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

[Solitude]

Pink Pearls

Your hair looks great!

 

[Pink Pearls]

Pink Pearls

Your hair looks great!

Thanks Solitude! Your hair looks great as well.


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[janeemat]

Before you began your HHJ, what did your hair look like? It was long and thick, until I started going to the salon. Later, it became dry and my ends were always split.

What do you think contributed to your thick hair? I’ve always had thick hair, but it’s gotten thicker and longer due to: deep conditioning, air drying, stretching, keeping it moisturized and being my own stylist.

Any other tips/tricks/techniques you can think of? I tried henna a few times, but my hair became too thick. Also, products with Panthenol as one of the top ingredients makes my hair appear thicker...I avoid these. I also eat a lot of salmon, fruit & veggies, exercise, vitamins and drink lots of water.

Your hair is beautiufl!

 

[Pink Pearls]

Your hair is beautiufl!

Thanks Janeemat! Your hair is also beautiful.


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[sunnieb]

Bump!

Gorgeous and THICK relaxed hair ladies!

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[HauteHippie]

Pink Pearls

I am majorly drooling over your hair! It's so lush and shiny!

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[sunnieb]

Bump bump bump

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[Britt]

@Pink Pearls your hair is beautiful !!! How often do you relax?

 

[Pink Pearls]

Thank you! I relax 2 - 3 times a year. I'm currently 5 months post and will probably relax next month.

@Pink Pearls your hair is beautiful !!! How often do you relax?

 

[SmileyNY]

Pink Pearls Your hair is gorgeous! I love the way your curls fell. I've been thinking about cutting down on my relaxers. Currently I relax 4 times a year. I'm thinking about cutting down to 2 or 3.

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[outspokenwallflower]

divachyk & Spin how are you ladies liking Design Essentials? Do you use a lye or no-lye version? I recently purchased a Design Essentials Sensitive Scalp w/ olive oil & shea butter relaxer (no-lye).

If either of you (or anyone else in this thread!) has used DE Sensitive Scalp no-lye, has it gotten your hair bone straight? If you haven't tried Sensitive Scalp, for those that use Design Essentials relaxers, what were the results of the one that you used? How straight did it get your new growth?

 

[divachyk]

@divachyk & @Spin how are you ladies liking Design Essentials? Do you use a lye or no-lye version? I recently purchased a Design Essentials Sensitive Scalp w/ olive oil & shea butter relaxer (no-lye).

If either of you (or anyone else in this thread!) has used DE Sensitive Scalp no-lye, has it gotten your hair bone straight? If you haven't tried Sensitive Scalp, for those that use Design Essentials relaxers, what were the results of the one that you used? How straight did it get your new growth?

outspokenwallflower - I really like Design Essentials but I've only used regular and low-lye sensitive scalp. I like how regular processes my hair bone straight but it not easy on my scalp. The sensitive scalp low lye gets my hair straight but not bone straight but it is easy on my scalp. I'm content with either. I just ensure my scalp is based really good before getting regular.

 

[Spin]

divachyk & Spin how are you ladies liking Design Essentials? Do you use a lye or no-lye version? I recently purchased a Design Essentials Sensitive Scalp w/ olive oil & shea butter relaxer (no-lye).

If either of you (or anyone else in this thread!) has used DE Sensitive Scalp no-lye, has it gotten your hair bone straight? If you haven't tried Sensitive Scalp, for those that use Design Essentials relaxers, what were the results of the one that you used? How straight did it get your new growth?

I like it so far. I use the sensitive scalp version. However, I don't know if it is low lye or no lye. I haven't experienced much breakage and I still have body after a fresh perm.

 

[lana]

I use Mizani Lye...I'm texlaxed...late entering this thread.

But my secret to thick hair is 1) Texlax don't relax - leave the relaxer on for 5 minutes, no smoothing
2) Mane & Tail Conditioner - it works, I went from ear length to BSL and I blame LHCF and Mane & Tail

 

[sunnieb]

@divachyk & @Spin how are you ladies liking Design Essentials? Do you use a lye or no-lye version? I recently purchased a Design Essentials Sensitive Scalp w/ olive oil & shea butter relaxer (no-lye).

If either of you (or anyone else in this thread!) has used DE Sensitive Scalp no-lye, has it gotten your hair bone straight? If you haven't tried Sensitive Scalp, for those that use Design Essentials relaxers, what were the results of the one that you used? How straight did it get your new growth?

outspokenwallflower - I self-relax with Design Essentials Sensitive scalp every 14 weeks and it gets me bone straight every time.

