Your hair's breaking but you relax it anyway

[locabouthair]

I'm in a bad dilemna. I REALLY need a perm. I am 14 weeks post. My hair looks as if I dont wear a perm. The problem is that my hair is breaking. I can tell some of it is at the demarcation point and some of it is at the ends too. Now I've clarifed did a emergencee treatment a week ago, Dc with moisture, and have been moisturizing daily. Only to still have breakage.

I know that this is not one of the best things to do but I need to relax. I could always do a blow out but the heat from it will just dry my hair out when the dryness is whats causing the breakage in the first place.

has anyone relaxed with breakage and their hair came out alright?

 

[gymfreak336]

Hummmm

I don't know what I would do. I mean, if your hair is breaking from lack of relaxer then I would relax it if it was me. I would do another d/c treatment and just go ahead and touch it up.

 

[HoneyDew]

I have and my hair is fine.

But, if your hair is dry, maybe the Emergencee is causing more breakage. Girl, you need some serious moisture, it sound like.

Could you give your hair a nice moisturizing week or 2 before you relax?

Maybe the moisturizing products you are using are not giving you what you need right now.

 

[MsCounsel]

Im having the same dilemma. I've decided to relax. I'm 8 weeks post and the breakage started about 2 weeks ago. I've figured out the correct protein/moisture balance but I have serious breakage with about 1.25 inches of new growth.

 

[HoneyDew]

Im having the same dilemma. I've decided to relax. I'm 8 weeks post and the breakage started about 2 weeks ago. I've figured out the correct protein/moisture balance but I have serious breakage with about 1.25 inches of new growth.

I do start to get more breakage if I have gone too far between relaxers. For that reason I don't stretch. Someone said once that you should never relax to stop breakage. I don't believe that in some cases. If I have too much NG, I do get breakage at the demarcation line if I am wearing my hair down. If I wore protective styles 24-7 or did not comb like some, maybe it would work. But that is not my style.

 

[MsCounsel]

I do start to get more breakage if I have gone too far between relaxers. For that reason I don't stretch. Someone said once that you should never relax to stop breakage. I don't believe that in some cases. If I have too much NG, I do get breakage at the demarcation line if I am wearing my hair down. If I wore protective styles 24-7 or did not comb like some, maybe it would work. But that is not my style.

I agree. I have more shedding and breakage AND MORE TANGLES!!!!

I continually try to stretch out my relaxers but I seriously can't go beyond 8 weeks without losing hair. I'm still making great progress so I'm nipping it in the bud now

 

[locabouthair]

Thanks for replying ladies.

I did the ermegencee one week and then this weekend that passed, i Dc with Kenra MC and have been moisturizing daily.

Why is this hair thing so hard

 

[MsCounsel]

Cause it Worrrrthhhhh it

 

[locabouthair]

Cause it Worrrrthhhhh it

Yeah you are right.

 

[kittie43]

OMG! I am having the same exact issue. At first I thought that the breakage was from a lack of moisture but after doing repeated treatments I still had breakage. I then did a protein treatment using Affirm 5 in 1 followed by a dc with a moisturizing treatment and still the same thing. I am at my wits end about what to do and I am only 12 weeks post. I am going to relax my hair in a few days to see if that helps any.

 

[Katt73]

I do start to get more breakage if I have gone too far between relaxers. For that reason I don't stretch. Someone said once that you should never relax to stop breakage. I don't believe that in some cases. If I have too much NG, I do get breakage at the demarcation line if I am wearing my hair down. If I wore protective styles 24-7 or did not comb like some, maybe it would work. But that is not my style.

Ditto. My hair breaks like mad from the tugging it takes to detangle my NG. Almost miraculoulsy, when I relax, the comb slides through my hair and the breakage stops. I'm done with stretching...it just causes more harm than good for me.

Now, if your hair is breaking farther down the shaft and feels dry, you've got to moisturize the heck out of it.

 

[tiffers]

How long do you usually stretch? You may have passed your limit. If you wanna fix the problem first, I would say to do a bunch of deep conditioning treatments first. Sounds like your hair needs moisture.

But if you don't wanna wait, I'm sure it won't hurt to relax while breaking, just this once. Before I found LHCF, I relaxed while breaking allllllllll of the time and never ahad any problems. Honestly, relaxing made the breakage slow down or stop

 

[IntoMyhair]

I am having this problem also.
I'm days away from relaxing. I am just giving my hair a lot of DC's
and moisting and sealing.

I think my breakage is from to much protein since it's only bits and pieces.

The next week or so i'm only doing moist DC's than no protien until i relax.

Hopefully this helps.

Oh yes i have relaxed while my hair was breaking and had no i'll affects

 

[MsCounsel]

I'm off to Sally's to pick up my relaxer

Happy relaxing ladies!

