Too through with transitioning...

[TokyoReina]

Seriously, I am! So now I'm sitting here teary eyed trying to think of plan to get my healthy BSL relaxed hair back. I'm six months post, and while I like the idea of being natural still, these past weeks have left me feeling really down about my hair. I had a weave for 5 weeks and when I took it down I felt like my hair had thinned and I'd lost a great deal. On top of that breakage I had breakage. So I did a protein treatment...deep conditioned...and my hair felt really short. I blamed my new growth but I believe my relaxed ends suffered immensely. On top of that I had it blown out today and the stylist cut a bit much for my taste. All I can do is cry right now because I'm really tired of even dealing with my hair. I miss just wrapping it and combing it down in the mornings. Or just making a nice sleek bun and calling it a day. Now I wake up and dread even seeing my hair.

So, I've gone from BSL to a little past SL now. From breakage, the trim, whatever...I'm not happy. So I'm wondering where to start on the path to getting my BSL relaxed hair back.I know I can't just have it relaxed an be on my way...but I really don't even know what to do now as far as a regimen or whatnot.

 

[DrC]

AWWWW.... I'm sorry you feel that way.

I think the first place you should start is getting your hair back to good health and the growth will follow. did you moisturize and condition your hair while it was in a weave??

 

[TokyoReina]

I did all I could! I used an applicator bottle to apply my moisturizers and I cowashed as well. I want weave to be a perfect protective style but I don't it helped me much.

 

[kiesha8185]

I'm really sorry to hear that. From what I hear, transitioning is not for everyone. If you're 100% certain you want to be natural, maybe you should just cut off all your relaxed ends. If you don't want to wear your natural hair short, then braid/weave it up until you get to your desired length.

If you're not sure, then try to find the right products to prevent breakage at the demarcation line. For what I see, KimmayTube's Leave-in Conditioner seems to work well for natural/relaxed heads alike, because it brings the hair to it's optimal pH. Not sure if you tried it, but everytime I transition it makes things sooo much easier. Here is the link

YouTube - ♡♡♡LUVNaturals #19 Leave In Conditioner Recipe - Step by Step

I hope you find something that works for you!

 

[Bluetopia]

Maybe you could get some braids and do the "Crown and Glory" method for a bit.

It's a low maintenance protective style that will allow you to do your easy buns/ponytails and all the rest of that stuff...but unlike a weave you'll have more access to your scalp and be less prone to ignore your hair due to that "out of sight out of mind" mentality weave can sometimes enable.

On top of that, watching your new growth push out of your braids will be visually encouraging because you'll literally seeeee the hair growing.

sounds like right now your morale and mental health around this is just as important as your hair health. we all know what you're going through. we've been there

 

[DrC]

Maybe its the weave that is breaking your hair.......plus, when taking down an install, it is recommended that you give your hair a rest for about a week or two before doing anything else to it.

 

[leelee9]

Hi, my hair is natural and it is breaking off into 1/4 to1/2 inche pieces even shorter. Do you know anything that could stop the breakage? Thanks

 

[Roux]

Hi! Transitioner here. close to 12 months post.

While I love the idea and concept of a sew in I have come to terms with the fact that I cannot properly moisturize or wash my hair in a sew in based on the products my hair thrives on. For that reason alone, I switched to wigs and half wigs.

Before you go slapping relaxer on your hair try nurturing it back to healthy because relaxing damaged hair is going to only make things worse. And think about why you wanted to go natural in the first place...you've invested six whole months into this, don't throw it away just yet.

 

[miss stress]

Hey leelee! Have u tried a protein treatment for your breakage?

Hi, my hair is natural and it is breaking off into 1/4 to1/2 inche pieces even shorter. Do you know anything that could stop the breakage? Thanks

 

[QueenFee]

I've been where you are and all I could do is try something new, I went to my stylist and had her corn braid my hair, not too tight, and left some out in the front and I did the lace wig thing for a few months with cowashign and avc rinsing every day due to thinning for a nasty scalp fungus. I basically had to take it one day at a time and most of all remember that its just hair and it will grow back. I did lf wigs and full wigs instead of weave so that I could really get to my scalp, b4 I got my human hair lace I left haie our so that I could make the synthetic ones look real and it worked out pretty well. I didn't like the full wigs as all because I have a skinny face and most of them looked ewww on me.

I now realize that back in the day I had problems with my wigs because I wasn't being creative enough. Now I have stretch satin glued into my wig cap so that nothing rubs on my edges, all the full wigs I DIDN'T LIKE got a make over with my razor and scissors so they fit my face better. For wigs with bangs I just make myself a quick weave wig so that its easy to make the bangs the way I like them. It seems like a lot of work because it is but now that I am 3/4 of the way there I wouldn't trade it for the world. If transitioning is not for you then get your relaxer back and rock out a cute SL style. Who knows? I might be texlaxed or even relaxed some years from now, its hair and it will grow back so why not try a few things until u find what works for you?

