How do you prepare for your touch-up?

[Avaya]

I think I saw a similar question like this sometime ago but I am having a hard time doing a search (no one spells touch-up, touchup, touch up the same).

I generally am able to stretch my relaxers to about 20-weeks (thanks to braids). By the end of that 20-weeks I usually have about 2 - 3 inches worth of new growth.

For those of you who stretch your relaxers, or just ladies with super thick natural hair, what do you do to detangle the new growth so when you go to the beautician to get a touch-up she doesn't rip your hair out of your head?

It is so hard for me to get a comb through my new growth and I really have no talent at using a blow dryer, so I can't straigten it that way. I put S-curl, sta-so-fro, ors carrot oil, jojoba, anything I can think of to make my hair soft. And it does indeed make it soft but my hair still curses out the comb!

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

(This has become more of a problem for me because my hair is alot longer than it used to be - 3inches short of bra strap - yeah me!).

 

[Porsche19]

Hmmm... my hair is thick, but I don't have too many problems with detangling.

I use motions leave in conditioner, hollywood beaty carrot oil creme and oil.

The day before I get a texturizer, I put all of that into my hair and wet set (makes the texturized hair straight, but the newgrowth is nappy). I stay pretty much tangle free for days after I go through each section with a wide toothed comb. That's the key for me, detangle throughly (and gently!) right after you hair has been deeep conditioned and while it's damp with leave in conditioners and stuff...

 

[hopeful]

Just for me! Detangler works great on my daughter's super tangly hair and on my course new growth. Just spray on dry hair, wait long enough for it to its job and comb gently. Hope this helps.

 

[Healthb4Length]

I have super thick hair and to combat tangling and breakage, I do frequent co washes and used lots of coconut oil, it makes my hair really easy to handle.

 

[LiLi]

I have 4a/4b hair and I only relax every 6 months. However, this time around it's been almost a year (will be a year in February). The thing that worked for me when I was going to salons was to spray my hair (mostly the newgrowth) with Pantene light detangling spray (I can't stand the smell of the sta-soft fro and carefree care gold because I had a jheri curl for 6 years and it reminds me of that when I put it on ) the night before and gently comb through very small sections. Then I would loosely braid my hair in about 8 sections. Before going to the salon I would just gently comb out each braided section. It helped alot but of course the 4b sections would coil back up and I would have to suffer somewhat but not as much as if I hadn't gone through it before.

Now I self-relax and I take my time when doing so since I relax in several small sections over a course of a couple of weeks or so. Also, since I wash and condition my hair everyday (or almost everyday unless I'm running really late for work) my new growth is so much easier to manage. It seems like the only problem I have when combing out is closer to the ends at the parts that were truely underprocessed (meaning dry, frizzy and brittle) about 2 years ago but I will be correcting those soon.

 

[jaded_faerie]

lili how much new growth do you see in your 6 months relaxer free.

 

[brownhaired_bonanza]

There's no way, I repeat, NO way that i could go 6 months without a relaxer! I'd be bald. I can barely stand it if i'm one week past my regular 8 week mark. I can't quite figure how some 4a/4b ladies here can go so long with getting a perm. More power to you.

 

[tryn2growmyhair]

There's no way, I repeat, NO way that i could go 6 months without a relaxer! I'd be bald. I can barely stand it if i'm one week past my regular 8 week mark. I can't quite figure how some 4a/4b ladies here can go so long with getting a perm. More power to you.

Agreed. I went over 14 weeks and will NEVER, EVER do that again. I will also go 8 or maybe 9 weeks at the most from now on.

 

[Leslie_C]

cosigning, if I go past 10-12 weeks its bc of an emergency...lol. my newest thing is I must be on perm strike....but seriously I think over time u can train your hair, usually Im breaking and shedding post week 8 or 9....but with extra care and lots of s-curl, Im at passing week 12 and its hanging in there. It looks like a whole mess, but no breakage/shedding which is a miracle. Ill probably relax on Monday which will make 13 week. Im not sure how long Ill stretch next time though bc it really just looks bad....lol.

In the past Ive gone 4 or 5 months but usually I was in a ponytail piece the whole time. and by the 5th month It was matting in places(looked like it was gonna get locs!). I think 3 months is my limit.

 

[LiLi]

lili how much new growth do you see in your 6 months relaxer free.

So far it's 4.5" for 11 months. My hair grows at a slow pace but that's okay with me since I have retained most of my length.

 

[Avaya]

I have 4a/4b hair and I only relax every 6 months. However, this time around it's been almost a year (will be a year in February). The thing that worked for me when I was going to salons was to spray my hair (mostly the newgrowth) with Pantene light detangling spray (I can't stand the smell of the sta-soft fro and carefree care gold because I had a jheri curl for 6 years and it reminds me of that when I put it on ) the night before and gently comb through very small sections. Then I would loosely braid my hair in about 8 sections. Before going to the salon I would just gently comb out each braided section. It helped alot but of course the 4b sections would coil back up and I would have to suffer somewhat but not as much as if I hadn't gone through it before.

Now I self-relax and I take my time when doing so since I relax in several small sections over a course of a couple of weeks or so. Also, since I wash and condition my hair everyday (or almost everyday unless I'm running really late for work) my new growth is so much easier to manage. It seems like the only problem I have when combing out is closer to the ends at the parts that were truely underprocessed (meaning dry, frizzy and brittle) about 2 years ago but I will be correcting those soon.

The pantene spray doesn't interfer with the relaxer (i.e. make your hair take longer to process)? I'm 4a/4b and 3 (I don't know the letter) too. The 3? is the easiest part of my hair to manage but it's limited to the front. It's when I get to the middle (4a) and back (4b) that I have the biggest challenge.

I will try all of the suggestions listed. Thanks to you all!

 

[CatSuga]

I have 4a/4b hair and I only relax every 6 months.

..................DO YOU KNOW SHAHAD??
(sorry, inside joke, lol)

 

[Allandra]

The 'main' way I prepare for a touch-up is making sure my already relaxed hair is straight so that my stylist can easily see my new growth.