Transitioning...multiple lines of demarcation?

[TokyoReina]

So, this past year has been the hardest hair year ever. I stretched 7 months, fell off and relaxed (ended up texlaxed), got a corrective (that didn't correct much), and the breakage has been so extreme that there isn't a bit of eveness. On top of a scissor happy stylist giving me a terrible trim and cut. Plain awful.

Anyway, I bounced between trying to be relaxed and going natural mentally for a long time. I hate my hair now, and I'm back on the transitioning road with more determination.That's what I wanted last year when I started all this mess. However, it's very hard to deal with the multiple textures I have now.

In order I have:
Some new growth
some underprocessed
some kinda straight
some wavy
and then some bone straight.

All one one strand of hair if that's understandable. How should I go about managing this during a transition? Some areas have broken off down to the wavy texlaxed hair that wasn't corrected and I'm getting a lot of breakage despite protein treatments.

 

[DrC]

So, this past year has been the hardest hair year ever. I stretched 7 months, fell off and relaxed (ended up texlaxed), got a corrective (that didn't correct much), and the breakage has been so extreme that there isn't a bit of eveness. On top of a scissor happy stylist giving me a terrible trim and cut. Plain awful.

Anyway, I bounced between trying to be relaxed and going natural mentally for a long time. I hate my hair now, and I'm back on the transitioning road with more determination.That's what I wanted last year when I started all this mess. However, it's very hard to deal with the multiple textures I have now.

In order I have:
Some new growth
some underprocessed
some kinda straight
some wavy---
.

I some kinda confused.

You mean to tell me that you have 3-4 different textures in your hair???

Are you transitioning to be natural/relaxed/texlaxed?

uuhh okay. Its not impossible but trying to accommodate all 3-4 different textures in your hair is difficult.

Multiple textures need different individual types of maintenance.

I would say keep it in a protective style with low manipulation.
Motions DRC is a good product to use so your hair will not break at the demarcation line.

If breakage continues then you may need to go ahead and cut the chemical treated hair off because eventually it will break off during transitioning.

Good luck on your hair journey

 

[keepithealthy]

I would probably begin to trim off the bone straight portions. It might be easier to deal with the texlaxed hair since it is more close to your natural texture. As the above poster said, each of those textures need different treatment. Hopefully some vets will come in and give you some advice.

 

[jbwphoto1]

Hi Teinci. I'm in a similar position. It was not until I started transitioning last fall that I found out I had two lines of demarcation.

Right now, I have:
new growth
relaxed
natural
relaxed.

I know the naural part is underprocessed/unprocessed from a relaxer, but have no idea how they managed to miss that much hair over that much of my head.

My first plan was to remove the relaxed hair on the ends because with relaxed between two natural textures, I wanted to try and see if natural styles would hold. But I think I'll have to BC sooner than later because there is crazy detangling in some of these sections.erplexed

 

[TokyoReina]

Indeed, many textures. After the first relaxer mishap, I just wanted to relax at all straight to get a feel for what I wanted and somewhat of a cleaner slate. So I could see the difference in my hair as it grew out.

Although I'd like to avoid just cutting it off (because to be honest, I have nightmares over having short hair!) and just do a long transition, I don't think that's going to work. I'm considering wigging/weaving it up long term as it grows out. Also, I want to avoid manipulating it because that's probably the reason behind some of my breakage.

 

[Honey Bee]

@Teinci, what's your reggie?

I'm somewhat in the same position as you. I'm transitioning to texlaxed, so I have some bone-straight, some more texlaxed, some less texlaxed, and then the ever-present new-growth. I've been transitioning since I joined, so I've been dealing with this for a while. I don't know if this might help you, but for me, a fine haired, 4a/b, my fool-proof reggie is: Aphogee 2 min, then Wen, 2x/wk; and henna every two weeks. (Or, if you want to use different products: a light protein reconstructor, a super-moisturizing cond/ dc; then a light veg. protein glaze.) The over-abundance of protein is meant to counter the fineness of my strands. I fell off for a while in the winter and a lot of the bone-straight ends broke off (to which I say good riddance), but what's left looks pretty good, thank the hair gods. If your strands are a decent thickness (ie, not fine), you might just want to go with a super-moisturizing reggie/ reconstructor as needed.

eta: also, were you using lye or no-lye?

 

[CurlsBazillion]

I"m a firm believer in not holding onto unhealthy hair. Some may call me scissor happy but to me its just not pretty hair unless its healthy hair, imo. I say do what you feel is best but IF I were in your position I'd BC in a heart beat.

 

[TokyoReina]

Honey Bee

I actually don't have a set regimen. I keep trying to do what used to do: Wash with Keracare's sulfate free detangling shampoo, deep confidition with either ORS or Humecto, and rollerset with lacio lacio. It's not working. So I probably do need to change it up. Also, the first stylist used mizani regular. The second use essations. My hair came out underprocessed with both so I didn't like either. I've been wanting to switch to a simple regimen and stick with it. I've never tried aphogee but I do want to try more of the line since I love the protein treatments they make.

DayDreamist

I've been warming up to chopping it one day. I'd never cut it down extremely short though. I don't have much to chop down to right now. My new growth ain't even a curl yet.

