Extending relaxer retouches, why??

[GodMadeMePretty]

Made perfect sense to me, myco. Sounds a lot like me. The reason I'm on the fence with transitioning is because of the exercise and washing after. I don't want to take all day to do something to get my hair straight. I rollerset my hair on Friday and pulled it back and Saturday night, I flat-ironed it so I could see how long it would be straight.

 

[Honi]

Ditto to what everyone has said. . It’s really to prevent too much overlapping. Think of it this way. I saw this somewhere and can’t remember her name but her illustration made sense to me.

Here is hair that is touched up every 6-8 weeks _____x____x____x____x

Here is hair that is touched up every 4 months or longer ______________x____________x_________________x

Does that make better sense? LOL The longer you go, the less overlapping and therefore the less damage. Keep in mind that not everyone can do this. Extending your touchups is almost as if your transitioning. There are things that you can do to your hair after a fresh touchup you can’t do when extending your touchups. Some examples are that you may find that certain products don’t work as well or not at all. You may have to do more condition washes, etc to keep your newgrowth moisturized, less handling etc.

 

[myco]

Your post just reminded me of a friend of mine who could extend her relaxer longer than she does. I would consider her a 4a with fine hair and fine strands, but I don't think she knows what "newgrowth" is. As soon as she gets a slight curl or wave or any puffiness, she thinks she needs a relaxer. Whenever I look at her hair, I try to tell her that deep conditioning and roller sets would keep her hair smooth and it wouldn't look so puffy and frizzed out. I do her relaxers, so we agreed on 8 or 9 weeks. I feel better about not overprocessing or overlapping that way, and it minimizes the damage she can do to her hair trying to take care of two textures, since she's not big on washing and moisturizing.

 

[Babygurl]

I also extend my retouches for the health of my hair, I used to get a retouch every 6-7 weeks and my hair was a MESS! When extended to 12 weeks for the first time I was AMAZED at the difference in the look and feel of my new growth compared to the old hair that had been abused. This made me realize, waiting is indeed a good thing for my hair.

 

[DatJerseyDyme]

[ QUOTE ]
Honi said:
Ditto to what everyone has said. . It’s really to prevent too much overlapping. Think of it this way. I saw this somewhere and can’t remember her name but her illustration made sense to me.

Here is hair that is touched up every 6-8 weeks _____x____x____x____x

Here is hair that is touched up every 4 months or longer ______________x____________x_________________x

Does that make better sense? LOL The longer you go, the less overlapping and therefore the less damage. Keep in mind that not everyone can do this. Extending your touchups is almost as if your transitioning. There are things that you can do to your hair after a fresh touchup you can’t do when extending your touchups. Some examples are that you may find that certain products don’t work as well or not at all. You may have to do more condition washes, etc to keep your newgrowth moisturized, less handling etc.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hey that was me!!! LOL! But that's basically why I do it. It's inevitable that some overlapping is going to occur, but when you relax less times during the year, then the strand is going to have less of those damaged areas.

 

[Honi]

LOL DatJerseyDyme!

That was an excellent illustration! I don't know where you posted it but thanks! As you can see I'm very visual.

If I don't remember anything else what I do remember is what it looked like.

 

[Vanessa22]

Well to answer your question. I choose to wait that long primarily because frequent relaxing often strips your hair of many important things that it needs. We have to remember that relaxing is a CHEMICAL, and we also have to remember anything done in excess can only have horrible side effects...moderation is the key. I use to be the person that waited exactly 4 weeks, and decided it was time. However, because of this, not only did I suffer some breakage, but I also didn't really notice much growth since I wasn't giving my hair time. But now, there are so many benefits in waiting and stretching it out. My hair is healthy, thick, and the new growth is so visible. I also choose not to go natural because I definitely don't think that's for me, and that also requires way more time. There is a hugh difference between 3 or 4 months of new growth, and going natural.

 

[chicamorena]

I have a question for you guys. I have really thick 4b hair. It's growing a lot. Right now I'm about 1 inch from top of the bra strap in the back and a little past shoulder lenght on the sides. My ultimate goal is for it to be at my ribcage. I relax every 8-10 weeks. I've noticed that as my hair gets longer, it's easer for me to stretch out my touchups. While my hair is healthy right now, when I reach my goal I would only like to relax only 3-4 times a year just so maintain manageability. But my hair grows really fast. I get about 1 inch a month, sometimes more. What I want to know is if it would be safe for me to only relax my hair every 3 or 4 months seeing that I would have roughly 3-4 inches of new growth to deal with.

