Air drying & Stretching relaxers damage?

Leslie_C

Leslie_C

Well-Known Member
Ladies,
Im wondering if this is another case of different things working for different ppl. I was talking to my stylist about haircare and she seems to be very knowledgable and know her stuff.

She said that if Im going to air dry I should at least GENTLY blow dry it in the beginning and let it air dry the rest because of the frizz from air drying causing the hair to come out.

I believe her because lately every time I comb my hair I can a handful of hairs. After it was blowdried, I could run my fingers through it all the way, yank and pull it, and not a single hair. know what I mean?

My compromise will be to let it air dry for 15 minutes then sit under the hooded dryer with my hair combed all the way down around my face. then occasionally lightly blow dry on low. Or rollerset if time permits. Im also going to experiment with the sealing the ends method from groafrohairlong.com

Same thing with stretching relaxers. I was at 10 weeks and was beginning to see breakage in the front and back and crown and there are little short pieces sticking up which tell me it was at the demarcation line. I have done EVERYTHING I could to manage the new growth but its soo course it pops off when handled/combed. Maybe it is easier to stretch in dryer climates than humid FL too, she said thats a factor. she recommends me not waiting longer than 8 weeks. seeing the unneccesary breakage is forcing me to comply..

just looking for comments and input....
cool.gif
 
Airdry: My hair airdries nice, soft annd straight, especially if I rollerset so you may want to try something different if the airdries not working for you

Stretching: I discovered that I cannot go beyond 10 weeks, I tried to go 12 and it was simply impossible - the only way I know to stretch beyond 10 weeks is to braid my hair up. period. So I'm with you that going more than 10 weeks is not worth it for me.

I have 4b relaxed.
 
This is interesting.

I remember back when I was relaxed, I had washed my hair. My mom asked about me blow drying my hair. I told her that I was going to let it air dry. She then tells me that I would experience breakage if I just let it air dry. Well, I ignored her and air dried without breakage.

In fact, she said the same thing when I was transitioning. She said that my new growth needed to be blowdried straight or I would get breakage. She spoke some truth because having two textures does increase the chances of having breakage. But I just didn't see how using heat would make things better.

-Ebony
 
Air drying is better for me than blowdrying.

I am one of those people who used to experience serious breakage from stretching out my relaxers, but that all changed when I started doing daily C/O washes when my new growth got to be too long. The key for stretching out relaxers is moisture, moisture, moisture!!!
 
I tried it ALL with the stretching. I co washed about every other day and deep conditioned like crazy along with moisturizing at least 2X a day. For me, the manipulation of co washing and detangling was causing breakage so I dont think daily would work for me. I also wore a bun from week 8-10 straight and STILL I could see the increasing little hairs popping out where I was getting breakage. I dont think Ill try again because I cant afford to see my progress go down the drain and end up having to get a chop because of it...8 weeks from now on for me!

As far as the stretching, Ill probably stick with 8 weeks because I should have plenty of new growth by then especially with all of the vitamins,etc.

As far as the heat, Im going to try at least partly dring under the dryer in a roller set for a while. But I probably still wont blow dry often because I always yank my hair out when I do. But I do plan to try sealing my ends with the foil method....
 
[ QUOTE ]
Lovelylocs said:
Air drying is better for me than blowdrying.

[/ QUOTE ]

Me too.
smile.gif


Besides, I'm not that good at blow drying my own hair.
 
I had problems when I first tried airdrying cause I dried in a bun. My hair seemed to want to bond together and would end up being a tangled mess. When I switched to Supergirl's method of airdrying striaght - I had no problems at all. I could put it in a bun after it was mostly dry and everything was fine.

I also stetch my relaxers to about 19 weeks - moisture and airdrying straight have caused wayyyy fewer problems. I was trying to add a co wash in the middle of the week but I've stopped as it seemed to cause more problems. Once a week is good for me.
 
I think it's at least possible that your stylist is right. I've never stretched my relaxers more than 8-10 weeks because I discovered long ago that going much longer meant too much breakage for me.

Since I am in a situation where waiting has been a necessity I'm coming up on the end of week 12. I noticed from about week 8, my hair just hasn't been liking to be aridried. I DEF don't comb it when I do airdry. i either rollerset it, blowdry it if I just can't go through the RS ordeal (not often) or when I do airdry, I do so in a bun, and DO NOT manipulate the hair again until I'm in the shower with conditioner in my hair. Combing it will certainly yeild breakage in my case, and it always does better when it's straight.

I think for some people, this may be the rule rather than the exception.

I'm definitely one of them.
smile.gif
 
Calbear, what is supergirls method?

