Are frequent salon trips worth it?

[chase]

I would just like to know your views on this matter?I live in London and have spent most of my life with my hair in extensions.
I have always had problems with my hair,and quite basically have never grown it longer than a couple of inches below my ears.Pretty sad,huh?
To put a long story short ,over the last six years my relaxed hair has gone from one drama to the next.And hence today is just about ear length.I reckon i have fine 4b hair-which is average in hair volume.I have tried stretching relaxers over the last 2 years to every four months.Which has resulted in the short hair i have now.

Anyway last christmas a hairdresser has given me some serious advice ,which seems to be working

1.Use a cream hairdressing everyday on my hair
2.Wash my hair only once a week,or even two.-I do it weekly
3.go to salon every 2 weeks for steam treatments-I go every 3 wks instead.
4.Relax hair between 6 and 8 weeks.
5.Trim every eight weeks-which i don't intend to do ,unless my ends justify a trim

Is this enough to turn my hair around.?

 

[Plenty]

no, no there not.

 

[JazzyDez]

No its not worth it. As you learn more about your hair you will likely find that you can do most things by yourself at home. I only go to the salon for relaxers. The most important thing that I found was to DC at least once a week. And also make sure that the daily moisturizer that you are using does not contain mineral oil or petroleum as its primary ingredient as they dried my hair out in the long run. I avoid the two all together. However, some ladies on here don't seem to have a problem with them. But for me, when I started purchasing products without these ingredients my hair started doing much better.

Most importantly, check out Sistaslicks post on "Hair Breakage 101" Its a sticky and has tons of great information. HTH

 

[Legend]

Not nessesarily. I used to go every two weeks because I had to receive professional pore cleaning treatments to correct some damage (aka, balding from a bad relaxer years ago). Once my hair filed in, I started doing my hair at home mostly and only went to the salon for a relaxer. I only go more frequently now because it’s fun and kind of a luxury to have my hair done. Still, it’s only if I had the time. So, if you are not receiving any special treatments and can do most of your services on your own, it's defintely not worth it. HTH

 

[MeechUK]

I would just like to know your views on this matter?I live in London and have spent most of my life with my hair in extensions.
I have always had problems with my hair,and quite basically have never grown it longer than a couple of inches below my ears.Pretty sad,huh?
To put a long story short ,over the last six years my relaxed hair has gone from one drama to the next.And hence today is just about ear length.I reckon i have fine 4b hair-which is average in hair volume.I have tried stretching relaxers over the last 2 years to every four months.Which has resulted in the short hair i have now.

Anyway last christmas a hairdresser has given me some serious advice ,which seems to be working

1.Use a cream hairdressing everyday on my hair
2.Wash my hair only once a week,or even two.-I do it weekly
3.go to salon every 2 weeks for steam treatments-I go every 3 wks instead.
4.Relax hair between 6 and 8 weeks.
5.Trim every eight weeks-which i don't intend to do ,unless my ends justify a trim

Is this enough to turn my hair around.?

Hi Chase,
I find that the hairdressers in London don't know they are talking about. Every week a new hairdresser springs up somewhere and disappear as quickly as they arrive! They are all looking for money and there are very few good established ones.

The key to good hair health is eating well, keeping your scalp clean and maintaining moisture/protein levels *have a look at Sistaslicks thread on the 1st page Hair 101, which gives good advice*.

Cream dressing
These are ok if they don't contain mineral or petroleum which clogs your pores. If they are water-based, which are better, you could use a natural oil to seal in moisture afterwards.

Weekly Washing
Weekly washes are ok but if you are using shampoos containing SLS or ALS, you are stripping your hair of its natural oils. You could try CW which keeps your scalp and hair, clean and healthy. These can be done daily without drying your hair out in addition to your weekly wash.

Steam Treatments
These are hair treats, I find that CWs are more effective, whilst adding moisture and softening hair.

Relaxing Hair
Every 6-8 weeks is too much especially if your regrowth does not justify it, and your hair is not healthy. Try to stretch retouches for as long as possible. Healthy hair can support stretches.

