Who relaxes every 12 weeks (3 months)...

[KinksnCurlz]

... and why? I normally relax about 2-3x per year, no reason, just lazy i guess.

And no, i don't experience any excessive shedding and/or breakage.

 

[bocagirl]

I am trying for the first time. I'm currently at 8 weeks with no shedding or breakage and I don't see why I shouldn't be able to make it to 12.

Wish me luck.

mmmmmm as to why, I usually do it every 4 weeks, then went to 5 or 6 weeks, so now I'm just stretching as far as possible to help combat whatever damage I may have already done.

 

[brwnskingirl]

I cant go that long, the only way I could do that is if I have braids in. I can go 8-9 weeks. My hair drives me crazy if I wait that long

 

[MizAvalon]

I decided to after finding this forum and hearing about others who have had success. I am getting a touch-up this week after 16 weeks, the time before that was 14 weeks. People keep saying not to wait that long because of breakage, but so far I haven't had any, just the usual shedding. I used to relax every 6-8 weeks and you couldn't pay me to do that now that I see how far I can really go. Plus, I like being surprised with how much new growth I have actualy gotten when I do finally touch-up.

 

[lonei]

I use to before but because of my hair type it would break, I didnt know how to care for it back then I guess. I currently do 8 weeks but this time Im going for 10-12 so that I will reduce the amount of times a year the chemical has to touch my hair. However the only way I would get it straight at this interval would be to relax the front first, wash it out and then relax the back.

 

[Tammy]

I do just because I can. I don't experience breakage either. I like to giving my hair ample time to grow, giving my stylist enough newgrowth to work with and like MizAvalon said, I too like being suprised with how much new growth I've gotten over the course of 3 mos. or so. It's always a nice surprise!

 

[Honi]

I do just to prevent overlapping. I actually got to 21 weeks this time. I self relax and I just got lazy. I did alot of condition washes around that time too and made extra sure that my protein/moisture balance was in check.

 

[sengschick]

I decided to do it 2x per year, but I'm thinking 12 weeks (3x per year) is sufficient. Any sooner would be a waste for me and I'm afraid of overlap killing my lightly texturized curls. I'm 2 days shy of week 18 and wondering why I need to continue to hold out though too

. I wonder how long I can fight the

. I was planning to go 7 more weeks. I haven't noticed breakage and I can't say that new growth is causing me a struggle though either

. But I'm itching to try a wash n' wear.

 

[Tai]

I'm 3 months in right now. My only problem is that I can't wear my hair straight w/o using direct heat. I tried to wrap it a couple of days ago. My new growth laughed at me. But I can still do the wash n go but only if I use kenra. The new growth is also

at all my other shampoos and conditioners.
I will try and last 16 weeks. But I'm starting to miss being able to wear my hair straight...

 

[kitchen_tician]

I've been relaxing every 3 months/12 weeks/4x year for a while and I have little to no difficulty with doing so. I've been thinking about stretching it out longer, but I think I'll stick to 4 times a year, due to manageability, appearance and shedding.

 

[sengschick]

I gave up on having straight hair once I decided not to do heat for 6 mos! I missed it for so long, I think I just got over it a few weeks ago.

What about rollersetting Tai? If you can wash n' go you should be able to rollerset and wrap for a sleek look. No?

I've been wondering about this lately. Do you really have less shedding or more shedding based on how straight your hair happens to be? Or whether or not it's relaxed? Isn't the scalp going to shed the hair anyway? Why wouldn't it occur at the same rate? I know it seemed that I shed less when fresh from the salon, but after a few weeks it returns to normal. I've never seen what I've lost during chemical treatment, but I'm sure it's much more than typical for me on any other wash day.

 

[Tai]

I wrapped my hair a couple of days ago w/o heat. I threw my back out just after I wrapped it so I couldn't sit under the dryer.

My newgrowth did not get straight at all but the rest of my hair was perfect. The crown is so thick right now it's insane.

 

[beana3]

For me, there are a variety of factors that prevent me from going more than 8-10 weeks at a time. The main one being breakage. I experience breakage at about the 8 week mark and depending on how severe it is , I will relax immediately or wait a few more weeks.

As a type 4 head my relaxed hair differs greatly from my natural hair, keeping those two textures harmonious is not easy.

Lastly, and least important are the styling limitations. Its virtually impossible for me to acheive a smoothed look after 10 weeks, my roots are too poofy and my hair falls funny.

Overall I think relaxing 5 times a year is more beneficial for my hair. I've waited 4 months before and it did more harm than good. I would love to strecth my relaxers longer in between, but the breakage is not worth it. I think with relaxing, everyone should play it by ear.

 

[shoelover1972]

[ QUOTE ]
MizAvalon said:
I decided to after finding this forum and hearing about others who have had success. I am getting a touch-up this week after 16 weeks, the time before that was 14 weeks. People keep saying not to wait that long because of breakage, but so far I haven't had any, just the usual shedding. I used to relax every 6-8 weeks and you couldn't pay me to do that now that I see how far I can really go. Plus, I like being surprised with how much new growth I have actualy gotten when I do finally touch-up.