 

[LuLu]

Rica, that is the problem I have and I guess you have to decide for yourself what works, my hair grows more than an inch a month and I start getting breakage if I wait too long

 

[chicamorena]

LuLu, I think that I might have to gradually work up to relaxing every 3 or 4 months. Maybe add 2 or 3 weeks each time I relax, that way I can see if I'll have any adverse affects.

 

[renee_n_3000]

Hi, this is my first post on this board, though I first started visiting hair boards five years or more ago. It's nice to see some familiar names from the old Black Hair Super Growout board

I've been relaxing my own hair for well over ten years and I've always waited about four months or more between touching up my new growth. I relax to decrease the volume of my hair. Without a relaxer, it is so full that it looks like I have enough hair for three or more people. With the relaxer, it just looks like I have enough for two. lol

The back half of my hair is wavy and grows in the shape of a stretched out "S". For the first inch or so, the "S" appears to be straight because it hasn't begun to bend. It's the bend that creates the volume in my hair, and it takes about 2-3 inches of newgrowth before I begin to notice the waves and am bothered by the poofiness and volume they create. It's like the newgrowth suddenly sneaks up and shocks me at that point.

The front half of my hair is less wavy and almost straight, but I still relax that part to decrease volume as well.

Even though my hair grows at a fairly rapid pace, if I retouched at 6 weeks or so, I wouldn't be able to feel the newgrowth and know where to place the relaxer.

I think the key is to go with what works best for your hair. It wasn't until I started visiting hair boards that I learned that some women's newgrowth bothered them even at 1/2 inch, and that the difference in textures caused breakage and other problems for them.

My sister and nieces have hair that is a different texture than mine and I recently learned that they get touchups every 4-6 weeks. However, their hair breaks off at about neck level or shorter. I'm not sure if it's such a good idea for them to relax that often because I think it may be causing the breakage and dryness of their hair, but they say that if they don't, it will just break off at the point of the newgrowth/relaxed hair anyway.

 

[Country gal]

I am just getting started reading this thread. Author /hairstylist Shamboosie suggests that you touch up your hair every 6-8 weeks. He says if you extend the period you will have two different textures growing in your hair. The hair on the end will break from the new growth. My hair dresser says since I have color I have to keep on a tight schedule because colored tresses may pop from my new growth.

 

[karezone]

I am extending because I remember you healthy, thick and long my hair was when I went 12 weeks between touch ups instead of 4-6 weeks. I don't go natural because I simply don't have the patience anymore. I can do my relaxed do in half the time it takes to do my hair natural. I am trying to get back to waiting 12 weeks but it is hard. Having straight hair is addictive but long, thick, healthy hair is even more addictive.

 

[LABETT]

I use to relax every 5 to 6 weeks and over a period of time
my hair started to thin out especially in the top.
My hair was overprocessed in the front and very thin that
you could see my scalp.
When my hair grew back and I relax at 5 to 6 weeks the front
would break off again and thin out even more.
Since join this board and extending my relaxer to 13 weeks
my hair is much healthier than it has been in years.
Some times I still dont relax my hairline if I feel their
is not enough newgrowth in that area.

 

[Armyqt]

[ QUOTE ]
The back half of my hair is wavy and grows in the shape of a stretched out "S". For the first inch or so, the "S" appears to be straight because it hasn't begun to bend. It's the bend that creates the volume in my hair, and it takes about 2-3 inches of newgrowth before I begin to notice the waves and am bothered by the poofiness and volume they create. It's like the newgrowth suddenly sneaks up and shocks me at that point.

[/ QUOTE ]

OMG, my hair is just like that. I never had any idea why I couldn't spot newgrowth for the first 6 wks and then they suddenly pop up. Great explanation. Thanks.

Welcome to the board

 

[GodMadeMePretty]

My hair does this too. It comes in straight and then it bends. I don't notice that I have new growth until my hair bends for the second time creating that volume that I want to control. In some spots, I don't notice any new growth at all unless I slide my fingers over it. That was an excellent explanation renee.

 

[LuLu]

[ QUOTE ]
LABETT said:
Some times I still dont relax my hairline if I feel their
is not enough newgrowth in that area.

