CatSuga
New Member
..........Stretching. 
Alot of people are confused about relaxer stretching and the damage that can be caused by relaxing every month.
Lets say that a strand of hair is like a rope, that you are hanging off a mountain on the end of the rope.
The rope: ---> __________________ <---
The rope in it's natural form is strong and will keep you from falling to your death. Now lets say that they rope has 1 weak spot (the x marks the weak spot).
The rope with 1 weak spot: ___________x__________
Yeah, it's just one weak spot....but you're ok because it has just enough strenght to keep you from falling.
Now, what if the rope has 12 weak spots...............
12 weak spots: __x__x__x__x__x__x__x__x__x__x__x__x
That rope ain't gonna hold you. You are going to fall and die.
That's how the hair is. The "x" marks that very small spot of unavoidable overlapping. If you relax every month, you have 12 areas of "weak spots" on a single hair shaft. Because there isn't enough strong hair in between the weak spots, they don't have enough strength and can't hold on. This is the one of the main causes of relaxer BREAKAGE.
The whole idea of stretching relaxers isn't so you'll have less weak spots (ex. you've been streaching for 3yrs only relaxing 4x a yr., you'll have the same number of weak spots as someone who relaxes 12x a yr.).
It's so that you'll have enough strong hair in between the weak spots. Now, if your hair grows 1-2 inches a month and you have hair type 2-3b hair, you'll be alright taking the risk of relaxing every month because (a) you have enough newgrowth to lessen the amount of overlapping and (b) you can see and apply a touch-up to just about the full lenght of your new growth.
But if your hair grows only between 1/4 and 1/2 an inch per month and you have type 3c-4b that is prone to shrinkage, you run the risk of seriously overlapping if you relax every month.
Our hair rope relaxed 6x a yr. ____x____x____x____x____x____x
Our hair rope relaxed 4x a yr. ______x_______x_______x_______x
And for the very brave............. our hair rope relaxed 2x a year. _________x__________x_________
Also, lets look at the difference between 1/4 and a whole inch.
For the metrically inclined, the blue dot is 1/4, yellow 1/2, and pink is 1 inch. 1/4 ain't that much. And if you have shrinkage associated with type 4 hair, it won't even be that much.
*******This public service anouncment has been brought to you by: Naturals for Relaxers.....cause we don't playa hate, we motivate.********
Alot of people are confused about relaxer stretching and the damage that can be caused by relaxing every month.
Lets say that a strand of hair is like a rope, that you are hanging off a mountain on the end of the rope.
The rope: ---> __________________ <---
The rope in it's natural form is strong and will keep you from falling to your death. Now lets say that they rope has 1 weak spot (the x marks the weak spot).
The rope with 1 weak spot: ___________x__________
Yeah, it's just one weak spot....but you're ok because it has just enough strenght to keep you from falling.
Now, what if the rope has 12 weak spots...............
12 weak spots: __x__x__x__x__x__x__x__x__x__x__x__x
That rope ain't gonna hold you. You are going to fall and die.
That's how the hair is. The "x" marks that very small spot of unavoidable overlapping. If you relax every month, you have 12 areas of "weak spots" on a single hair shaft. Because there isn't enough strong hair in between the weak spots, they don't have enough strength and can't hold on. This is the one of the main causes of relaxer BREAKAGE.
The whole idea of stretching relaxers isn't so you'll have less weak spots (ex. you've been streaching for 3yrs only relaxing 4x a yr., you'll have the same number of weak spots as someone who relaxes 12x a yr.).
It's so that you'll have enough strong hair in between the weak spots. Now, if your hair grows 1-2 inches a month and you have hair type 2-3b hair, you'll be alright taking the risk of relaxing every month because (a) you have enough newgrowth to lessen the amount of overlapping and (b) you can see and apply a touch-up to just about the full lenght of your new growth.
But if your hair grows only between 1/4 and 1/2 an inch per month and you have type 3c-4b that is prone to shrinkage, you run the risk of seriously overlapping if you relax every month.
Our hair rope relaxed 6x a yr. ____x____x____x____x____x____x
Our hair rope relaxed 4x a yr. ______x_______x_______x_______x
And for the very brave............. our hair rope relaxed 2x a year. _________x__________x_________
Also, lets look at the difference between 1/4 and a whole inch.
For the metrically inclined, the blue dot is 1/4, yellow 1/2, and pink is 1 inch. 1/4 ain't that much. And if you have shrinkage associated with type 4 hair, it won't even be that much.
*******This public service anouncment has been brought to you by: Naturals for Relaxers.....cause we don't playa hate, we motivate.********
Last edited:
:notworthy 
Excellent post!
...great explanation.
