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chellee said:
Poohbear. I was having a similar issue to you. I recently learned that successful techniques will vary to accommodate your hair type, hair condition, length and texture. I am currently doing the bun challenge, however when I was moisturizing, using surge, saturating my ends, etc, I noticed a more breakage than expected.
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This is what I'm learning too...
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chellee said:
Do you need a trim? Weak, splitting ends will break off anyway and are even more noticeable when wet.
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The last trim I had was in the middle of May. I am on the no trim challenge right now and don't want to cut anymore of my hair. I plan on getting my next trim once my hair reaches bra-strap or maybe May 2005. When my hair is wet, all my hair feels the same. But when my hair is damp or dry, my ends are drier than the rest of my hair...even after moisturizing...
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chellee said:
Why are you moisturizing daily? Is it b/c your hair really needs it or are you using your moisturizer to hold your hair better while up? It seems that the longer your hair grows the less products you will need daily to keep it moisturized and looking smooth while up. Those scalp-produced oils have EVEN further to travel up the strands with longer hair so dry hair may be even more of an issue for some. Try moisturizing every few days for now.
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I'm moisturizing daily (almost everyday) because I thought it was a good idea for my bun regime. Moisturizing has helped with maintaining my hair while it's up. When I re-moisturize each day, my hair still feels moisturized before I apply a moisturizer. Right now, my hair isn't that long, an inch or two passed my shoulders...plus Im really trying to use up all my products so I don't let them go to waste...then I plan on using less and less products as my hair does grow...
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chellee said:
How often are you relaxing? I stretched out my relaxer 11 weeks for the first time and it doesn't work for me. No more than 8-10 weeks from now on! Shorter hair IMO should be relaxed more frequently. For me, 2-6 inches of relaxed hair combined with anymore than one inch of new growth is a disaster waiting to happen. I had to do so much more to my hair to get it to look decent (more manipulation with CWs, tying my scarf tighter to get it to lay down, more products, more smoothing, etc). Braid-outs, twist-outs or braids in general don't quite look the same on shorter hair so this is not an option for me. The manipulating of the new growth on relaxed hair (two totally different textures) without that added length to ease the tension associated with handling it makes it very difficult to manage. The little hair I did save from protecting it, I lost while trying to part it to apply softening products to my new growth and then again when parting it for a touch-up. It got to the point where I couldn't comb through it at all. Too much hassle with not enough benefits if you know what I mean.
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I just recently started to extend my relaxer touch-up times. My last relaxer was June 13 which was after 6.5 weeks of waiting and my hair turned out underprocessed. So right now I have 6.5 weeks worth of new growth. Im going to try to extend the time to get my next relaxer in September. Wish me luck on that.
As Ive said in other posts, braid-outs and twist-outs arent an option for me either because my hair doesn't look right in them since Im growing out a layered cut and my hair isnt long and full enough. The roots are thick while the ends are see-thru...not good. So thats why Im doing the bun challenge to grow my hair out so it's not noticeable and so I dont have worry about what my hair looks like and just leave it alone...
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chellee said:
Lastly, when I redo my buns, I don't comb my hair down completely. I put my scarf on first, unloose the holder and go to sleep. When I wake up I don't have to touch the edges much if at all and just reapply the holder.
As my hair grows longer, of course my styling process and daily maintenance procedures will change but these decisions are based on my observations for the time being . . .
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That's a good idea for what you're doing to redo your bun...Instead of wearing my hair in a bun at night, Im going to start wearing my hair inna a loose twist at night (like Tracy suggested) and then put it in a bun in the morning.
I believe the same about the styling process and maintenance procedures will change for me too...I will use less products and probably use a Goody hair pin instead of a scrunchi (like HoneyLemonDrop). Right now, I need my scrunchies to give my bun volume because my buns would look teeny-weeny without them.
Thanks for your helpful post chellee!