[/ QUOTE ]

I only relax my edges every other relaxer...they grow at about half the pace of the rest...go figure

 

[LuLu]

[ QUOTE ]
GodMadeMePretty said:
My hair does this too. It comes in straight and then it bends. I don't notice that I have new growth until my hair bends for the second time creating that volume that I want to control. In some spots, I don't notice any new growth at all unless I slide my fingers over it. That was an excellent explanation renee.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's true...and it depends on the position on the head, I am pretty sure that I have a cowlick on the top left side of my head because the direction of the hair there is totally different.

 

[Babygurl]

[ QUOTE ]
Armyqt said:
[ QUOTE ]
The back half of my hair is wavy and grows in the shape of a stretched out "S". For the first inch or so, the "S" appears to be straight because it hasn't begun to bend. It's the bend that creates the volume in my hair, and it takes about 2-3 inches of newgrowth before I begin to notice the waves and am bothered by the poofiness and volume they create. It's like the newgrowth suddenly sneaks up and shocks me at that point.

[/ QUOTE ]

OMG, my hair is just like that. I never had any idea why I couldn't spot newgrowth for the first 6 wks and then they suddenly pop up. Great explanation. Thanks.

Welcome to the board

[/ QUOTE ]

Fantastic explanation, gives me a better idea of how my hair grows.

 

[renee_n_3000]

[ QUOTE ]
Armyqt said:

Welcome to the board

[/ QUOTE ]

Thank you, Armyqt! And thanks to the other ladies who responded and said they have hair like mine.

 

[shoelover1972]

Hi everyone

I agree with alot of what has been mentioned.

The reason why I don't like to re-touch too often is because I don't like that realllllly bone straight look. There are some people that come to have their hair relaxed at my hairdressers and they look as if they do not have any re-growth at all and their hair is so thin but because they like it bone straight they re-touch more often. Why bother if your hair looks thin & lifeless??
The reasons why I relax is:
1.for me it is 'easier' to mantain
2.if your hair is relaxed then it appears longer LOL.

Before I joined this board I used to wait approx 8-10 weeks (I thought that this was a long time to wait). My last re-touch was after 12 weeks which I think this has been the longest time for me. I noticed a big difference by doing this as my hair is now a lot thicker with more body.

 

[hotshot]

as a natural who used to have half permed, half nappy hair, its much easier to make newgrowth "behave" and lay flat to match straight ends than to manage a whole head of naps look straight. i would think extending relaxers keeps the straight look and with some manipulation you can make the newgrowth look like it matches, particularly if you are on the bun challenge or something. im reading this thread because i was telling my permie friend how you all stretch relaxers and i couldnt explain it well enough. i think thread is rather informative!

 

[Ossie]

Well, I'm doing it for the health of my hair and scalp but I don't think that I'm going to go beyond 3 months. My hair is ready for a relaxer at 6 weeks so if I can make it to 3 months that will be great.

 

[lovechic]

DITTO! EVERTHING JAINY AND ADRIENNE SAID!!! /images/graemlins/up.gif

 

[Guest]

Extending relaxers have been so damaging for MY hair. It makes it hard, dry, tangled and matted. I don't see the point for me. I will never do it again. I tried to do it twice by waiting eight weeks both times and both times it was a mess.

I now relax, every five weeks and that's a long as I wait. I don't have scalp issues, breakage or dry hair. Again, it works for ME.

 

[Guest]

Extending relaxers have been so damaging for MY hair. It makes it hard, dry, tangled and matted. I don't see the point for me. I will never do it again. I tried to do it twice by waiting eight weeks both times and both times it was a mess. /images/graemlins/clap.gif /images/graemlins/clap.gif /images/graemlins/clap.gif /images/graemlins/clap.gif /images/graemlins/clap.gif

I now relax, every five weeks and that's a long as I wait. I don't have scalp issues, breakage or dry hair. Again, it works for ME.

 

[MizAvalon]

To you ladies that touch up after 5, 6 weeks your hair must grow like crazy if you have to touch up that soon!

 

[itismehmmkay]

This is a good question, and I think the answer has to do with understanding why we are getting relaxers in the first place. Here are mine:

Reason for relaxers = to relax the curl for more manageablity (Now, I've been natural technically twice. It just takes too much time trying to comb through alot of tightly curled hair...most times it's just no way!)

Reason for extending retouches = keeps hair on my head. (It's very important to avoid overprocessing when getting retouches. Extending the time between relaxers allows for more growth and high probabilities that overlapping won't occur. Also, it gives the scalp a good break)

In addition, I make sure I don't relax to bone straight because I already know that I'll be using tools to straighten it even further. That's just too much stretching for my hair to endure.