It's a wonder I still have hair....

[Desarae]

I want long hair soooo bad,

Sometimes we are our hair's worst enemy and can't blame anyone else for our hair issues. It's like I know what i'm supposed to do, but I just don't stay dedicated to my hair at all times. I kinda got cocky because all of the knowledge i've learned, but I haven't been applying it to my own hair journey. (At ALL times)

When I first started my journey, I had overprocessed, fried, dried out relaxed hair. (Done by me) I wanted to start fresh, so I chopped it all off to less than a half inch. To so called "start new"That was less than 2 years ago. My 2 year anniversary will be Sept. 3 and I have singlehandedly almost brought my hair to the point of no return yet again. If it wasn't for me knowing a little about balancing protien and moisture this time around, I probably would have had to BC again by nowerplexed Here's what I have done to my hair to date. I'm so embarrassed, as a LHCF member I know better:

Natural Hair
5 or 6 Henna Treatments
ORS Lye Virgin—Whole Head
ORS Lye Corrective—Whole Head
Ors No Lye Corrective—Whole Head(Overprocessed)
Black Rinse
Clairol Natural Instincts Mignight Black—Whole Head
Bleach 20Vol Highlights in Front Portion of Hair covered with a cellophane
Demi Black Dye On Back Portion of Head
Softliss BKT on Entire Head—(Small amount of Heat Damage)
Softliss BKT 2nd Application
Bigen Oriental Black (As of yesterday)

--Plus touchups with Mizani BB Mild every 8 weeks in between and tried Linange Relaxer Once in between as well…

My hair looks okay...but looks can be decieving, it's holding on, but I want to reaffirm myself to good haircare and quit all the foolishness. My hair is a little past SL in the back and it's never been this long. My hair grows about 7-8 inches a year, Has a great texture and thickness, but I feel like I'm cheating myself out of a beautiful head of hair, because I keep doing too much of the wrong stuff and not enough of the right stuff.

I just want to keep it simple and do the right thing from now on. No color, (except black) no crazy treatments, stretching my relaxers more. Just TLC love and affection. If my hair decides to stay on my head while I continue to grow it out, That's great, but i understand if it decides to break off and go south.

I wish I wasn't so dang hardheaded!

 

[Irresistible]

Yeah come on over to the lazy side, things are so simple over here

you can do it

sounds like your pretty sick and tired of doing all that, slowing down with things will be a breeze and yes your hair will thank you for it

 

[RoundEyedGirl504]

I feel you, I did pretty much everything you listed myself!erplexed I have cut out so much from my routine and my hair is loving it! I put my hair in braids for about a month just to keep my hands out of it!

 

[Desarae]

I'm telling yall, i'm through! I'm tired, I'm throwing in the towel!
I want some braids to help me stretch, I used to get braids all the time and my hair always grew good with them.

 

[leona2025]

My reggie has had to get super simple since I'm a full time student and worker. I have only 1 hour between school and work. I Dc once a week and bun.

 

[luckiestdestiny]

So what do you propose doing to make your life simpler. No more BKT or relaxers? Or just braiding it up and leaving it alone...or....?

 

[beans4reezy]

I agree with you OP, I am constantly looking for ways to make my routine simpler.

 

[Desarae]

No more BKT. I'm about 5 weeks post now, When I get to 8 weeks, I'm going to get braids for a while (6 months). I will probably still relax, but that's it. Relaxer and black rinses only, like I told myself in the first place.

I've already cut off like 4 inches of hair, mostly in the back, so now my hair is to the middle of my neck instead of grazing CBL. That was the longest my hair has ever been, but the breakage and tangling was getting to be too much. At least my layers are evened up now.


It's like I have to start all over, I don't even know the hair on my head anymore, and this BKT has it feeling like there's a hard acrylic coating over each strand. I really wish I hadn't done it. My hair was doing just fine without it, even with the highlights. I think the heat was just too much for my hair, and the treatment really didn't do any thing positive for my hair. I wanted stronger hair more than anything from the treatment, but all I got is brittle feeling hair.

That goes to show you, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[locabouthair]

I didnt even know you could do BKT and a relaxer. That sounds kind of risky.

Some people can perm and dye and have healthy hair but I think you should just stick to the relaxer and the rinse.

 

[Desarae]

I didnt even know you could do BKT and a relaxer. That sounds kind of risky.

Some people can perm and dye and have healthy hair but I think you should just stick to the relaxer and the rinse.

There are plenty of people with BKT and relaxer and have great results, and any chemical treatment is a risk. I took that risk and unfortunately it didn't work out for me.

I do agree that i'm sticking to relaxing and rinses only from here on out.

 

[MarieB]

I went the opposite on that; BKT:in, relaxersut. I have found that I spend way less time battling my hair, and my breakage has pretty much disappeared. But ITA that keeping it simple is key. I recently saw an old picture of me, and could not believe how long and healthy my hair looked back then, and I'm striving to get it back. So far, so good.