HELP!!! Different textures = slower hair growth/poor growth retention?

[NYLegalNewbie]

Okay, here's my situation.

When I came out of my weave, I decided to use the Phytorelaxer. I don't know if it was stylist error or the product, but it did not fully straighten my hair. Instead, I ended up with texlaxed hair. I went to another stylist to perform a corrective relaxer to relax the curl a bit more with Mizani, BUT for fear for causing more split ends, corrective relaxer was not applied to the ends. So, my hair is, I would say, about 80% texlaxed, 10% REALLY texlaxed, and 10% more along the lines of straight. I continue to use Mizani with good results.

My hair grows like a weed at the roots, but I have NOT been seeing a whole lot of progress as far as length since my relaxer in June and the relaxer I just had two weeks ago. And I KNOW for a fact that I had 1.5 inches of new growth. While I don't notice a ton of breakage (my hair is a lot softer, especially since I began co-washes, baggying and air drying), I do notice small pieces of hair from time to time.

Are the different textures possibly contributing to this? Anyone else experience this issue? What can I do about it to help my hair? Please note that I DO NOT want to cut my hair!!! erplexed

 

[Arcadian]

When you came out of your weave were you totally natural?

The way phyto processes is more by how much creme is used than by how much time. So its very possible your stylist didn't really slather it on well OR, you used the wrong index for your hair type. Also, if it was done over previously relaxed hair, it could have been severly over processed.

The corrective also could have caused some issues too on top of everything else. IMO you take a really big chance when you do a corrective relaxer.

I DO suggest a you start doing protien treatments if you haven't already. I've never used anything harder than emergencee, some have used dudley's or aphogee. I can't think of anything harder though i'm sure there's some out there.

Whichever one you choose to use, you'll need to follow that up with a moisterizing DC.

Keep up on your protien/moister balance and be extra diligent to keep manipulation/heat down.

HTH

-A

 

[bluefolli]

Welcome to the board!

Although Phyto gets high reviews here, it is not for everyone. Some 4 b's get nice and straight while other 4b's end up with a texlaxed affect. Keep sampling until you find what works for you.

In regards to your length...take some pics and set up a fotki. Sometimes, you have to see a pic rather than looking in the mirror in order to see your coveted results. HTH!

 

[cmw45]

Okay, here's my situation.

When I came out of my weave, I decided to use the Phytorelaxer. I don't know if it was stylist error or the product, but it did not fully straighten my hair. Instead, I ended up with texlaxed hair. I went to another stylist to perform a corrective relaxer to relax the curl a bit more with Mizani, BUT for fear for causing more split ends, corrective relaxer was not applied to the ends. So, my hair is, I would say, about 80% texlaxed, 10% REALLY texlaxed, and 10% more along the lines of straight. I continue to use Mizani with good results.

My hair grows like a weed at the roots, but I have NOT been seeing a whole lot of progress as far as length since my relaxer in June and the relaxer I just had two weeks ago. And I KNOW for a fact that I had 1.5 inches of new growth. While I don't notice a ton of breakage (my hair is a lot softer, especially since I began co-washes, baggying and air drying), I do notice small pieces of hair from time to time.

Are the different textures possibly contributing to this? Anyone else experience this issue? What can I do about it to help my hair? Please note that I DO NOT want to cut my hair!!! erplexed

When you came out of your weave were you natural? If not, than you are playin with fire even contemplating pulling that relaxer through to the ends! If I were you, I would do the best I could to manage the different textures and then wait at least six more weeks and before getting a corrective. Make sure to use a healthy dose of protein and moisture.

 

[NYLegalNewbie]

Let me clarify my situation.

I came out of the weave back in April. Most of the hair was natural and relaxer was not applied to the parts of my hair that were still relaxed.

Two weeks later, I went to a good salon that performed a corrective relaxer so that the textures closer to the root matched more closely. She also cut off 1.5 inches of my hair which pretty much got rid of the remainder of the old relaxed hair. However, relaxer was not applied to the ends of the hair in order to limit any damage to the ends. (The stylist here is very good and very well trained. I stopped going only because they were a bit too pricey for me to see regularly.)

Since April, I have had two relaxers - one done in June (8 weeks post) and the other done 2 weeks ago (11 weeks post).

Overall, my hair looks and feels healthy. I don't have excessive/severe breakage by any means. I also have very, very few split ends.

Each day, I notice maybe 20 to 40 hairs that are lost, if you include broken hairs and shedding, most of it is shedding (on average, a person supposedly sheds 50 to 100 hairs). The problem is that I tend to see a decent number of smaller, tiny hairs (the ones that are about a quarter or half an inch).

So, I am wondering whether or not these little hairs are a sign that I am having issues with growth retention because, even after you factor in that it took about 12 weeks (3 months) to regrow the 1.5 inches cut off, I should have about 1 inch worth of progress. But it doesn't seem like I do.

