Relaxed Ladies with Thick Hair - What's your Secret???

[GoodMernin]

I am a brand new relaxer after being natural for nearly 11-12 yrs. I'm currently 5 weeks post. I've always had very thick hair.

I use Linange and still have texture after washing.

I used heat the day after relaxing and haven't bothered to use it since then because it is usually in a bun or high messy pony.

I seal and moisturize nightly and sometimes skip nights if I feel my hair is moisturized enough and just put cream on the ends.

I'm enjoying the "relaxer challenge" as I call it because I feel like I mastered natural and now I want to see if I can master relaxed hair since I have learned so many new things from you healthy hair ladies.

These are my very first pics.

 

[ATLcutey20]

For me the 2 mains thing were:

Stretching my relaxer to 12 wks (longer than that I get breakage)

Using oil (coconut, grapeseed, etc) to protect my relaxed hair from getting processed when applying relaxer to my new growth

 

[LovelyBwonderful]

I am a brand new relaxer after being natural for nearly 11-12 yrs. I'm currently 5 weeks post. I've always had very thick hair.

I use Linange and still have texture after washing.

I used heat the day after relaxing and haven't bothered to use it since then because it is usually in a bun or high messy pony.

I seal and moisturize nightly and sometimes skip nights if I feel my hair is moisturized enough and just put cream on the ends.

I'm enjoying the "relaxer challenge" as I call it because I feel like I mastered natural and now I want to see if I can master relaxed hair since I have learned so many new things from you healthy hair ladies.

These are my very first pics.

Hi there! would you like to be my relaxed hair buddy? lol no but I am almost in the same situation as you as in I'm newly relaxed (hasn't even been a week yet lol) after being natural for years. I like you felt I had mastered my natural hair and wanted to try my hand w my hair relaxed. I'm planning on trying to roller set more than blow dry. Good luck! and Happy hair growing

 

[GoodMernin]

Hi there! would you like to be my relaxed hair buddy? lol no but I am almost in the same situation as you as in I'm newly relaxed (hasn't even been a week yet lol) after being natural for years. I like you felt I had mastered my natural hair and wanted to try my hand w my hair relaxed. I'm planning on trying to roller set more than blow dry. Good luck! and Happy hair growing

Sure!

Are you gonna show your roller set results?

I haven't tried that just yet cause I've been kinda lazy.

I'm surprised that I still have hair on my head with my lazy butt.

 

[Saludable84]

Relaxed ladies who don't have thin, limp, see-through hair - what's your secret???
I dont think I have a secret. I think I have just been hiding my hair while trying my best to take care of it and it has been working.
Prior to my journey, three things I did right were stretching every 10-12 weeks, dc-ing under steam and rollersetting.
After starting my journey:
- I realized while I love straight roots, I also love not seeing chipped hair in the sink
-Greatly reduced using cones as my hair chips when using em. I try to stay with water based ones as they are working well with sealing.
-Upped the usage of Keratin weekly or monthly as I like veggie proteins, but since I have medium to thick strands, keratin and collagen really only work best.
-Stopped using hard proteins and maintained with light ones regularly
-Now using Lye relaxer only and protecting them strands drastically when relaxing
-Using more natural products
-Learning sulphates give me better results than non-sulphates, but Im sticking with my non-sulphates.
-PS 100% (no time for fun)
-Seeing that silk protein is great for my low po hair
-Investing in a seamless comb
-Learning self-trimming
-Learning that hair-typing is wack and using products based on hair condition. All my products are for really dry or dry/damaged hair. Never just for damaged hair though. Big difference.

Before you began your HHJ, what did your hair look like?
Super thin and see through. Always APL never failed. Because my hair is thick, it would take longer to dry under a dryer and the roots needed extra blowing. Glad I made the blower a *side chick* that I call 1-2x a year now.