 

[QueenFee]

Hi, my hair is natural and it is breaking off into 1/4 to1/2 inche pieces even shorter. Do you know anything that could stop the breakage? Thanks

Hey do you have any Mega Tek? You can do a MT treatment on your ends pay attention to where ur natural and relaxed hair meets that's what works very well for me. Hask placenta pack with olive oil is wonderful medium protein treatment, I only apply it to my ends due to the fact that it is real placenta....baggy for 30 min and rinse follow up with hawaiian silky 14 in 1 spray and seal with oil of your choice aphogee green tea spray for when I need something more serious...I blow dry after I spray only on my strand with HD hair four sprays does it for me, once every six weeks. OSR replenishing pack is a light protein also, half a ripe avocad,one egg, 1/4 cup of the oil of your choice I use castor blended is my top treatment I do this weekly in the summer because my hair loves it. 30 min under a plastic cap and I'm good. HTH

 

[Morenita]

Hang in there! Transitioning is rough. I don't miss it for the world, BUT, I'd do it all over again if it meant that was the only way I could have natural hair. My hair was BSL and grew to MBL during my transition. My ends were thin as all heck though. My hair broke a loooot. I'm one of those people whose hair really didn't agree with transitioning, but I pushed through. It took me a while to find products that helped, and frequent protein (I used it on the relaxed parts and the line of demarcation) definitely kept breakage to a minimum. I also bunned pretty much every day. There is light at the end of the tunnel though. I recently straightened my hair and after comparing it to my pre-b/c'ed hair, I am happy to say that not only have I surpassed my old length, my hair is also thicker and more healthy than its EVER been before.

Stick with it by thinking about the end result for motivation. It's not the most enjoyable thing to transition, but when it's over, it's OVER Even if you b/c sooner than anticipated, it's only hair and it WILL grow back...stronger and healthier than before to boot.

Cheering you on

 

[Chrissmiss]

I miss just wrapping it and combing it down in the mornings. Or just making a nice sleek bun and calling it a day. Now I wake up and dread even seeing my hair.

Maybe you have been going about transitioning the wrong way. I am at my 9th month post with about 4.5 inches of new growth. What has been working wonders for me is flatironing my hair every 2 weeks for 4-6 weeks and then I will switch it up with a protective style ( individual braids or crochet braids). I am actually happier with my hair now than when it was relaxed.

I know that if I tried dealing with my hair without straightening it I wouldn't be so happy. Keeping my hair straight allows me to just wrap it up at night, or use rollers, or braid it at then in the morning I just go. And the procetive styles in between give my hair a rest from the heat. Also your hair is just gonna break, break, break if you have a 4b texture like mine and you are not keeping the NG straight. It will just break off where they meet. I have not had that problem.

When I transitioned for the first time I was not so happy because I did not use this method I was just in braids 24/7 and my mom would give me a bad press in between that reverted in hours. My hair broke off terrible so I had to cut my transition at a year and cut of the stragley relaxed ends.

This time around I see myself transitioning for as long as I want. If you are not against using heat I would suggest using this method before running back to the relaxer. Beacause right now I still feel like my hair is relaxed except on wash day when my NG comes for a visit. Good Luck.

 

[TokyoReina]

Gracias for all the advice and words. I'm trying to take it a day at a time and today I'm reppin my Carmen wig. I think wigs may be the way to go. Last year around this time I suffered from a weave as well and I wore wigs and bunned for months. I also used Megatek during this time. My hair did grow back. For the $400 a weave costs I could probably have a nice wig or two.

If you are not against using heat I would suggest using this method before running back to the relaxer. Beacause right now I still feel like my hair is relaxed except on wash day when my NG comes for a visit. Good Luck.

I think avoiding heat hurt me as well. Trying to fight the two textures is a bigger issue. I bought a Sedu not long ago and I think I'll try it out more after awhile because my hair doesn't seem to break as much when it's flatironed.

 

[dender]

Sorry, I went through this exact same experience all my relaxed hair started to break off and there was no amount of treatment/protective style I could do to stop it.

Luckily I had scalp infection which meant I couldn't get a relaxer even though I desperately wanted to. Another 6 months down the line I was so glad I didn't do it because my natural hair was thriving. I just put my braid extensions in and tried to forget about it. Its a waiting game you just have to try to forget about what your hair used to look like and focus on your goal. In the mean time......Weave????