The journey to healthier relaxed hair can seem daunting, especially when it means giving up habits you’ve grown accustomed to over the years. Fortunately, for every bad habit you give up there’s a good one waiting to replace it. Let’s take a look at some of the most common relaxed hair faux pas and what you should be doing instead to keep your head of hair healthy…
Infrequent washes
Chances are, if you’re not washing your hair often, you’re probably not deep conditioning either. To add to that, your scalp will suffer from buildup, flaking, and clogged pores. We all know an unhealthy scalp = unhealthy hair. Skimping on your washes to preserve a style might be a good look short term, but long term? Not at all (especially with all the spritz that has your hair feeling like it’s crunchy)! Get on a washing regimen and stick to it, whether it’s once a week, once every two weeks–the more consistent the better.
Not moisturizing and sealing
Unlike natural hair, relaxed hair has more of a tendency to get weighed down and this is bothersome for many ladies. In this case you’re better off using a light oil like sunflower seed oil or a light moisturizer like Neutrogena’s Triple Moisture Silk Touch Leave In.
Forgetting your protein
Protein treatments help strengthen your hair after their bonds have been broken during the relaxing process. Relaxed hair obviously needs more protein than natural hair so be sure to incorporate a good treatment into your regimen to help your tresses stop breaking and to rebuild the structure of your hair.
Wrapping your hair
Wrapping your hair every night can actually lead to thin edges. To deal with this, some women alternate their wrapping direction each night. You can also try cross wrapping if your hair is long enough. Better yet, throw it in a pony (not tight), use rollers on your ends, tie your silk/satin scarf and be done.
Constant flat ironing
If you’re a slave to your flat iron, stop now. Your hair is already chemically straightened and direct heat isn’t the only way to achieve flowing straight styles. Check out YouTuber ulovemegz’s three part roller setting and saran wrap video on how she achieves her straight style without flat ironing it.
Relaxing too often
In my opinion, relaxing every 4-6 weeks is unnecessary. Seeing as you’ll have approx .5-inch growth, you run the risk of overlapping your relaxer. Once you master the art of dealing with your new growth, it’ll become second nature. A few starter points are to moisturize (new growth is very dry), work in sections (detangling and washing) and never comb your hair from root to tip.
Which of your bad hair habits are going out the door in 2012?
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