[/ QUOTE ]

and also to what others have mentioned I want to avoid overlapping. Also IMHO I think that it is better to expose your scalp to harsh chemicals at lesser intervals. I have only re-touched once this year (March) and aim to have my 2nd and last re-touch of this year in August (fingers crossed!!)

 

[Tai]

I've never experienced any breakage from stretching my texturizer. Ultimately, you have to know your hair well enough to know if you can stretch without breakage or not. Stretching is not for everyone. It can do more harm than good for some.

 

[Innocent_Kiss]

I'm in a sew-in right now, but whenever I grow my hair out with these prolonged styles, I think I'm gonna try to stretch mines out longer to prevent overprocessing and excess damage. How do yall manage?!?!? What type of hairstyles do you all usually wear when you have a lot of new growth?

 

[Lee]

I relax every 12 weeks. That is around the time I cannot get a comb through my new growth without washing it every two days.

 

[Tai]

I tend not to wear my hair straight. I do wash n goes with my hair down or in a ponytail when it doesn't turn out right. If I want to do it straight, then I have to use heat, which I'm trying not to do.

 

[myco]

I touch-up every 12 weeks as well. Like everyone else, it prevents overlapping and minimizes chemicals. Plus I know that I can wear a "bone-straight" hairstyle without having to have a fresh bone straight touch-up. I also get a chance to play in my newgrowth for a while. 12 weeks is the best of both worlds for me.

Kind of OT: But over the weekend my mother's hairdresser agreed to do my sister's hair for free and mine also later on this week. She said that he did a really extensive deep conditioning on her hair. I was really excited to go until she told me that he believed in getting touch-ups every 4-6 weeks. When my sister told him she usually waited 8 weeks, he told her he was surprised her hair hadn't fallen out on her pillow. I called my mother the next day and told her I'd rather pay to go somewhere else. I could tell that he and I would be fighting about too many things.

 

[Boadicea]

I used to relax twice a year but now choose to relax every 12 weeks because I simply feel like it.

Either way, I haven't experienced any extra shedding or breakage.

 

[Crysdon]

I touch-up every 12 weeks and have never touched up less than that because my natural hair is not very different from my texturized hair.

 

[jasmin]

It's hard for me to got that long. It's 10 weeks or maybe more and I don't experience too much breakage. I just have to switch shampoos. I try to use Bed Head Dumb blonde shamp/cond so that I won't break. It has some protein in it and that helps during the fragile times.

 

[sengschick]

[ QUOTE ]
Innocent_Kiss said:
I'm in a sew-in right now, but whenever I grow my hair out with these prolonged styles, I think I'm gonna try to stretch mines out longer to prevent overprocessing and excess damage. How do yall manage?!?!? What type of hairstyles do you all usually wear when you have a lot of new growth?

[/ QUOTE ]
Most people, including myself do it w/twist-outs or braid-outs. I do it on wet hair, so as I'm flat twisting it pulls my roots straight and w/the twists all the of the textures match. I'm texturized, not fully relaxed.

 

[chocolate01]

I've always relaxed every twelve weeks, guess you can say im lazt too. Right now im about 2 months in but im on the 6 month no relaxer challenge so I won't be getting a relaxer until Oct./Nov.

 

[EXSQUISIT]

i do....trying to stretch it tho til the end of dec.

 

[chicamorena]

I relax every 12 weeks to avoid overlapping and to limit the number of times I expose myself to the chemicals. It's not that hard, I just can't wear it straight and have to do more conditioner washes, but it's no problem for me.

 

[simplycee]

My last touch up was March 13, 2004. I usually go 12 weeks between touch ups. I do this to prevent overlapping and to limit the amount of times I put chemicals in my hair. After the 8th or 9th week I either do a bun, updo or braid out.

I read Healthy Black Hair by Nicole Elizabeth Smith. She recommends we give relaxed hair a break, no heat, no combing, no chemicals. She suggested braids as one way to give relaxed hair a break.

I decided to give this a try. I have been wearing braids since April. So I guess technically I am 16 weeks post relaxer. I think I will be in braids til Sept (I wear them for 6 weeks, take them out and have them redone 10-14 days later)

Sorry this is kinda long. HTH

 

[sweetpineapple]

I use to do 6-8 weeks then swithed to 8-10 weeks. My stylist told me that it should be 6-8. I want to do 10-12 but im not sure what to do if breakage might happen. Do I only need to do more condition washes and braid/twist outs, or is there more to it that that?

 

[MizAvalon]

I'm really curious about this. Why do most stylists tell you to touch-up every 6-8 weeks? Is it because they honestly believe that there will be breakage or is this what they are taught to say in cosmetology school to try and get more money out of you? I mean, I hardly have any new growth at 6 weeks. I am so grateful for this forum. before I started lurking almost a year ago, I had no idea how dependent on stylists I was. I actually believed almost everything they said.

 

[LABETT]

The longest I can go is 16 weeks but latley I have been relaxing at 12-13 weeks.
I am glad to only relax 4 times a year my hair is not thinned out like before.