quickly told her that I will be trusting God and said my usual prayer. In applying the relaxer first she based my scalp with a cool tea tree solution. Then she applied the entire relaxer without touching my scalp. Next, she went through and combed the relaxer through (concentrating on the new growth only)touching my scalp for a short period of time). When it came time to wash the relaxer out I couldn't help but to say thank you Lord out loud
. I them went on to thank her for her care (it took a lot longer since she did not just slop it on my hair) and told her that I thank God for her. She appreciated the compliment. For the first time ever I left the salon without burning and no puss. I let her know that I would definitely be a regular cutomer and would be passing her name onto others.
Since that time I came across Motowngirl's (motowngirl.com) website and also checked out curvessalon.com. Both of these websites made me consider going natural in order to achieve length. Most people (black) consider my hair to be long but I don't. I want to grow it to 17 inches. and figured that I could not due this as long as I had a relaxer. Then I came across the Long Hair Care Forum. After reading up on hair products and viewing before and after photos I came to the conclusion that I can have long hair with a relaxer. Tracy and Caramela's hair photos were really encouraraging. The three of you have beutiful hair that looks extrememly healthy. So now after preparing a list of hair products I plan on going to Sally's this afternoon to make some investments
. I went ahead and did a preshampoo treatment with a little olive oil and some Organics olive and clove oil therapy oil last night. I also sprayed some water and Wonder 8 shea butter moisterizing mist on my hair before tying it up for bed.
It's been 10 weeks since I had my last relaxer (I use Affirm) and my ends are extremely dry. They look like they are split but when I look at them closely I find that they are not. I have seen the word "see through ends" on several websites and that is exactly how my hair looks. I don't know if it's because it's been so long since I've had a relaxer or damaged ends. Is there any way that you can grow long hair without see through ends? Can you restore them to health simply by caring for them and conditioning them intensly (versus taking a big Chop)? Also, I noticed that a lot of you all wait 10 to 12 weeks before getting a relaxer. Is this good? Even with my new fabulous beutician, I would love to wait as long as possible before getting a relaxer. Please give me some feed back. P.S. God is so good. He truly answers prayer-sometimes before you even relealize your prayers have been answered. It just dawned on me that I had been asking Him to grow my hair and in the last couple of weeks I have aquired a wealth of information not to mention encouragement through various websites (this site especially). God truly is faithful!!!!! Thanks in advance. -Praise Him
Well enough about that. Let me tell you a little about myself. I am a graduate study studying to be a child psychologist. I have two more years left (huray!!!!!) For years I would burn each time I got a relaxer (scabs, puss, etc.). In fact, many times the hairdresser would be in the middle of applying my relaxer and my hair would star to burn. Several beuticians would resort in washing out the part that was burning and continuing to apply relaxer on the rest of my hair. Over time I had associated getting a relaxer with burns and scabs. It seemed as though the two were inevitable for me. All of this torture lead me to consider going natural. My hair has always been shoulder length but I just could not stand getting a relaxer. I would even try and prolong my relaxers (every 9 weeks verses 6) as much as possible, even after being told over and over again by stylists that this was not good for my hair. After switching from stylist to stylist with every relaxer application, two months ago I finally was led to a beutician who sympathized with me in terms of my past experiences and frustrations. I told her that I had been searching for a good hairdressher for years and honestly had not found one. I also told her about my burning issue. She told me that the burning was due to bad application. She instructed me to trust her. I quickly told her that I will be trusting God and said my usual prayer
. In applying the relaxer first she based my scalp with a cool tea tree solution. Then she applied the entire relaxer without touching my scalp. Next, she went through and combed the relaxer through (concentrating on the new growth only)touching my scalp for a short period of time). When it came time to wash the relaxer out I couldn't help but to say thank you Lord out loud. I them went on to thank her for her care (it took a lot longer since she did not just slop it on my hair) and told her that I thank God for her. She appreciated the compliment. For the first time ever I left the salon without burning and no puss. I let her know that I would definitely be a regular cutomer and would be passing her name onto others. Since that time I came across Motowngirl's (motowngirl.com) website and also checked out curvessalon.com. Both of these websites made me consider going natural in order to achieve length. Most people (black) consider my hair to be long but I don't. I want to grow it to 17 inches. and figured that I could not due this as long as I had a relaxer. Then I came across the Long Hair Care Forum. After reading up on hair products and viewing before and after photos I came to the conclusion that I can have long hair with a relaxer. Tracy and Caramela's hair photos were really encouraraging. The three of you have beutiful hair that looks extrememly healthy. So now after preparing a list of hair products I plan on going to Sally's this afternoon to make some investments
It's been 10 weeks since I had my last relaxer (I use Affirm) and my ends are extremely dry. They look like they are split but when I look at them closely I find that they are not. I have seen the word "see through ends" on several websites and that is exactly how my hair looks. I don't know if it's because it's been so long since I've had a relaxer or damaged ends. Is there any way that you can grow long hair without see through ends? Can you restore them to health simply by caring for them and conditioning them intensly (versus taking a big Chop)? Also, I noticed that a lot of you all wait 10 to 12 weeks before getting a relaxer. Is this good? Even with my new fabulous beutician, I would love to wait as long as possible before getting a relaxer. Please give me some feed back. P.S. God is so good. He truly answers prayer-sometimes before you even relealize your prayers have been answered. It just dawned on me that I had been asking Him to grow my hair and in the last couple of weeks I have aquired a wealth of information not to mention encouragement through various websites (this site especially). God truly is faithful!!!!! Thanks in advance. -Praise Him
