Relaxed Hair Tings

2024 has been a wild ride gone in a flash. Managed to do a small trim and ended the year on a high hair note. Work, health and life have kept me from writing more. I also kept my hair routine to a bare minimum. I managed to wash about once a week and kept it in a bun most of the time.  This worked quite well and am going to continue keeping things simple. Before taking this photo I had been asked if it's my real hair a few times when I had it down. In 2025 I would like to be more regular with my trims. I barely managed to do it twice this year. The soft v shape and layers are a bit more forgiving and don't let my hair look scraggly too much which helps. I am hoping as I take better care of my health I'll have more energy for my hair. My current wash and blow dry routine takes me about an hour and a half and that's been the most I could do this year. I will try take better pictures in the coming year. I might also dig to see if I have any others from this year to share m...

It's been a while since my last note. I have been thinking about my goal hair length and how that fits with my lifestyle.  As my hair grows longer managing it take longer. Washing, drying and styling. The perfect balance for me of length and my lifestyle is around shoulder length. Just enough length to put it up in a bun or ponytail and easy enough to manage.  However I'd also really like to have classic length hair. That is my ultimate goal in terms of length. So now I'm trying to find a way to manage my hair at any length that's not draining. My health isn't always the best and usually when I am low on energy a lot of things fall out of my hair routine. Sometimes having water run through my hair is all I can manage and other times not even that. I want to reach my goal with full, shiny and luscious hair. So please share with me any tips you have on what's working for you and how to keep things as simple as possible. 

Checking in to say I am still here. The year has been overwhelming and somehow my hair has survived too. I kept thinking I need a low maintenance style for those times however am yet to find one low enough. Apart from being bald... Will keep trying out different things. Hope you're well and have managed to keep hair on your head. If there's any ideas for a super low maintenance style would love to hear about it!

After a bit of fumbling relaxer day went well. I think they changed something about the sticks used to mix the relaxer. Last time it broke in half and this time it just felt so short and useless... Is it just me? It took a while to flat iron and trim but I'm glad I got it done. I took off just over an inch this time. I could have cut more but considering this was my first real cut since my haphazard chop I also didn't want to be scissor happy! I am going to continue with having a trim with every relaxer. Been thinking about my grey hair more. As it starts to out number my black hair I'll be monitoring to see if this raises any issues with relaxing. How often do you get your trims?

Been playing with flexi rods for some curls. My hair has been doing well. Now that my hair is just past shoulder length I will be getting into a trim routine. I will be trimming with every relaxer so every 8 weeks. As it gets longer it is easier to trim by myself. Buns are also easier to do. When I don't blow dry I bun my hair instead and let it dry that way. Detangling starts to get challenging around the six weeks post mark so I blow dry the last two weeks.  No changes to my product line up or tools so far. Next relaxer is June I will use this opportunity to fully assess my hair when I trim it. How have things been going for you?

I clearly forgot how much work it is when you have two textures to deal with.... Upfront I will not be making the stretch till June. I was way too enthusiastic hahaha. Now reality has set in. I will take it as it comes.  Definitely past 8weeks I need to blow dry my hair to keep it stretched and reduce tangles. Your girl is also lazy so I'll have to relax when I can't keep up with blow drying.  So that's how it is. Otherwise there's not much change with my routine. I am going between buns and cornrows. How are things going with you?

It's a new year! Hope you're all well and started the year on a good note. One of the things I do at the start of the year is look ahead at what's coming and make a plan. This plan is not set in stone and it helps reduce decision fatigue.  With respect to my hair after looking at how busy the year is going to be I decided to get back to braiding my hair as a protective style. As you can see from the picture I am a little bit out of practice.  With hats and scarves I am not too worried. I'm sure I'll  get into the swing of things. I am currently 8weeks post relaxer and at this stage next relaxer is scheduled for June. I will still be keeping my weekly wash day schedule and rebraid my hair every two weeks. Another reason I made this decision is to save me from breakage due to friction and too much manipulation. In my day to day when wearing my hair out there are more chances of getting it stuck somewhere or rubbing against things. I tried putting it up in a bun howeve...

The year is almost over and this will probably be my last update for the year. Forgive the dirty mirror reflection in the photo. I am currently one week post relaxer. The progress is great and I can't wait for next year! I was supposed to have my touch up earlier but ended up getting to 11weeks post. Life and things have just been a bit busy. This experience reminded me why I shouldn't be stretching too long. Managing the two textures can be a challenge.  Another thing I learnt and am still trying to fully observe is that my scalp does not like me blow drying every week. I have decided to do a monthly blow dry. Now as my hair grows longer on the weeks I am not blow drying I can just put it up in a bun. I also want to bring in doing a french or dutch braid. I will definitely experiment with a few styles too. Next year I will be able to get onto a trimming schedule. It can be quite awkward trying to trim short hair and making it all line up so I usually wait to get some lentgh. S...