What do you think contributed to your thick hair?
Me, Myself and I and Google. Knowledge really is power

Any other tips/tricks/techniques you can think of?
Dont believe the hype.
Also invested in a good flat iron that I have yet to see breakage with.
Heat is not the enemy; your usage and your products are

My Thumbnail is my current length

 

[sharice]

-Using a mild relaxer/texlaxing as opposed to relaxing bone straight with a super strength relaxer
-accidently stretching relaxers by not remembering when the last relaxer was and being to lazy to have someone relax my hair
-regular use of deep conditioners whether i need them or not cause an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure
-also i was born with stupid thick hair.
-using heat sparingly cuz most of the time i aint trying to impress anyone anyway

 

[mochalocks]

I've always had thick hair (mom says I get it from my dad). Before finding LHCF my family had me convinced it was a curse. Stylist used to tell me how thick it was like it was a curse ( I even had a stylist use thinning shears to thin my hair when I was 17). I can't wait to get my hair super healthy so I can show off my thickness like the rest of you ladies. Great thread!

same here I've always had thick hair, and when I was younger the hairstylists used to make feel like my thick hair was bad. "ew, your hair is so thick".blah blah. I used to really think it was bad to have thick hair.

 

[sunnieb]

same here I've always had thick hair, and when I was younger the hairstylists used to make feel like my thick hair was bad. "ew, your hair is so thick".blah blah. I used to really think it was bad to have thick hair.

Yeah, I give my mom kudos for dealing with my hair back then. I had sooo much hair! The only time it was thin and wispy was when I overprocessed it within an inch of its life. And even then, I STILL had more hair than most.

Now I know so much better!

 

[EnExitStageLeft]

not to sound like an a-hole.. but genetics for me.. Thats the only reason I relax, because My natural hair is way toooo thick, I get it from my dad side.. because my mom hair is fine and curly, not thin though.

AGREED! My hair is been thick my entire life. Which I love, my only thing is that I wish I had thick strands. My strands are baby fine and tangle like a *BLEEP*. Its pretty annoying .

 

[TamaraShaniece]

I think I have medium density hair. The tips I learned to help thicken the hair or make it appear thicker is stretching relaxers for at least 12 weeks and air drying hair into styles.

 

[sunnieb]

Bump!

I'm getting a good layer of newgrowth, so I need some styling ideas.

 

[Saludable84]

Didn't know there was a thread for this!!!!
Thanks sunnieb

My hair is going in a big fat air dried bun. It's gone like hayle pulling it back tomorrow.

 

[Jewell]

AGREED! My hair is been thick my entire life. Which I love, my only thing is that I wish I had thick strands. My strands are baby fine and tangle like a *BLEEP*. Its pretty annoying .

^ Chica you took the words right outta my mouth!! Individual strands can be as fine as my infant son's hair, and he is type 3a/3b. But as for the entire head of hair, I have broken combs off in this hair while natural and while relaxed. I tried the natural thing twice as an adult and it is too.much.work. I could only comb it when soaking wet, yadah yadah.

I like low maintenance hair. Had to do wayyy too much to my hair to feel put together when I was natural, and my face is not befitting of a wild, free, shrunken fro as much as I love them. And heat was a no-go due to reversion and the fact that I'm prone to splits from heat. So for the foreseeable future, I will mildly relax this hair and air-dry it like I have done for so many years.

For me, reducing the number of touch-ups per year led to even thicker relaxed hair than I already had...it was weave weft thick when I was touching up every 8-10 weeks, so when I began stretching 4-6 months regularly, I was really impressed with what stretching can do for the health of relaxed hair. I will never let anyone else relax my hair.

I remind myself constantly that I became a complete DIY'er for a reason. I'm growing out some "thinner than I'd like" ends cuz I was slightly over processed when I got a virgin relaxer in 06/2012. I was preg and sick so I let a stylist do it. Still regret it though it came out nice. She processed and smoothed me longer than I ever would do myself. On a slow mission to grow out about 6" of hair I will gradually trim off. I only use mild relaxers as it is because my hair is fine and takes very little time to straighten.

I'm stretching 12-16 weeks at a time to avoid overlapping and to reduce how much I apply chemicals to my hair and scalp in a given year. I'm all for being "responsible" with relaxer use (or any chemical straightening system applied to hair/skin like Liscio, BKT, Japanese Thermal, etc). I used to go 5-6 months between relaxers, then I noticed too much matting was going on, which can lead to breakage. 12-16 weeks is perfect for me.

 

[Beamodel]

Subscribing

 

[halfindian]

I think I have medium density hair. The tips I learned to help thicken the hair or make it appear thicker is stretching relaxers for at least 12 weeks and air drying hair into styles.

Ditto on air drying and stretching. More so air drying. Whenever I leave the salon my hair looks so thin and weak. However once I wash it at home and air dry it all the thickness reappears. My hair is naturally thin though. It only looked thick when natural because of the curls. When my natural hair was wet you could see how thin it really was.