I have a self-relaxing album in my fotki with pics.

 

[outspokenwallflower]

sunnieb your results were absolutely gorgeous! Thank you for the response

 

[sunnieb]

Bump bump bump

 

[sunnieb]

Any more?

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[sunnieb]

Bumping....

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[sunnieb]

Bumping

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[sunnieb]

I'm 13 weeks post so I airdried my hair in 4 braids to stretch my newgrowth. I didn't intend to go to sleep with the braids in because I don't like braidouts. However, I fell asleep and ended up with some pretty thick relaxed hair!

 

[Evolving78]

thanks for bumping this! i am so going to try for a 10-12 week relaxer stretch.

 

[sunnieb]

bump.......

 

[Loving]

Bumping, bumping, bumping

 

[HairPleezeGrow]

I'm not relaxed but you ladies have some beautiful hair

 

[sunnieb]

More pics please!!!

 

[sunnieb]

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[sunnieb]

Bump

I need a little inspiration today!

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[crlsweetie912]

This is a little time line that I did in 2009 I'm so ashamed of my hair when I first started...too much heat, dc'ing not often enough and NO moisture.....My hair was so ugly!!! And it was also color treated......

Stretching relaxers, little to no heat, and not wearing my hair "straight" have helped me TREMENDOUSLY!!! Whenever I wear my hair "out" I wear it curly so it looks shorter than it really is, but it's not rubbing on my clothes.....I had a setback in 2009 because I got addicted to wearing it out and went back to heat so I had to cut it back to shoulder length....(I was loving shocking people with the length of my hair)

End of 2009 wearing it out ALLL the time!

Had to cut it back....but I still had lots of thickness, so I was happy with it.....and I went HARD back on my Protective styling.....I almost always wear buns, ponies, or phony ponies.....

(I can't even find of 2010 pic of my hair out...it was that short)
But it was still thick.....

my hair now, 2012.....still PS'ing, DC EVERY week....If I wear my hair out (curly) I MUST PS for at least two weeks after to baby it......And I relax about ever 12 weeks at the least....My hair has always been thick, I just killed it and couldn't retain length cause I was killing it with too much heat and not enough care. Oh one more thing...I NEVER put heat on it twice in one styling session.....if I curl, I don't blowdry it too (air dry only) if that makes sense.....if I rollerset, I don't worry about flatironing my roots....I want to be like yall ladies when I grow up.....LOL!!!

 

[Britt]

I think what REALLY helped me when I was relaxed was STRETCHING my relaxers, and NOT overlapping.

I used to stretch and try to go at least 12 weeks post every touchup. 10 weeks post the minimum. When I did that, my hair started thickening up. When I REALLY saw improvement it was when I not only stretched my relaxers, but also started using a MILD relaxer instead of a regular strength. That did WONDERS for my hair. My hair thrived and grew to be the longest it had ever been.


I used to beat myself up badly for having "fine" textured hair when I was relaxed. Now that I'm natural, my hair is still "fine" textured I guess, but it's sooo much thicker than when I had the relaxer in my hair. I had to realize that sometimes there aren't any real "secrets" to "thick relaxed hair". Sometimes, a person just has naturally THICK hair and so when they relax their hair, they're hair has the tendency to remain thick!

My hair on the other hand was just simply fine-textured. It wasn't damaged, or anything...just fine and low density. There weren't any real secrets. I got tired of trying to search for the "magic formula" to thick relaxed hair and just ended up transitioning to go natural. That was when I realized that perhaps relaxing for as long as I did (17+ years) was NOT beneficial for my hair in the long run, and that no matter what state my hair was in, it was going to be "fine"-textured. My hair is just simply thicker now. It's still fine, it's just thicker w/out the chemical.

I agree with this, some people just have fine hair ... period. It's fine when it's relaxed and fine when it's natural. I too have been searching for a magical formula to thicken my relaxed hair but I think it's time I accept it is what it is I do know that relaxing as frequently as I've been doing (every 8-10 wks) for the past few years def contributed to my hair thinning some. So I've gone back to relaxing no sooner than 16 wks. If I keep relaxing I'd like to continue doing so with a touch up every 16-20 wks if I can push it. I also found a hair dresser that does not over lap, so I think i'll stick with her for relaxers going forward.