 

[Honey Bee]

@Honey Bee

I actually don't have a set regimen. I keep trying to do what used to do: Wash with Keracare's sulfate free detangling shampoo, deep confidition with either ORS or Humecto, and rollerset with lacio lacio. It's not working. So I probably do need to change it up. Also, the first stylist used mizani regular. The second use essations. My hair came out underprocessed with both so I didn't like either. I've been wanting to switch to a simple regimen and stick with it. I've never tried aphogee but I do want to try more of the line since I love the protein treatments they make.

Teinci, how often are you doing this? Have you tried co-washing? I ask because I find that my hair thrives when I lay off the shampoo and co-wash instead. I usually only shampoo every two weeks when I do my henna. The products you're using sound good, but I'd definitely try to fit a little protein in there somewhere. I use Lacio Lacio too, but I notice that sometimes my hair requires a little layering of products, ie, a liquid-y moisture leave-in (or protein, I guess, maybe this is where you can fit it in your reggie, ie, Aphogee Keratin and Green Tea reconstructing l-i), plus Lacio Lacio, or Lacio Lacio, plus sealing (which you didn't mention). Because my hair is so fine, I tend to stick with the lighter oils for sealing, like jojoba and argan. Before using heat, I usually try to seal with Chi Silk Infusion.

About the relaxers you've used, I'm not sure whether those are lye or no lye, but a general rule of thumb is that no-lye users need more moisture and lye users need more protein.

 

[bebezazueta]

Hello,

I don't know if this will help but here's my 2 cents.

I have multiple textures too and they get along with no problems. LOL!

Here's what I make sure to do.
1) overnite DCs with a hair reconstructor. I like ORS replenishing. It's a good mix of protein and moisture.
2) pH balancing. This is the reason I still have hair on my head. I use roux porosity control regularly. An acidifying conditioner is important for chemically treated hair especially if you do correctives
3) I use products that all 3 textures love. S curl, coconut oil.
4) I rollerset to blend the textures or just bun it.
5) I always use 2 leave ins. One to strengthen and the other to moisturize. Roux treatment & shine to strengthen and Mane n tail detangler for slip

I hope this helps lady. Wishing you the BEST!

 

[hzlcreativity]

When I transitioned (I'm transitioning for a second time) I did a variety of what you're doing, but slightly differently:

1 - I washed my hair frequently (about 2-3x/week) and deep conditioned EVERY time I washed
2 - That was the *only* heat that I used on my hair (during the DC process)
3 - I used moisturizer and olive oil on my wet hair and do a variation of a braid out. this was so that the "bushy" natural roots and the stick skinny straight ends could match a little better. As the style got older I would pin it in different ways.
4 - Every day I put a form of moisture on my ends, and if I handled the hair that day, I would put it on the hair I handled (for example, if I re-braided the front, I would put moisturizer on the front of my hair prior to manipulation).

One thing that I learned was that there was bound to be some breakage, but the biggest thing that my hair enjoyed was the gentle care. I literally handled it like a baby and never used a small comb on my hair. I didn't have a denman at the time, so I rarely even used a brush. I was afraid that I would rip my hair out. Also, be careful of the combs that you're using. Check for where the seam line is, if it's a plastic comb. Some times those seam lines (from the mold) create an additional surface that your hair tears on.

Last, I carried a moisturizer spritzer with me. If my hair felt dry or looked dry, I assumed it was dry and gave it a shot of that good good

When I couldn't "deal" any longer, I did move to more protective styles, like braid extentions.

HTH :-/!

 

[Majestye]

I

Indeed, many textures. After the first relaxer mishap, I just wanted to relax at all straight to get a feel for what I wanted and somewhat of a cleaner slate. So I could see the difference in my hair as it grew out.

Although I'd like to avoid just cutting it off (because to be honest, I have nightmares over having short hair!) and just do a long transition, I don't thinthat's going to work. I'm considering wigging/weaving it up long term as it grows out. Also, I want to avoid manipulating it because that's probably the reason behind some of my breakage.

Teinci,

I can understand how you feel. I have 3 textures right now, about 7 months of new growth, texlaxed and a little bit of relaxer left. Last year I tried to transition and it didn't work for very long and I chose to texlax. I was perfectly happy with my choice only texlaxing every 3-4 months. Somehow this year I unintentionally began transitioning to natural and have been having great success with my hair. Playing with twist outs, braid outs etc... Much of my overall success is due to moisturizing moisturizing moisturizing day and night, and low manipulation.

Most of the time I keep it weaved up, but for the past two months I've allowed it to be free. My fav products are from the Creme of Nature line, especially their DC. I dont comb when dry, and always seal with oil.

I use ORS Repienishing pak - sparingly, moisturizing lotion and Edge control to lay it flat for ponytails. Cantu Break Fix is a MUST have to detangle when combing and limit breakage. I also use Jane Carter Nourish and Shine. I have 4a/b hair that rebels against protein so moisture is key for me. If you have a protein rich diet, try cutting back on protein products. I recently cut off most of my relaxed ends- I couldn't stand them, but left about an inch or two for length, so if I were you I'd cut as much as you can stand and baby the rest. If you want to transition to natural, I have found that it was easier to transition from texlaxed than from bone straight for me. HTH and HHJ!

 

[TokyoReina]

Thanks for the advice ladies. Seems like I need to lay off the protein and seriously lay off the manipulation. I bother my hair just about all day with my assortment of combs and brushes, and that's not helping me! So hopefully I can leave it alone and treat it kind while I figure out what works product wise.