Tracy, how do u rollerset without combing your hair? I would like to start doing this but I find I need to comb it out in small sections to distribute the setting lotion and smooth it over the rollers which results in combing out more hair.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Leslie_C said:
Ladies,
Im wondering if this is another case of different things working for different ppl.

[/ QUOTE ]

smile.gif
...I believe so...
 
I'm so glad you posted this because for the past week i've been having a lot of shedding when I air dry. but when I blow dry, my hair is strong.
 
Airdrying works best for me (I'm semi natural) but my relaxed ends hate it
nono.gif
Oh well, I'mma cut these bad fellas off soon, anyway. I guess different factors contribute to different things.

As far as stretching relaxers..I don't know the benefits of going so long (over 8 weeks). As long as you're not overlapping, and it's better for you to stay within an eight week period, do what's best for your hair.
 
I definitely prefer air drying. My hair always come out soft and i keep it moisterized. I use the ponytail method and it works just fine.
 
lthomas, Ive used the ponytail method and it works well up until about 6 weeks post relaxer. my only problem is getting my ends to stay smooth. no matter how much oil I put on them, they look straggly when its dry. it doesnt matter that much since its usually in a bun, but its hard for me to smooth out my ends. Im going to try rollersetting more.
 
[ QUOTE ]
lthomas1 said:
I definitely prefer air drying. My hair always come out soft and i keep it moisterized. I use the ponytail method and it works just fine.

[/ QUOTE ]

me too
 
Airdry: I can't airdry (unless doing a rod/rollerset) this far into my relaxer (17wks) because my hair will be super puffy.. which will make combing my hair murderous. I dont really know about this one..

Stretching: When I went to my stylist to get my hair braided tuesday, she didnt say anything about me stretching my relaxer out so long. She said she would let me know if my hair was breaking... and it's not! (I just still need that lil 1/4" trim!).. I guess it is different strokes for different folks.
smile.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
Leslie_C said:


Tracy, how do u rollerset without combing your hair? I would like to start doing this but I find I need to comb it out in small sections to distribute the setting lotion and smooth it over the rollers which results in combing outmore hair.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't use setting lotion and neither should you. It just makes things harder to manage. I do have to comb the hair, but because it's soaking wet and full of leave in cond, it works out fine. I do lose some hair, but not nearly as much as I do when I airdry, and after it's straight I lose little to none...
 
ok cool, so just use leave in conditioner, huh? can I soak my hair in leave in or just use a little and then spritz with water to keep it wet while rolling?
 
[ QUOTE ]
Tracy said:
[ QUOTE ]
Leslie_C said:


Tracy, how do u rollerset without combing your hair? I would like to start doing this but I find I need to comb it out in small sections to distribute the setting lotion and smooth it over the rollers which results in combing outmore hair.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't use setting lotion and neither should you. It just makes things harder to manage. I do have to comb the hair, but because it's soaking wet and full of leave in cond, it works out fine. I do lose some hair, but not nearly as much as I do when I airdry, and after it's straight I lose little to none...

[/ QUOTE ]
you're so right about the setting lotion
 
[ QUOTE ]
Leslie_C said:
ok cool, so just use leave in conditioner, huh? can I soak my hair in leave in or just use a little and then spritz with water to keep it wet while rolling?

[/ QUOTE ]

That's exactly what I do.
smile.gif
I'm not sure if my "soak" and yours are the same tho - so I'll say: err on the side of less product. Only use enough so that your hair is well detangled. Sometimes I even just use a dollop of lightweight conditioner. Something with cones....
grin.gif
 
I use the Salerm 21, Nexxus Headress, or NTM leave-ins. I prefer the creamy leave in conditioners. My hair is always soft and moisturized.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Leslie_C said:
I tried it ALL with the stretching. I co washed about every other day and deep conditioned like crazy along with moisturizing at least 2X a day. For me, the manipulation of co washing and detangling was causing breakage so I dont think daily would work for me. I also wore a bun from week 8-10 straight and STILL I could see the increasing little hairs popping out where I was getting breakage. I dont think Ill try again because I cant afford to see my progress go down the drain and end up having to get a chop because of it...8 weeks from now on for me!

As far as the stretching, Ill probably stick with 8 weeks because I should have plenty of new growth by then especially with all of the vitamins,etc.

As far as the heat, Im going to try at least partly dring under the dryer in a roller set for a while. But I probably still wont blow dry often because I always yank my hair out when I do. But I do plan to try sealing my ends with the foil method....

[/ QUOTE ]

I wanna believe that's what was causing my breakage is daily manipulating from co washing daily. I plan on only co washing one or two times a week and wash and deep condition once a week.
 
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