I have returned

I do apologise for not posting for a little while but the Flu got hold of me. Or at least I think it was the flu as I've never had it before. All I know is that I got stuck in bed for a few days and I am still recovering now.

So what happens when you are n a hair journey and you get ill? Your routine slowly, but surely fades away.... At least mine did. I tried to keep on M&S every night before bed time, to deep condition and all. But when the worse of the flu hit me so bad that I could not even get to work, my hands were too tired at night. I managed to deep condition once and skipped the weekly protein treatment (or pre-poo now that I think about it!).

No need to say that my hair is, once more, making me pay my lack of attention to it for the last two weeks. It is going to need a lot of TLC in the next few weeks to get back to normal. Added to that the fact that the weather as yet again changed to freezing conditions (yes, two days after Spring, it started snowing again! seriously?!). The super cold weather really doesn't help.

Anywho, I am now 10 weeks post (11 weeks tomorrow)and I think I am close to my limit. I had decided to stop trying to stretch for more than 8 weeks as that is what had led to my bold spot in the past, but my relaxer was due the week I got sick so....and now I will not have the time to do it until next week. Looks like I will have no choice but to reach the 11 weeks post. Just hope I won't have too much damage done when it comes to breakage.

So how have you been ladies? How is your HJ going? I have some serious blog reading to catch up on!!

No I didn't!

Just a quick update: I did not relax my hair in the end over the weekend. Which means that in two days I will be 9 weeks post.

Again: so far so good. I have a layer of NG which feels like a sponge on my scalp when wet lol In order to manage them and avoid breakage at the demarcation line though, I had to give up and use my blow dryer once a week after I shampoo and DC.

My hair stays sort of straight for the week (unless I feel like there is too much product build up and I have to co-wash), and I shampoo and blow dry again after 7 days.

It has been working fine for the last two weeks. I shall see how much longer I will stretch for.

I have to admit I am glad this stretch is going well so far as I have a cold :-( I am so tired that wouldn't have managed to relax my hair even if I wanted to.

It seems like my bed and hot tea are more important  than my hair right now (and I do apologise to my hair every day for it lol). It is a very bad time for me to be sick as the weather is soooo bad over here that it is not good for my hair: temperatures are a degree above or below zero most of the time, it has been snowing for the last two days, and the wind is so strong that hats or hoods refuse to stay on my head!

So what about you ladies? How is the weather where you are right now? And what techniques do you use to stretch your relaxers?

8 weeks post

Today I am officially 8 weeks post relaxer and I can say that so far, my stretch is going well. I have stretched to 8 weeks before of course (as it is the minimum one has to wait between two relaxers), but it normally doesn't go that easy.

 

Again, for those of you who are from K.I.S.S, and have read my posts on there, you will know that i normally have issues around week 8: my scalp becomes very (and I mean VERY) sensitive. so sensitive that it hurts. But it also starts itching like crazy around that time (which is also how i normally know i have made it to week 8).

 

I am happy to say that so far I have had no itching at all in my usually itchy part, and have no sensitivity issues either.

 

My hair has grown for sure, but I do not know how much. I am trying not to measure until my next length check (I prefer it that way). I can feel/see some new growth, but they are more manageable than they would normally be. I would, at that point, start experiencing breakage at my demarcation line, and it would be impossible for me to comb through them. Right now, it is still possible and the breakage is minimal really: not more hair than I normally "break", if I can put it that way.

 

I tend to think this is because of the vitamins I am taking: my curls pattern is not as coily as it has been. But then, I might be imagining it lol I have also changed my deep conditioner this month so who knows?!

 

In any case, I cannot relax today as it is mid week, so I do not have time :-) I will see how it goes until the end of the week, but so far, I don't feel like relaxing my hair yet.

Protein Update

I did my last Heavy Protein Treatment (HPT) on my last relaxer day, which was January, 9th. It has therefore been 6 weeks. Well...a bit more than six weeks now but I would have had to do it on a Wednesday which was impossible time wise. So I did it last Saturday, the 23rd of February.

 

I used the same protein treatment I have been using since the start of my HJ: Aphogee Two-Step Protein Treatment.

click on image to enlarge

 

As mentioned above, this treatment is a HEAVY one, so you do not want to use it on a weekly basis unlike the light or mild protein ones. I use the Aphogee 2 Minute Reconstructor on a weekly basis and it is a mild protein treatment. Now I use it because I feel my hair need it (breakage). But every hair is different and what works for me, might not work for you. So be careful when using protein because you can easily get into protein overload which can cause some serious breakage to your hair.

 

Let's get back to my HPT. This one has to be applied properly in order to avoid (again) some serious breakage. How? Let me explain...

 

First I washed your hair (with Aphogee Deep Moisture Shampoo). Then, once towel dried, I applied the 2-Step treatment. I usually have to be pretty fast because it gets very sticky, very quickly and my hair can get messy. Then comes the tricky and most important part: you need to dry the hair. Normally I would sit under my dryer, but as I do not have it with me, I used my blow dryer. I have to be very, VERY careful when drying because at that point, the product will start getting hard on my hair. Like super hard! So no matter what, I DO NOT manipulate my hair once dried: they will snap and break otherwise. Then I rinse by running the water on them without touching, then when they get soft again, I can start using my hands.

 

Of course afterwards I need to apply the Balancing Moisturiser and deep condition too to restore the moisture/protein balance.

 

I always feel that my hair is stronger after this treatment and will not use the mild treatment the same week to avoid any overload.

 

What about you ladies? What is your heavy protein treatment?