Touch-up every 6 weeks

[sylver2]

i use to relax religiously very 5-6 weeks. hair broke off and i had to start stretchin.

 

[FluffyRed]

my hair used to start snapping off right at 5 1/2 weeks. The longest I reached during that period was shoulder length. That was using a no-lye relaxer

Then I discoverd Cantu shea butter (light protein treatment)

At 5 1/2 weeks, I apply protein to the line of demarcation, leave it on overnight before a cowash and I am able to stretch for the first time in life. I use the low-mani method

I'm in week seven right now, going for nine. My hair is, seriously, so fine that I cannot imagine the number of strands I used to lose. Some strands are as light and fine as a strand off a cotton ball!! Using Mizani fine and color treated Lye relaxer. Hoping for maintained thickness as I get more length.

 

[seashell]

Before I knew about stretching, I would relax my hair every month.
Now I can go 10-12 weeks and my hair isn't as thin.

 

[Covergirl5906]

I did this back in the day when i didn't know any better...It was so unnecessary... I don't even start to feel a little bit of new gowth until 4 to 6 weeks after touchups, so I don't even know what the heck I was touching up....the result was broken off damaged hair...Now I go as long as 4 to 5 months b4 touch ups

 

[SmartyPants]

My mom relaxes every 6 weeks and her hair would be to her butt if she didn't get a major cut twice a year. But you could set off a bomb on my mom's scalp and it would not do anything to her hair. I just finished my first 11 week stretch in September and my hair is thanking me for it. It has been a very long time since my hair has been this thick. It's currently grazing my shoulders when wet and I expect full shoulder length with my next relaxer in December.

Moisture and occasional protein treatments are key to stopping breakage at the line of demarcation.

 

[Serenity_Peace]

Oh, Lawd! My mother just visited me from Atlanta last week and I had to sit and listen to her lecture me about how I didn't relax my hair right and that I need to relax.

Anyway, she did not believe that I relaxed my hair back in August. She knows that I can stretch for a good amount of time, like every 4 months or so. I tried to explain to her that I relaxed bone strait. I think my hair is starting to grow very fast. I'm currently exactly at 8 weeks and I'm struggling. I did trim my hair, about 2 inches. She came up and trimmed another inch or so to even things up from my mistakes.

I guess my hair is just growing faster. I'm monitoring it right now. If it starts to break, I'll do a strong protein, followed by a nice moisturizing deep conditioner. My hair looks pretty healthy to me, but it is about three inches shorter and still looks right around APL.

My hair is typically fine, 3C/4A so I try not to relax it often; only 3 times a year or every 4 months or so. I hope that I will be able to hold on because my roots are really thick.

 

[flyygirlll2]

I typically relax every 6 weeks without any issues. The longest I have stretched my hair was at least 8 weeks and I experieced SEVERE breakage. My newgrowth comes in really thick and it can be difficult to detangle. To the ladies that can stretch without fail, I applaud you because I wish I could do it without breakage. Hopefully I can one of these days.

 

[Serenity_Peace]

my hair used to start snapping off right at 5 1/2 weeks. The longest I reached during that period was shoulder length. That was using a no-lye relaxer

Then I discoverd Cantu shea butter (light protein treatment)

At 5 1/2 weeks, I apply protein to the line of demarcation, leave it on overnight before a cowash and I am able to stretch for the first time in life. I use the low-mani method

I'm in week seven right now, going for nine. My hair is, seriously, so fine that I cannot imagine the number of strands I used to lose. Some strands are as light and fine as a strand off a cotton ball!! Using Mizani fine and color treated Lye relaxer. Hoping for maintained thickness as I get more length.

I'm going to try the Cantu Shea Butter treatment as well. I'll probably do another Henna this weekend, then a deep moisturizing treatment. Perhaps two weeks after that, I'll do the protein treatment. We use the same relaxer. I love Mizani!

 

[SelfStyled]

my hair used to start snapping off right at 5 1/2 weeks. The longest I reached during that period was shoulder length. That was using a no-lye relaxer

Then I discoverd Cantu shea butter (light protein treatment)

At 5 1/2 weeks, I apply protein to the line of demarcation, leave it on overnight before a cowash and I am able to stretch for the first time in life. I use the low-mani method

I'm in week seven right now, going for nine. My hair is, seriously, so fine that I cannot imagine the number of strands I used to lose. Some strands are as light and fine as a strand off a cotton ball!! Using Mizani fine and color treated Lye relaxer. Hoping for maintained thickness as I get more length.

Thanks for posting this tip. I will try this w/ the Cantu the next time I cowash. I gave up relaxing at 6 weeks when I found the hairboards. I now relax at 8 weeks which doesn't sound like that much of an improvement, but as my Derm pointed out it is a 25% increase in time between relaxers. I have made great strides with the 8 week interval, but would really like to make it to 10. The problem is at about the 6week mark all h*** breaks out. I start breaking and shedding ALOT. My hair is already thin and I don't want it any thinner. I get so sick of wrestling with my NG that I just end up relaxing at 8 weeks. I hope the Cantu trick works as I already have this product.

 

[cocoaluv]

I used to get a touch up every six weeks when my mom was paying for me to get it done. My hair is thick so it wasnt much of a problem however my stylist at the time LOVED "trims" so my hair never really got longer than what it was at the time she 1st permed it (a little longer than shoulder length). I now do 8 weeks and anything after that I notice breaking. I chickened out and go it done this time at 6 weeks because my hair was a hot mess and the new growth was killing me but I dont think I will be doing that again anytime soon.

 

[Misseyl]

I relax every 16 weeks, I use to do it every 6/8 weeks but my hair didn't grow... Now that I'm thinking about it, I don't know whether it didn't grow because it wasn't neutralized properly or it didn't grow because it was overprocessed.. Anyway, I'm not going to find out because I do my own relaxers and at 6 weeks I don't have enough growth to do anything so I don't know what the beauticians were doing to my hair at 6 weeks. .

 

[Butterfly08]

No. The shortest I've permed was 7 weeks, during a really hot summer where my hair just grew in with a vengeance. Now I'm down to relaxing 4x a year. Next year my goal is 3x a year until I get my hair to MBL. I had to stretch because I have bleached highlights and my hair was literally snapping off when I relaxed every 8 weeks and touched up my highlights every 8 weeks as well. erplexed

My hair is now much thicker and healthier. I get no breakage when I tu my relaxer, and very little breakage when I tu my color.

 

[MD_Lady]

Does anyone do this consistantly without problems????

I do (I have fine, mostly 4a hair).

 

[deltagyrl]

12 weeker here....

Every 3 months I have to listen to my "stylist" lecture me on waiting so longan that my endsaredrybutmyhairisbeautifuandshecantbelievehowlongitisbuti'mmessingitupbywaitingsolongandwouldn'tilikeatrim?

If I didn't cause major problems when I tried to self relax last year, she would get the boot.

Hate the DR salons. They use WAYYYYYYY too much heat and my hair always looks "greasy-straight."

 

[MonPetite]

If your hair grows an inch a month your hair would be 1.5 inches every 6 weeks! That seems worth a touch up if you can't handle a great deal of demarcation between the touch textures, which is where I'd find myself if I relaxed bone strait. In those cases, especially with thicker haired folks it might not be so problematic.