 

[Leslie_C]

Yeah I agree with everyone else...I think there is a difference between breakage from being too weak/needing protein or being to dry/needing moisture and breakage from line of demarcation. I know most of the time ppl will see their breakage stop immediately after relaxing when its from stretching too long. The hair will sometimes just pop off at that line when its time for a relaxer. Now if u have hair that is so weak that every time u touch it u get a handful of hair or if u pull on it when its wet it comes out....then ur hair definitely cant handle a relaxer at that time.

 

[Aggie]

OMG! I am having the same exact issue. At first I thought that the breakage was from a lack of moisture but after doing repeated treatments I still had breakage. I then did a protein treatment using Affirm 5 in 1 followed by a dc with a moisturizing treatment and still the same thing. I am at my wits end about what to do and I am only 12 weeks post. I am going to relax my hair in a few days to see if that helps any.

Kittie get out of my head gurl. I'll be 14 weeks post tomorrow and having the same problem. But come hell or high water, this baby is gonna be relaxed tomorrow. I can't take it another day beyond tomorrow. I'd rather save what hair I gat rather than lose my hair tryin' to stretch 18 weeks, IT'S JUST NOT WORTH IT!!! Not this time around anyway.

 

[Esq.2B]

Yep, I'm experiencing the same thing. I've began to experience light shedding and light breakage. I'm going to relax on Monday before it gets too bad. It's very moisturized so it could be that I need Protein. I dunno but since I use a Protein Reconstructor, I figured my hair will get the protein once I relax. This Friday will make week 10 of my relaxer stretch. Next time I'll probably stretch to 8 or 9 weeks instead.

 

[MsCounsel]

Relaxed last night. I'm very satisfied with my results.

I used Optimum Care Regular Anti-breakage No-Lye Relaxer. I used their Pre-treatment with a little mayonaise. I smoothed the heck out of my hair. I almost forgot what it looks like when it's like this. I rinsed and then added AO GPB to my hair for a couple of minutes. I then washed the rest of the relaxer out of my hair. I had six hairs in the shower. I then deep conditioned without heat for 30 minutes. I mixed olive oil, mayonaise, their reconstructor, with a little silicon mix and slathered it on my hair with a plastic bag.

I then let my hair start to air dry. After about 15 minutes, I sectioned and blew dried each section with IC serum (red bottle) as I detangled as well. Note: I had much less detangling than I've had since I started texlaxing. I blow dry about 85% To finish I added a little silicon mix, moisture lotion and then sealed with WGO. I bunned and then baggied and hit the sack. There was some breakage and shedding but for me its sooo normal and it was much less than I've been experiencing.

 

[Aggie]

Yep, I'm experiencing the same thing. I've began to experience light shedding and light breakage. I'm going to relax on Monday before it gets too bad. It's very moisturized so it could be that I need Protein. I dunno but since I use a Protein Reconstructor, I figured my hair will get the protein once I relax. This Friday will make week 10 of my relaxer stretch. Next time I'll probably stretch to 8 or 9 weeks instead.[/quote]

Gurl, I'm with you on this one. I heard that if you want to start stretching your relaxer you havae to do it slowly. I think I tried to shock my hair too quickly. I relaxed my hair every 6-8 weeks for a year and suddenly I tried to stretch it to 18 weeks and my hair said, baby that's a no no. I made it to 14 weeks. My hair did not start to break until just over the 12 weeks post.

I just relaxed my hair and seemed like a miracle that my hair stopped breaking just like that. WOW!! So what I will do for my next relaxer, I will stretch as far as 11 or 12 weeks and see how my hair is responding to the stretch then, and if it's not breaking yet, I'll stretch longer by a week at a time. The whole time, I will be watching out for breakage especially from that point on. I really ultimately want to stretch 16 - 18 weeks at a time.

Perhaps this time, I will consider keeping my hair cornrowed when I'm about 8 weeks post and try to stretch longer that way. This way it would be less manipulation too.

 

[locabouthair]

Thanks for replying ladies! For some reason my breakage has slowed down considerably in one day. I think it's because i didnt go outside yesterday. i ddint do anything else so I think the cold weather is to blame. Now I'm not so worried about the breakage.

I will relax tonight. This will be my first self relax. I am scared, nervous and excited at the same time. Wish me luck!

 

[redcreme]

Thanks for replying ladies! For some reason my breakage has slowed down considerably in one day. I think it's because i didnt go outside yesterday. i ddint do anything else so I think the cold weather is to blame. Now I'm not so worried about the breakage.

I will relax tonight. This will be my first self relax. I am scared, nervous and excited at the same time. Wish me luck!

good luck....its a very liberating feeling

 

[mzhotniz86]

yes, i went through this a couple months back and it sounds like you need to moisturize your newgrowth. also deep condition with moisturizing con. it definitely sounds like you need a retouch though. i got one and everything went back to normal.