I'd have to say air drying, finger combing/detangling, stretching relaxers and deep conditioning.

 

[halfindian]

Sorry here are my pics.

 

[sunnieb]

halfindian love your ponytail!

Sent from my SCH-I545 using LHCF

 

[Beamodel]

Sorry here are my pics.

halfindian

Your hair looks exactly like mines.

 

[fifigirl]

bumping this thread.....any relaxed heads have anything to add?

 

[KenyafromCT]

I'll start:

Before you began your HHJ, what did your hair look like? My hair broke off if I looked at it too hard! I had hair, but it was dry. When I'd go to the salon, my hair would get over-processed and slicked down. I looked like a wet seal.

What do you think contributed to your thick hair? Finding LHCF, stretching relaxers, giving up direct heat, airdrying, regular trims, firing my stylist and becoming a total DIYer.

Any other tips/tricks/techniques you can think of? Scarf method is the best! Also, I can't get lazy with my hair. I have to stay on top of my hair game at all times. My hair suffered last fall because of my laziness.

Finally, PICS! Come on ladies, show of those pics of your thick relaxed hair!! Doesn't matter if you're EL, WL, or anywhere in between.

Here ya go:

Banana Clip Ponytails

Braidout:

Buns:

Wowow!!!☺

Beautiful!!

 

[sunnieb]

@KenyafromCT Thank you!

Wow is right! I used to really have fun trying different styles with my hair. I need to get back to that. I tend to wear the same 2 styles now.

 

[KenyafromCT]

@KenyafromCT Thank you!

Wow is right! I used to really have fun trying different styles with my hair. I need to get back to that. I tend to wear the same 2 styles now.

I'm being so darn lazy and need to relax this rats nest of mine! I literally have an afro underneath my relaxed hair!! So much to tackle!!! I am working 3-11 and might just do it tonight! Enough is enough!

 

[sunnieb]

I'm being so darn lazy and need to relax this rats nest of mine! I literally have an afro underneath my relaxed hair!! So much to tackle!!! I am working 3-11 and might just do it tonight! Enough is enough!

Relax it! When it's no longer fun, it's time to relax - literally and figuratively.

 

[Daina]

Even though I am natural I enjoyed reading through this thread and loved the pics! Relaxed or natural seeing healthy hair is always inspiring. Nice job relaxed sistahs!

 

[sunnieb]

Bump.....

Great tips in here even though it's old.

 

[I Am So Blessed]

Bump.....

Great tips in here even though it's old.

The old posts seem to be the gems.

 

[PlanetCybertron]

Relaxed ladies who don't have thin, limp, see-through hair - what's your secret???

I don’t think I really have a secret, I also have hair that’s a bit odd since it’s extremely fine.

Before you began your HHJ, what did your hair look like?

Something like this:
via Imgflip Meme Generator

Or this:
via Imgflip Meme Generator

What do you think contributed to your thick hair?

I was never really convinced I had thick hair, although I do remember my mom snapping brushes and combs off in my hair as a child, and her complaining about how thick and fluffy it was.

I’m more than sure it’s just how my hair texture is, and even how African American hair texture is as well. While it is cotton textured it has an incredible ability to fluff up and look very thick.

Any other tips/tricks/techniques you can think of?

•Keep your hands out of your hair
•Decrease manipulation
•Trim rather sparingly, and at the right time
•Stay active, Stay healthy
•If you have very fine textured hair, so most if not all of your detangling in the shower

Finally, PICS! Come on ladies, show of those pics of your thick relaxed hair!! Doesn't matter if you're EL, WL, or anywhere in between.

This is usually what my hair looks like about 50-60% dry, still reasonably damp
via Imgflip Meme Generator

The thickness is still very much there from the roots to about mid back length, and as my hair goes dow further it does have tapering. Which I expect considering those are longest and oldest pieces of hair.

However when my hair is allowed to completely fluff up, after gently blow drying, or separating every last individual hair as they air dry, and my hair hasn’t been weighed down with product, it tends to look like this:
via Imgflip Meme Generator

So it’s rather thick. It’s easily weighed down however, so that look may last me a day, or two. As soon as I moisturize or add anything it will flatten out.

I’m prone to buildup almost every few days, and my hair is insanely fine so Most times I rarely see my hair fluff up to its maximum potential. But I’m okay with that.

It’s usually bunned up so I see no point in worrying about it.