Trimming
I agree with you, but you could try dusting your ends to eliminate any split ends. Investing in a pair of good quality scissors will cut down on the need to trim your hair.

Black hair is big business in London and any cowboy can set up shop, no offence to the good ones. You can learn so much more from this forum, way more than from any hairdresser even the good ones. I think this forum will give you better results at a fraction of the cost you are paying and turn your hair around a lot quicker.

HHG,
MeechUK

 

[RabiaElaine]

Anyway last christmas a hairdresser has given me some serious advice ,which seems to be working

1.Use a cream hairdressing everyday on my hair
2.Wash my hair only once a week,or even two.-I do it weekly
3.go to salon every 2 weeks for steam treatments-I go every 3 wks instead.
4.Relax hair between 6 and 8 weeks.
5.Trim every eight weeks-which i don't intend to do ,unless my ends justify a trim

Is this enough to turn my hair around.?

First I would like to say Welcome to LHCF...I'm sure you'll love it here!

Second the things that your stylist told you to do...are things you can mostly learn to do from this board and then learn how to do them at home. Most women here do most of their haircare at home...because we've learned over the years that we are the only the people who are going to care as much as we do about our hair. There are women here who do go the hairdresser frequently...but from what I've seen most of us do most of our hair maintenance at home. Right now I only go to the salon for my relaxer...and I might be giving that up soon and doing it at home.

In my opinion, relaxing your hair every 6-8 weeks...that might be too soon (depending on how much new growth you have). At this point I want to have at least 1.5 inches of new growth before going to relax to prevent overlapping. I've learned how to stretch my relaxers from the ladies on this board. Please keep in mind this is my opinion, and this works for my hair. This may not be the case for you.

I know that with the help of the ladies here you will be able to create a regimen that works for you and help you to improve and grow your hair

Happy Growing!

 

[dimpalz]

I would just like to know your views on this matter?I live in London and have spent most of my life with my hair in extensions.
I have always had problems with my hair,and quite basically have never grown it longer than a couple of inches below my ears.Pretty sad,huh?
To put a long story short ,over the last six years my relaxed hair has gone from one drama to the next.And hence today is just about ear length.I reckon i have fine 4b hair-which is average in hair volume.I have tried stretching relaxers over the last 2 years to every four months.Which has resulted in the short hair i have now.

Anyway last christmas a hairdresser has given me some serious advice ,which seems to be working

1.Use a cream hairdressing everyday on my hair
2.Wash my hair only once a week,or even two.-I do it weekly
3.go to salon every 2 weeks for steam treatments-I go every 3 wks instead.
4.Relax hair between 6 and 8 weeks.
5.Trim every eight weeks-which i don't intend to do ,unless my ends justify a trim

Is this enough to turn my hair around.?

If you can do your hair yourself you dont need to go. I dont know wat salon you go to but when I used to go it was heat heat heat, I only ever once had a steam and afterwards I had to wrapped, blowdried and styled (with a straightner) which I thought made it pretty pointless. There was never any damage but constant heat is never a good thing. Alot of ladies here dont go at all and have learned to do their own hair. You seriously can, your stylist may seem like she's (he's?) giving you good advice but for them it really is about the money.

Do wash your hair 1+ times a week, you don't really need a cream hairdressing, I use leave in instead, but if you do use one make sure it's got enough water in it as the idea is to moisturise. If the cream is leaving your hair heavy with buildup try a spray instead or make ur own. You don't need a steamer to do a deep treatment necessarily, you can try conditioner and a plastic cap overnight. Relaxing every 6 to 8 weeks is too soon IMO unless ur hair is growing an inch a week. When I first heard about stretching on here I though these ladies had been at the cr*ckpipe -I'd tried it an like u sed my hair was worse for wear - but then I realised I wasn't taking enough care, wen you start stretching it's all cool but once you hit the time you usually relax that's when you need to take extra care especially around the demarcation line. Look around a bit more on the forum and then maybe try stretching again even if it is just to 9 weeks.