Here's my prior regimen:

- co-wash 2x per week with Home Care Oliva conditioner (mix of moisture and protein); massage scalp with homemade combo of jojoba oil, peppermint, and rosemary; apply NTM Silk Touch Leave-in; i often would sit under the dryer for about half an hour in flat twists to get some of the moisture out before i went to work

- weekly scalp treatment with Jane Carter Scalp Remedy, followed by Nexxus Botanoil Shampoo and Nexxus Keraphix conditioner; Headress leave-in; flat twist hair and let dry under hair dryer or do roller set followed by bantu knot set

- protein treatment with Nexxus Emergencee every 3rd week

- moisturize ends with Nourishing Hair Cream by Jane Carter Solution nightly

- if I had a sweaty day at the gym but not co-wash day, spritz hair with homemade spritz (jojoba, water, and a small bit of Nexxus Humectress)

I am thinking that a lack of real DCing and using my hair dryer (even on a low setting) is the main culprit. I switched to the following regimen about a week and a half ago:

- co-wash 2x with EO Hydrating Conditioner (no protein, just moisture) followed by scalp massage with jojoba, peppermint and rosemary

- weekly DC for 15 minutes with Aubrey GPB conditioner (will do this for the first time this weekend)

- air drying

- more protective styles (buns and French roll)

- weekly shampoo with Nexxus Therappe Shampoo instead of Botanoil

- protein every 3rd week with Nexxus Emergencee (do NOT follow the instructions and shampoo after treatment) apply Nexxus Humectress and DC for 15 minutes; use Nexxus Headress leave-in

- baggy with Nourishing Hair Cream by Jane Carter Solution and castor oil nightly

I know it's only been a week and a half, so I suppose it will take some time to see changes. Do you think my new regimen will give me better results?

 

[FlawedBeauty]

i dont think diff textures means slower growth/poor retention. i have like 4 diff textures and my hairs doing just fine.

 

[Arcadian]

Let me clarify my situation.

I came out of the weave back in April. Most of the hair was natural and relaxer was not applied to the parts of my hair that were still relaxed.

Two weeks later, I went to a good salon that performed a corrective relaxer so that the textures closer to the root matched more closely. She also cut off 1.5 inches of my hair which pretty much got rid of the remainder of the old relaxed hair. However, relaxer was not applied to the ends of the hair in order to limit any damage to the ends. (The stylist here is very good and very well trained. I stopped going only because they were a bit too pricey for me to see regularly.)

Since April, I have had two relaxers - one done in June (8 weeks post) and the other done 2 weeks ago (11 weeks post).

Overall, my hair looks and feels healthy. I don't have excessive/severe breakage by any means. I also have very, very few split ends.

Each day, I notice maybe 20 to 40 hairs that are lost, if you include broken hairs and shedding, most of it is shedding (on average, a person supposedly sheds 50 to 100 hairs). The problem is that I tend to see a decent number of smaller, tiny hairs (the ones that are about a quarter or half an inch).

So, I am wondering whether or not these little hairs are a sign that I am having issues with growth retention because, even after you factor in that it took about 12 weeks (3 months) to regrow the 1.5 inches cut off, I should have about 1 inch worth of progress. But it doesn't seem like I do.

Here's my prior regimen:

- co-wash 2x per week with Home Care Oliva conditioner (mix of moisture and protein); massage scalp with homemade combo of jojoba oil, peppermint, and rosemary; apply NTM Silk Touch Leave-in; i often would sit under the dryer for about half an hour in flat twists to get some of the moisture out before i went to work

- weekly scalp treatment with Jane Carter Scalp Remedy, followed by Nexxus Botanoil Shampoo and Nexxus Keraphix conditioner; Headress leave-in; flat twist hair and let dry under hair dryer or do roller set followed by bantu knot set

- protein treatment with Nexxus Emergencee every 3rd week

- moisturize ends with Nourishing Hair Cream by Jane Carter Solution nightly

- if I had a sweaty day at the gym but not co-wash day, spritz hair with homemade spritz (jojoba, water, and a small bit of Nexxus Humectress)

I am thinking that a lack of real DCing and using my hair dryer (even on a low setting) is the main culprit. I switched to the following regimen about a week and a half ago:

- co-wash 2x with EO Hydrating Conditioner (no protein, just moisture) followed by scalp massage with jojoba, peppermint and rosemary

- weekly DC for 15 minutes with Aubrey GPB conditioner (will do this for the first time this weekend)

- air drying

- more protective styles (buns and French roll)

- weekly shampoo with Nexxus Therappe Shampoo instead of Botanoil

- protein every 3rd week with Nexxus Emergencee (do NOT follow the instructions and shampoo after treatment) apply Nexxus Humectress and DC for 15 minutes; use Nexxus Headress leave-in

- baggy with Nourishing Hair Cream by Jane Carter Solution and castor oil nightly

I know it's only been a week and a half, so I suppose it will take some time to see changes. Do you think my new regimen will give me better results?

Thanks for clarifying.

Anytime you start a new regimen give it 6 weeks to see if it works out.


For me, hair growth is kind of seasonal. I grow a lot less in the fall/winter than I do in spring/summer. I shed more in the spring than any other time of the year.

So even if you don't see phenominal growth, you should see some retention/reduction of breakage as long as you're not going overboard.


You should try to reduce the amount of daily manipulation on your hair especially if you're finding you've got a breakage issue. If you comb twice a day, reduce it to once. That may mke the difference for you in the amount of breakage you see.

Protective styles can still be damaging, you do have to take care that you don't put undue stress on your hair. So do make sure that whatever you're using in your hair (bobbypins, rollers, etc) dosen't damage it.

Lastly, because of the amount of products you'll be using, please do use a clarifying shampoo at some point, maybe even before you do your emergencee treatment so you have a clean slate to work with.


HTH

-A