Stretching 6 months Ruined My Hair!

[chrisanddonniesmommy]

When I relaxed, I would stretch no more than four months. Anything more than that was futile. I still don't see the point of stretching longer than that.

I'm sorry you encountered this problem. As in life, everything's a learning opportunity.

 

[janeemat]

Thanks so much ladies. On this journey, we all have setbacks. With all of the good info on here, I know what I have to do to get back to full healthy hair.

 

[itismehmmkay]

I was just thinking how I'll have to reevaluate my stretch. This will be my first time intentially stretching with my hair out. I'm definitely going to play it by ear w/ how my hair responds.

 

[ellebelle88]

Hi OP, sorry this happened to you as well. I was thinking about going natural so I transitioned for a year and then decided it wasn't for me. I decided to get another relaxer, thinking that after 12 months of stretching, my hair will be MUCH longer and thicker than when I started. Bad idea! I posted a thread about how thin my ends were and how raggedy my hair looked. Stretching is NOT for me. I was almost to BSL but now I think I'm going to have to cut it off to around neck length. Pretty much all of my relaxed hair broke off and the only thing I have is the new growth. Also, because it had been 12 months since I had a relaxer, my previously relaxed hair is different from my newly relaxed hair, which looks more texturized. I'm hurt but I think I will be back where I started in a year or two.

Hope your hair grows back! Good luck.

 

[la mosca]

Thanks for your candid post. Looking back, were there any warning signs during your stretch? I am currently in the longest stretch I have ever attempted (4 months along in a 6 month stretch), and I hope I'm not missing any signs that I need to end it.

 

[amwcah]

I feel you! I said I will always relax at 12 weeks also.

 

[Toy]

Stretching past 11 wks is not for me my hair wont tolerate it.

 

[ellebelle88]

Thanks for your candid post. Looking back, were there any warning signs during your stretch? I am currently in the longest stretch I have ever attempted (4 months along in a 6 month stretch), and I hope I'm not missing any signs that I need to end it.

I was able to stretch for 4 months without any major setback. I even went to 6 months without any problems. Pay attention to your ends! If they start to look thin and lifeless that's how you know it hasn't been a good stretch.

 

[janeemat]

Thanks for your candid post. Looking back, were there any warning signs during your stretch? I am currently in the longest stretch I have ever attempted (4 months along in a 6 month stretch), and I hope I'm not missing any signs that I need to end it.

Looking back the warning signs were the amount of hair lost during detangling. Every week I would say to myself....wow this a lot of hair. But I just kept going. My advice is if you think you are losing too much hair........you ARE losing too much hair.

 

[janeemat]

I was able to stretch for 4 months without any major setback. I even went to 6 months without any problems. Pay attention to your ends! If they start to look thin and lifeless that's how you know it hasn't been a good stretch.

This is exactly it. You couldn't said it better.

 

[ellebelle88]

Looking back the warning signs were the amount of hair lost during detangling. Every week I would say to myself....wow this a lot of hair. But I just kept going. My advice is if you think you are losing too much hair........you ARE losing too much hair.

THISS!! I kept telling myself that "Oh, I'm supposed to lose 100 hairs a day, that's normal"...especially since I kept my hair hidden for months at a time. I kept telling myself it was shed hair...really my hair was breaking off.

 

[jerseygurl]

I'm sorry this happened to you OP. I agree with other posters when they say stretching is not for everyone. I have stretched to 6 months with no problems, that's how I knew I would be able to transition rather than BC and even then I lost a lot of hair. I usually tell people to stretch week by week and see how your hair feels.

Sorry again OP

 

[locabouthair]

Sorry you experienced that OP.

I unintentionally stretched for 5/6 months. Gotta demarcation breakage at the sides and the crown. I'm 4z with coarse hair. I'm actually contemplating a BC because the damage/breakage I got is so bad. I met with a LHCFer and she noticed the breakage too.

 

[Honey Bee]

I was able to stretch for 4 months without any major setback. I even went to 6 months without any problems. Pay attention to your ends! If they start to look thin and lifeless that's how you know it hasn't been a good stretch.

ljbee, But don't they always look like that when you're stretching? Or is that just my hair?

 

[LushLox]

The ends would normally look a lot thinner than the roots, as there is so much NG thus there is going to be a contrast. You do of course need to watch and baby those ends throughout, and don't put too much stress on them.

 

[EbonyMajesty]

I was on point with my regimen. I ALWAYS deep cond weekly and sometimes twice a week with heat for at least 30 min. Sometimes I would apply cond to dry hair on Friday nights with vatika oil in it. I would moisturize the ng and ends with oil during week, or Mizani H2, or Jane Carter nourish and shine. I would finger comb it into a bun never combing dry hair. I never rush when doing my hair. I always rollerset (this could be the culprit). Deep into the stretch I flat ironed roots only or blowout roots only with the brush or would do nothing to the roots. My nightmare would always begin once I start detangling my hair to rollerset my hair. I would use Rusk Smoother, Lacio Lacio and Mizani thermal smooth and water with very little setting lotion in it. Bliss if I was going to flat iron the roots. Now what's a girl to do. I welcome all suggestions.