Another month has gone by and progress is made.  I can easily put my hair into a ponytail now. Low or high which is good. That also means the bun is coming in nicely. I have been wearing my hair out mostly.  Still blow drying and not flat ironing and it's been working well for me. I have started working in four sections when blow drying to make the process easier. This has certainly helped as my hair has been growing longer. I had noticed a missed section in the back where the roots where not dry. My scalp on the other hand is still a work in progress.  I noticed after reaching the six week mark it sort of rebels. I have decided to add a midweek cowash to help. I have relaxer scheduled for next month which I might move a week or so to make sure my scalp is not irritated when I relax. If the cowash helps I'll also keep it as part of the regimen. How is your hair going? I hope it is healthy and flourishing!

Still making good progress and I've kept up with my blow drying routine. I relaxed early on in the month and that was successful.  One thing I have realised regarding the ORS relaxer I am using is there are different formula of it in the market. Especially it being an imported product you don't know what you will get in the store. I don't know if it's just me but I realised one formula works much slower than the other. The one that I like I haven't seen anywhere for ages. Both boxes say new look on them and they are both not on the US website for ORS so hard to tell. Another thing I noticed is some countries have products tailored to them. I have seen the relaxer in the form of sachets etc on instagram and YouTube too. So it could just be matter of where the shops can get their supply of the relaxer that's adding to the mix. Before using the relaxer I check the expiry date. All of them have been well before expiry so I can not blame expired product for how slow ...

It's been a minute. Life keeping me busy. Hope you are all well and keeping busy. Relaxer touch up went well in July. I did have challenges with lining up my dates and the longer I stretched the more irritated my scalp became. I hope to keep the schedule going forward. If it looks like there might be challenges it would be better to get it done earlier than to hope to get it done when things 'settle down'. Reader they did not settle hahaha.  Making great progress with my hair. I was even able to do a top bun! Small but still a top bun. I will keep my weekly wash and blow dry routine. I have decided to add in the two braids for the low maintenance and it makes it much easier for wearing head scarfs. I am a little out of practice but we will get there. How has your hair been going?

The month of June has gone by and I decided to flat iron my hair. It's been a while, my hair is longer and I need help with my hand eye coordination. Needless to say it was a bit of an arm work out. The flat ironing step alone took me just under an hour. I hadn't really thought through my game plan but it all worked out in the end. There's definitely progress. I think the next time I flat iron will either be end of year or in the new year with the first relaxer. Then I'll see if it will be worth doing it more regularly if not for practice.  Growing out the hair in layers is interesting. I can put my hair in a bun just not all of it regardless of the position. This calls  for some creativity in styling with clips, side combs etc. In the background I am continuing to work on deciding my staple products. A mix of allergies and wanting accessible products that work is the reason behind it. It's not as easy as I thought it would be but progress is being made. Once I have...

Not only am I not great at taking photos, I don't always remember to take any. I had my relaxer touch up and this went well. My hair is growing and thriving. I have been enjoying my blow dry wash routine. I need to properly time it and will report back. Wash routine including blow drying is about an hour. Adding in relaxer steps on relaxer day comes to just under two hours. This is so good! My current challenge is finding a shampoo that agrees with both my hair and scalp. The ors shampoo is the only one working for me at the moment.  I'd like to have a moisturising shampoo as well and potentially a back up. Next step would be to do the same for my conditioner and other staple products. Having a go to line up and back up mean when something gets discontinued I'm not completely left out to dry. Having a focused line up also means I can work on my technique, diet, exercise, rest etc because I know the products work. Hope your hair is thriving. Do you have back up products that...

I can't believe April is over! The past couple of weeks since my last post I have been trying to see what my hair and scalp like.  Making my scalp happy continues to be a challenge. My hair on the other hand is happy and growing along nicely. I need to find a solution for my scalp to make sure more issues don't come up down the track. I am not too worried as some of my staples are ok. Some of the areas I am looking are shampoo, conditioner and deep conditioner. After eliminating the use of any oils on my scalp I noticed a big difference. It might just be the combinations I was using weren't working. I have been thinking of reintroducing some coconut oil on my scalp at least on wash day and see how that goes. I use it to seal in moisture and my hair likes it. In other words the experimenting continues. I usually give it three to four weeks to see how my scalp is reacting. If it's super irritated and itchy I stop clarify and give it a break. I also had a few washes were I...