The advice you were given is good advice mixed with marketing tools. I'm talking about the trimming, relaxing and treatments. I've said this before and I'll say it again, for hairdressers it is all about making you into a walking billboard. You have to take what they say with a pinch of salt because they are business people, you relax and treat they get more money, you get a trim every relaxer you leave their salon with your hair looking neat and perfect, nevermind the fact u want long hair they want neat hair.

Of course these are just my opinions, if you have the money lying around why not let someone else do it. But watch out for the trimming and overprcessing that could come with such frequent relaxers, if your hair is growing good now keep at it but be on the lookout for those adverse effects. HTH

ETA: I missed Meechs post the first time I read this. She gave some good advice. Watch them salons in London even the established ones, one sprang up next door to the (established) salon i used to go to in a hair shop! lol it's hilarious. BTW what salon do u go to? if u dont mind answering.

 

[princesmich]

Going to a stylist is very beneficial when your hair is damaged, but it needs to be a good stylist, since it seems that there are not too many available to you, this forum will help, remember nutrition is essential for hair care, do your protein treatments, get a good hair oil for your scalp and ends. DO NOT RELAX YOUR OWN HAIR ESPECIALLY WHEN DAMAGED. What i do is condition my hair and then go to the stylist so she can roller set it, i don't blow dry my hair because it will cause damage, i keep the set in that she does and put my hair up with curls, I then put a scarf on at night to minimize manipulating my hair. this helps to prevent breakage as well. hth.

 

[chase]

I go to Universal hairdressers in east ham.

 

[dimpalz]

I was going to The Salon near the high street until I decided to transition. I've never heard of Universal though, whereabouts is it? Did you always go there? How much is a retouch (lol I'm so nosey, I used to go to Vanessa Andar on Mare St til they started to charge 75£ for a retouch *eek*)

 

[chase]

It is on the Barking road in East Ham and they charge £33.00 for a retouch.And £15 for a steam treatment with a rollerset.

 

[sunshyne_krissy]

I would just like to know your views on this matter?I live in London and have spent most of my life with my hair in extensions.
I have always had problems with my hair,and quite basically have never grown it longer than a couple of inches below my ears.Pretty sad,huh?
To put a long story short ,over the last six years my relaxed hair has gone from one drama to the next.And hence today is just about ear length.I reckon i have fine 4b hair-which is average in hair volume.I have tried stretching relaxers over the last 2 years to every four months.Which has resulted in the short hair i have now.

Anyway last christmas a hairdresser has given me some serious advice ,which seems to be working

1.Use a cream hairdressing everyday on my hair
2.Wash my hair only once a week,or even two.-I do it weekly
3.go to salon every 2 weeks for steam treatments-I go every 3 wks instead.
4.Relax hair between 6 and 8 weeks.
5.Trim every eight weeks-which i don't intend to do ,unless my ends justify a trim

Is this enough to turn my hair around.?

I have learened over the past 10 years from my experiences that hairdressers will tell you 1) what you want to hear 2) what you don't want to hear but then how to fix it through frequent salon visits. ALL of the hair dressers I've had totalling 5 since I was getting my hair pressed at age 7 have told me that I needed frequent trims to keep length and to make my hair grow faster. Needless to say that was a flat out lie, among other stories they told. The only advice I took from any of my hairdressers was "No one knows your hair better than you, right?" She would jokingly say. After that lil tid bit of info...I stoped going to the salon for good. I may not know all the answers to perfect hair care but with forums like LHCF and others, at least you are on the right track. With a hairdresser, you are always putting your health in someone elses hands.

 

[chase]

Thanks for your opinions -you american sisters are so far ahead of us british ones.I am not saying all of us u.k ones have jacked up hair-as there are some who have lovely hair(whether long or short).
But you guys have better products,and seem to know your stuff.Thank goodness for the internet!

 

[Firenza]

Yes,thank goodness for the internet,cause its brought so many together for a worthy cause.
The thing is,I'm not familiar with the process of a steaming treatment for hair.
How is it done,and what are the end results of having it done?
I read about someone having it done,but besides steaming curlers,is this what it is?
Enlighten me ,someone.