Relaxer Prep

 I did it yet again and made it to 12 weeks, I am an official 3 monther!  I will be 12 weeks post and relaxing on Sunday.  The best part about it is that it's so dang easy now, so there is no turning back.  What's also great is the fact that I feel confident that I can stretch longer; the only reason I don't is b/c of this patch of alopecia and it's location really minimizes my style options.  Anywho in preparation of my relaxer this Sunday here's what I did last night:
1. Prepoo'd w/a mix of Aubrey Organic GPB (review coming soon), an egg, wheat germ oil and olive oil and Nature's Gate Condish.
2. Chelated w/L'anza Healing Hair Care Swim & Sun HPF 30 Daily Chelating Shampoo -Sulfate and EDTA free(review coming soon)
3.Deep Condish w/Jessicurl Weekly Treatment
4. ACV Rinse for porosity control

I didn't apply any leave-ins, I simply put some distilled water in a spray bottle and saturated my hair, sealed w/olive oil and let air dry using Sunshyne's scarf method.  When my hair was about 90% dry I applied Hairveda's green tea butter (review coming soon) on the ends and mid-shaft down the hair, wrapped in a bun and went to bed.  I woke up to soft, moisturized hair and new growth.  I will  be using the distilled water and olive oil solely to moisturize and seal until my relaxer in order to minimize product build-up on the hair which can cause under-processing and/or uneven relaxer results.

Wonders Never Cease

Funny thing; At one point I used to relax every 4 weeks but I'm 10 wks post this weekend and never been able to better manage my hair this far into a relaxer stretch.  I've got some hardcore newgrowth, I ain't lyin, but I've had absolutely no difficulty managing my tresses.  I think this is largely due to the fact that I've learned what works for MY hair and now I am keeping it simple and sticking to those specific products.  No deviating for me....I even did the unthinkable this past weekend and fell asleep w/o moisturizing, sealing or putting on my scarf!  To make matters worse the next night I wasn't feeling too hot and tied my hair up for bed real half -you- know- what, and when I woke up my scarf was off again! (The next morning the hubby said I look like Edward Scissorhands..lol!!!)  No sweat thought I recovered by giving my hair a lil tlc with a hot oil treatment pre-poo for about an 1.5 hrs, a co-wash w/baking soda, deep conditioned for 45 min w/heat and air-dried.  My hair was like new, my new growth was soft and fluffy and I was cool.

I remember when a light "snip" was the answer to all my hair problems: a lil dryness, limpness, boredom etc but now I opt to fix what's wrong by listening to what my hair needs.  Knowledge is definitely power!

Progress Pics - 1yr

It seems I made the mistake that everyone on the hair boards and forums advise you NOT make;  I didn't take photos of my cut in Dec 08!!!  My 1st pic was in March 09 so I took some pics a couple of weeks ago and decided to post what a difference a yr makes;

The top left photo is March 09 an ear length bob.  And now for March 2010:

Outside of the "hole" where my alopecia patch lies underneath, I can't complain, but that "hole" is enough to make me go crazy trust me.  Don't worry, I have a quickie solution for when I want to wear my hair out b/c of course I can not let that show and look like a hot mess:

Just sew to mini comb-clips on a track of hair, measure and cut to suit your needs and voila!

HHG