I prefer to detangle with my deep conditioner still in right after i get out from under the dryer or in the shower as I wash out the deep conditioner with the jibere shower comb. That may not work for others though.

 

[janeemat]

I prefer to detangle with my deep conditioner still in right after i get out from under the dryer or in the shower as I wash out the deep conditioner with the jibere shower comb. That may not work for others though.

This is exactly what I do also, with a shower comb. However, there are still lots of tangles to remove if you are doing a rollerset.

 

[janeemat]

@ljbee, But don't they always look like that when you're stretching? Or is that just my hair?

They will certainly look thinner because you are stretching. However, there was a real contrast this time with my ends. I was constantly questioing myself about how my ends were looking and overall how my hair was shaping up so to speak. I just did not listen to my hair. I wanted to be like the real pros.

 

[abcd09]

Maybe it just depends on the hair type. A stretch is nothing more than a transition that doesn't transition all the way. I'm a 3c/4a. I've transitioned for two years without BC and never had an issue and I just transitioned for the second and last time for 20 months. There may be times when detangling is a pain but I never had any breakage at the line of demarkation. But everybody is different. Maybe the breakge issue increases depending on how much difference in texture there is between the relaxed hair and the natural hair.

I was thinking this too. OP you have fine 4b hair like me and I think stretching too long causes problems. I cant go past 12 weeks either. I tried and yes my hair was knotted, matted, very difficult to detangle, you name it. I saw no progress. It seems like people with 3c or thick strands do better with long term stretching. I think 12weeks is long enough to get thicker hair without the detangles.

 

[MariposaSexyGirl]

I was on point with my regimen. I ALWAYS deep cond weekly and sometimes twice a week with heat for at least 30 min. Sometimes I would apply cond to dry hair on Friday nights with vatika oil in it. I would moisturize the ng and ends with oil during week, or Mizani H2, or Jane Carter nourish and shine. I would finger comb it into a bun never combing dry hair. I never rush when doing my hair. I always rollerset (this could be the culprit). Deep into the stretch I flat ironed roots only or blowout roots only with the brush or would do nothing to the roots. My nightmare would always begin once I start detangling my hair to rollerset my hair. I would use Rusk Smoother, Lacio Lacio and Mizani thermal smooth and water with very little setting lotion in it. Bliss if I was going to flat iron the roots. Now what's a girl to do. I welcome all suggestions.

Well, I know one thing that I always made sure of was to section my hair into like 6 braided sections before I washed my hair. I would shampoo twice to get rid of any build up then coat each braided section with conditioner. De-tangle each section with a wide tooth and my Denman(under running water), then re-braid it. The same can be done with deep conditioner. I always section my hair with my fingers. The parts don't have to be straight. So when I did roller set, my hair was already untangled and It didn't take that long to set the rollers.

Oh and I always put ponytail holders at the base of each section and two rollers on each. This method is called the ponytail roller set. I got it off the board. It has helped tremendously. The band stretch the roots out so when it's time to flat iron the roots, the hair is stretched. This is how I am able to stretch for long periods without causing damage.

 

[Spring]

janeemat, I'm sorry you had to start over. I'm not an advocate of long term stretching, especially for hair that's relaxed bone straight. There may be those who can manage that, but I haven't seen impressive results in the area of retaining... usually their ends are excessively thin, .... this setback is generally attributed to something other than long term stretching. Another method that seems detrimental to hair retention is detangling fragile strands in the shower. It seems like that would be great for naturals, but not so much for relaxed hair.

 

[Lovelylocs]

AGREED! This is precisely why I don't stretch if I don't have to.

 

[Supergirl]

Everyone definitely has their stretching threshold. Glad you're going to do what's right for you.

 

[bravenewgirl87]

I lost so much hair due to stretching,too back in the day. I've learned to start listening to my hair. Right now, its telling me to relax it. Before, I didn't want to because I wanted the growth. I am sure many of you feel the same. But, when i calculated how much NG i had in two-three months and if I relaxed every two to three months, I will still obtain and RETAIN my goals quicker than to have my hair be destroyed by breakage.

For those who are struggling with breakage due to stretching, I followed this recipe and got great results. I'll put the products/my comments I used in purple:

Special Emergency Procedure for Destroyed Hair

This recipe for hair repair is loosely based on a review of Redken Deep Fuel at Makeupalley.com. I don’t remember the name of the reviewer- please contact me if you are the Belgium hair stylist that designed it.
PS> I have not tried this recipe myself, so I cant vouch for it yet. But It does have all the main ingredients for hair repair; protein treatments followed by moisturizing and common sense:

Warning! It is time consuming and unless you already own these products or ones similar to them, expensive!