 

[Aggie]

Thanks for replying ladies! For some reason my breakage has slowed down considerably in one day. I think it's because i didnt go outside yesterday. i ddint do anything else so I think the cold weather is to blame. Now I'm not so worried about the breakage.

I will relax tonight. This will be my first self relax. I am scared, nervous and excited at the same time. Wish me luck!

Hey Locabouthair, Check out my siggy. I relaxed my own hair this morning for the first time in 7 years. I felt the smae way as you do right now. I used regular strength mizani LYE relaxer and it went very well if I must say so myself. I simply followed sistaslick's step to relaxing hair on www.associatedcontent.com or check out her fotki, you'll find it there as well.

The major part is basing basing basing, do this properly to avoid burns. I used vaseline and got no burns and I did this the night before my relaxer. Protect your hair strands with maybe profectiv break free or cantu break cure up to 3 days before the relaxer. I added an ounce of evoo to my relaxer before applying it to my hair.

Also, the 5 minute mid-relaxer protein treatment is crucial to use to save your hair strands from further breakage.

This treatment comes after removing the relaxer but before the neutralizing shampoo. I will never miss this step again and neither will I allow my stylist to miss it on my hair if I ever allow her to relax my hair again. Believe it or not, but when my stylist relax my hair there is major burning, every single time.

GOOD LUCK!!!

 

[locabouthair]

Hey Locabouthair, Check out my siggy. I relaxed my own hair this morning for the first time in 7 years. I felt the smae way as you do right now. I used regular strength mizani LYE relaxer and it went very well if I must say so myself. I simply followed sistaslick's step to relaxing hair on www.associatedcontent.com or check out her fotki, you'll find it there as well.

The major part is basing basing basing, do this properly to avoid burns. I used vaseline and got no burns and I did this the night before my relaxer. Protect your hair strands with maybe profectiv break free or cantu break cure up to 3 days before the relaxer. I added an ounce of evoo to my relaxer before applying it to my hair.

Also, the 5 minute mid-relaxer protein treatment is crucial to use to save your hair strands from further breakage.

This treatment comes after removing the relaxer but before the neutralizing shampoo. I will never miss this step again and neither will I allow my stylist to miss it on my hair if I ever allow her to relax my hair again. Believe it or not, but when my stylist relax my hair there is major burning, every single time.

GOOD LUCK!!!

Thanks Aggie! I am using Mizani regular lye tonight also. I almost never get anyburns with this relaxer. But I am prepared to base really well. I didnt put anything on my scalp yet but I will put vaseline as soon as I get home. I noticed sometimes when I went to the salon some parts would be a little wavy, so I decided not to use any oil because I wanted it to come out about 90% straight. Since this is my first time doing it and a lot of first timers complain about being overprocessed. I cant check ur fotki now because I'm at work but I will when i get home. I also have been reading sistaslick's article. I was going to put lots of conditioner and oil on my ends to protect them.

Your post makes me feel a lot better. Thank you!

 

[Aggie]

Thanks Aggie! I am using Mizani regular lye tonight also. I almost never get anyburns with this relaxer. But I am prepared to base really well. I didnt put anything on my scalp yet but I will put vaseline as soon as I get home. I noticed sometimes when I went to the salon some parts would be a little wavy, so I decided not to use any oil because I wanted it to come out about 90% straight. Since this is my first time doing it and a lot of first timers complain about being overprocessed. I cant check ur fotki now because I'm at work but I will when i get home. I also have been reading sistaslick's article. I was going to put lots of conditioner and oil on my ends to protect them.

Your post makes me feel a lot better. Thank you!

It's interesting that I was also 14 weeks post today. I'm glad I could help and BTW, I added you to my buddy list okay?

 

[gymfreak336]

^^You did a great job Aggie...your hair looks great.

 

[Aggie]

^^You did a great job Aggie...your hair looks great.

Thanks a lot gymfreak. I'll add you to my buddy list as well. I read a lot of your posts as well.

 

[SandySea]

Honestly, relaxing has usually helped to stop breakage for me. Especially if it's due to stretching. I'm sure I could go longer w/o a perm, but sometimes it defeats the point if I'm getting breakage.

 

[poookie]

don't relax yet!!!

for those with breakage problems, have you tried sitting with conditioner on your head overnight? i had breakage issues about 2 months into my 6 month stretch last year, and i found that putting a protein-free moisturizing conditioner on my head with a showercap overnight really softened the new growth, and pretty much stopped breakage. doing that 1x a week helped me to stretch 6 months no problem.

just something to ponder before you slap on that chemical deliciousness.

edit:
oops, i guess most of y'all went ahead and did it i'm a bit late

 

[sareca]

I've never had breakage from stretching but I have heard people swear that applying relaxer stops their breakage. I still don't get why that doesn't make the breakage worse.