It's been a while since my last post. My hair is growing out nicely.  Since the last post I have been washing my hair weekly and decided to just blow dry and not flat iron as well. I am mostly home and generally keep my hair covered under a scarf. Blow drying gets my hair dry and stretched in less than 10minutes. The brush attachment really helps with the process.  As my hair continues to grow, we are up in another level of awkward length. It's not quite ponytail length but it's rubbing against my neck in the back. I had to do a few experiments to find a way to keep it off my neck. This led me to the pictured side comb. I have two sizes small and the pictured large. I basically twist my hair in the back and put it up and use the comb to hold it in place. It's quite good and so far I had no issues. No more little fro on the nape area! With exercising and weather changes I had found that area would shrink and frizz up. If I want to go out I just wear my scarf over or a ha...

This is a photo after today's wash day. After deciding to go on a flat iron regimen and my hair being short again I thought it would be good to have monthly check ins. My hair is doing great! It's thick, soft and fluffy. Keeping it straight has meant very little tangles or knots. There has been very minimal shedding and hardly any breakage. I have also been wearing my hair out more. All around a great experience so far. I have started doing two shampoos as part of my routine.  One clarifying and another for moisture. I am using my ors shampoo for clarifying and my tresemme for moisture. I have done this for two wash days now and I like the outcome. This will help me get through my product stash too. I have gone through my oil mix and olive oil and I will not be bringing them back into my routine. My scalp did not like them so they have to go. I still have coconut oil which I am mainly using to seal after styling my hair. I am still perfecting my flat iron technique. This time I...

First flat iron of the year! My hair is still too short and I haven't been able to get my hands on a pencil flat iron. I noticed the plates on my cordless flat iron are a tiny bit smaller than a standard one and decided to give it a go. I flat ironed on 190degrees and the flat iron lasted about 25minutes. I had to finish the top part of my head using my standard flat iron and it wasn't too bad but it's definitely too big at the moment. After debating on whether to wait until my hair had grown out a bit more to flat iron it I ended up giving in and doing it. There's no better time than now to start practising. My new goal is to flat iron my hair in 25minutes before the flat iron dies. My hair is soft, healthy and has plenty of volume. I am happy with this wash and flat iron outcome. It is a bit uneven in some spots since I hacked it off but I am not too worried about it at the moment. This will get fixed up later. How is your hair going?

First wash post relaxer was yesterday. Since I decided to use up as many products as I can washing has to increase.  Currently looking at weekly and see how that goes. Before I get into this wash some observations from the past week. Heat styling is sustainable at the moment. The major factor is whether or not my scarf stays on  my head at night. If it doesn't stay that means I would need to freshen up the style with heat during the week. Ideally I would like set and forget styles with minimal manipulation.  Safe to say I wake up without my scarf more often than not. At my current length it's not quite simple when it comes to refreshing a style.  With that in mind blow drying is on hold until I can easily put all my hair up in a bun. I want to stick to the bun as my go to protective style. Braiding and me don't really seem to mix well especially when it comes to take down. Back to this wash day. I started off with applying my oil mix all over my hair and covering it with a ...

Another new year! Hope you are well and your hair is thriving.  I was supposed to finish up 2021 with a trim but that ended up being a cut. I am not really worried about it and am looking forward to what I can achieve in the new year. The picture was taken after emptying products in the shelf under my bathroom sink. I was trying to take stock of all my products. Let me tell you after going through my cupboards, I could start a shop! I am not posting that here... My main goal for this year is to simplify the number of products I use. To find my go to. I would then stock up on these going forward. Right now it's all over the place from product types to various brands. Some I have used some I haven't. In line with the above goal I also want to perfect my blow drying and flat ironing. Which is great as I have so many products I can experiment with.  I'd hate to waste stuff so will be making adjustments to my routines for this year. Who knows it might actually work and end up be...

I love seeing people show off their straight hair. Be it those blunt ends or flowy layers. When it comes to me though having straight hair lasts only a couple of hours before it's up. I don't like wearing my hair down. This could be one of the factors why I can retain length. There's less friction to my hair and ends are usually tucked away. In the past when I would go to a stylist to get my relaxer done that would be the only time I used heat on my hair. Once in a while I would get it straight but generally I would sit under the dryer with rollers, take them out and not have my hair styled in any way and be on my way. When I think about straight hair I see less tangles and knots. The comb just glides through the hair. I love that feeling. So I have been thinking about adding back heat to my relaxer routine and see how I go. I would still like my routine to not take all day. I can finish in two hours at the moment and would like to keep it at that or even less.  I will star...