You will need:
Clarifying shampoo (try Redken Hair Cleansing Cream shampoo, or Suave Clarifying shampoo)
A creamy protein treatment (try Redken Deep Fuel, or Joico K-pak Deep Penetrating Reconstructor)
A moisturizing cream conditioner (try Nexxus Humectress, or Neutrogena Triple Moisture Deep conditioner)
Spray on Moisturizer (try Redken All Soft addictive hair transformer)
A final creamy protein treatment (Nexxus Keraphix)

THE ROUTINE:

1. Wash your hair with the clarifying shampoo and towel dry[ I used Pantene Classic Clean and Aphogee Shampoo for Relaxed Hair].
2. Mix the creamy protein treatment with the creamy moisturizing conditioner in your palm and apply all over. [I mixed one spoonful of Mixed Chicks DC with Nexxus Humectress DC and Sillicone Mix]Put on a shower cap and leave on for 30 minutes.] (You can also apply hot wet towels or a hair dryer to use heat)
3. Remove shower cap- do not rinse. Apply spray on moisturizer all over. Blow dry hair until mostly dry. [I used Surge Moisture Aide and Care Free Curl Gold]
4. Rinse
5. Towel dry hair again and apply the final protein treatment. Leave this is your hair overnight. [ The Aphogee treatment was super runny so I rinse it out after an hour and a half. I still got great results. Next time, if you're planning to sleep with this is one overnight, use the lighter protein treatment by Aphogee]
6. The next day, shampoo and condition as normal.

 

[Chevelure618]

Maybe the breakge issue increases depending on how much difference in texture there is between the relaxed hair and the natural hair.

I think this is true. Texlaxed hair is sometimes hard to define from the new growth. It takes me 7 or 8 weeks now to distinguish my new growth clearly...or to feel what I call "helmet head" when I pat my hair. I think it may be easier to transition this way...going from bone straight to texlax to natural. I don't think I could ever BC.

 

[beans4reezy]

Sorry this happened to you...but, lessons learned.

 

[LushLox]

OP do you use shampoo, because the wrong type of shampoo can be detrimental to the whole detangling process - I've learned the hard way myself with this, especially as someone who rollersets. You can use a great moisture DC but if that shampoo has been too stripping on the hair it can pay havoc later. Therefore, I can't use too much shampoo when I'm deep in a stretch and it has to be incredibly moisturising. Alternatively I dilute it and just pour it over my head and massage it in my scalp - this is useful when I'm clarifying. Also shampooing in braids is very useful - time consuming but worth it.

 

[Sha76]

I came off a 6 month stretch as well ..never again. my hair is so frazzled. I am having a major setback and most likely have to cut off the progress, because it does not look good at all. I won't be going past 12 wks from now on. It's what works for me. Why fix what is not broke.

 

[RelaxednNapulous]

Darn, lost my entire post.

Thanks for sharing this, OP. I have been having this issue the last month or so. The last 2 times I've detangled (in the shower, rinsing out conditioner, which has always worked for me), it looked like a hair massacre in my shower! My miracle, NG-melting conditioner, AlterEgo Energizing & Rebalancing, didn't work. The Knot Today a friend sent didn't quite do it. Finally, Keracare foam wrap, which usually detangles my hair instantly only worked a bit. I can't believe how much hair I lost and how bad it looks.

I never had this problem before -- whether using lye or no-lye, self-relaxing or professional, lazy or sticking to my routine. I think it's the combination of trying to stretch while also texlaxing. I used to texlax by cutting processing time, now I mix in conditioners and oils instead. I get pretty good results, especially in the back, the curl pattern is nice and it's consistent over about 10 months of using this method.

So I'm going to listen to my hair:
I'll relax when my hair wants it, every 6-8 weeks. It's thick and grows fast, especially now that the weather is warm.

I'm also going to process for another 2-5 minutes, to make sure I get my curls softened enough to last and not need correction. The hair at the crown, from ear to ear is the thickest and most matted, so it will get the most processing time. The top barely needs relaxing, so I'm already doing it last, for 5 minutes.

I thought it was interesting that the recovery technique above works with jherri juice. I had a curl in the early '80s and my hair grew like a weed with no breakage. That's even though I'm pretty sure they reprocessed the old hair every time. I noticed a few weeks back that the KeraCare foam wrap has glycerin ("juice") in it. I wonder if that's the lubricant they're referring to on the bottle? It feels like no other foam wrap, combs just glide through my hair with the Keracare foam wrap. I've been adding it to Chicoro's leave in spray, in place of glycerine, but I think I'm going to buy some jherri juice to mix into my leave in spray and maybe even to make the more disappointing foam wraps work better. My Keracare foam wrap is halfway gone (I've only wrapped sporadically since I bought it in December). I don't know when I'll be able to replace it.

Good luck, OP. Keep us posted!

 

[janeemat]

RelaxednNapulous I understand your entire post. Good luck with your hair.

For the poster that asked about what shampoo I use:

Mizani purifying for clarifying, Mizani moisturfusion as a weekly poo. I also use Rusk Smoother poo. I can't seem to find that one moisturizing poo that gives amazing slip. I don't use a lot of poo...just one lather.

Bravenewgirl87 i just dug up that same regimen for fixing damaged hair. I used it when I first began my hair journey.

My plans are to keep things pretty simple and listen to my hair. I will cowash and deep cond (Dominicans products) on Tues/Wed and do my one plait/bun. I will not touch it again until my Sat wash. Sat I will use my protein reconstructive treatment (Aphoghee 2 min or Sebastian Laminates) followed by a deep cond and then rollerset, bunning for the week.