“Girl I’m trying to get my hair long like your but it keeps coming out! What do i need to do? “
I get so many direct messages on Instagram and Facebook from women who are having trouble with their relaxed hair. Before they do the big chop they want to give their relaxed hair a second chance at life! I don’t know the circumstance or condition everyone’s hair is in, but I do know a couple of question you ladies can ask yourself when getting your hair to grow.
What type of relaxer am I using?
Do I implement protein treatments into my regimen?
Do I deep condition?
Do I care for my hair while in protective styles?
These are just some of the questions I ask when there is no length retention. I explain these steps and more in a detail video on my channel! Check it out!
“The front half of my head is thriving and getting longer while the back of my hair continues to break, what would you recommend?”
With the many perm rod set tutorials on YouTube I never came across one that was demonstrated on relaxed hair with a BIG voluminous end result. I wondered why I couldn’t find what I was looking for and that made me want to come up with something myself, so I did.
All relaxed hair is different but what I do know is that shrinkage for natural ladies is on their side when it comes to styles holding and even looking great after a few days. With relaxed hair we have to think of what makes our hair flourish in a style and what will make it hold without being too hard and still have movement.
So with that being said I came up with the BEST way to achieve this style for relaxed, texlaxed, and natural haired ladies. The products that were used are:
Nope, the beast isn’t my wild blown out hair blowing in the wind. It’s actually something that has held me back from leaping and taking risk in the past. It’s caused me to be left confused thinking what will my life be? How could I have a promising career if I don’t know what exactly makes me happy?
The mind is a powerful tool, so one night I let my mind take me deep into my thoughts. It’s amazing what it had pulled out because these were all things that I was familiar with. But this time they all aligned themselves and made sense for the first time. It’s like my heart had it all but my mind had finally put things into perspective.
So yes, I know what it feels like to want so many things in life but feel like its impossible. Maybe your parents don’t approve, maybe others don’t understand your vision, and it may even be blurry to you at first. But just know if you even spark a interest in something go for it. Don’t let you insecurities get the best of you because I promise it all will make sense in the end.
The day I chose to do what my heart desired was when my ” beast” was unleashed. Although the road to understanding it all was very blurry I kept my goals in mind and kept pressing forward. and because of my ambition things are starting to become transparent.
Since high-school I’ve been in flirtation with the idea of becoming a reporter of some sort. Feeling the butterflies in my stomach before doing the morning show and feeling accomplished when it was all over gave me an amazing feeling. This was what I was created to do, this is what I love.
I fought myself for sometime about perusing my dream because this dream was way bigger than me. I was suppose to be a physical therapist and have a sound idea of where I was headed after college. Then one day when my life seemed like a foggy road I met my amazing teacher who was a former anchor for Fox News. She told me
“Brianna if this is what you want to do then do it, with your whole heart. You have to give it your all to reach your full potential. So, if this is what you want to do ill help you start your journey.”
From that day forward I never looked back. It only took her believing in me and her encouraging words for me to believe in myself. Once the people around me seen my confidence they were also confident in me.
There is no one way to follow your dreams but this is what I’ve taken away from my life to share with you:
Believe in yourself so others will believe in you
Have an amazing amount of confidence
Encourage others and shed your light in their life
ALWAYS be positive
Don’t be afraid to do what makes you happy, Go for it! JUMP
I started my hair journey my senior year of high school. I never considered it as a “hair journey” because I was very inconsistent, all over the place, and I could never seem to get a routine of washing, protein treatments, and all the other things I’ve seen on YouTube.
It wasn’t until my freshmen year of college that I took out a u-part wig I had in all semester (taking it out once to wash and re-install) that I realized my hair really grows when its put away. My u-part wigs and full wig units gave my relaxed hair life and once I seen growth I wanted to keep it that way.
So that’s exactly what I did, I continued to wear units all the time. But I later realized that wasn’t enough. I then started to experiment with different products for protein treatments and I found out that I loved Aphogee two step protein treatment. It always left my strands healthy and strong after a relaxer. I have always used motions relaxer, shampoo, and conditioner. Implementing the protein treatment into my regular routine really put the icing on the cake for me. I began to also trim after every relaxer and wear my hair out more to learn more about its health.
Although I am very simple within my hair growth process I’ve tested many things out but what I do now works for me 100%. So my relaxed hair regimen goes as followed:
Relax every two or so months with my motions relaxer
Wash with motions shampoo and conditioner
Trim Every relaxer
Wash with any type of conditioner between relaxers. I don’t shampoo unless my hair is really dirty. I only wash my hair if I feel its necessary or if I want to change my braid pattern.
I only deep condition if my hair seems limp or if its having trouble holding in moisture (which is very seldom)
Do protein treatment a couple of weeks after every other relaxer (4 months) or as needed.
Protective style 99.9% of the time
and Lastly have fun!
Disclaimer: This is what I do for my hair, this may not work for others.
Photographer |IG: Sheepishnarco
So after four years of learning my hair its growing beautifully. Good luck ladies, and I hope my journey will inspired you.
@kelbpics on instagram is such a great photographer and he was a big inspiration for this shoot! He captures amazing pictures of women and their natural hair/Locks. His pictures seem to tell a story and the women in the pictures convey (to me) how much confidence they have within themselves. Kel the relaxed ladies can hair flip too lol (Go check him out).
The Story
My great photographer @sheepishnarco captured my story and my confidence as well. When me and him seen this shot we knew this was the one, the BLADE. As a young adult I’ve dealt with heart break, peer pressure, and people telling me my dream were too far fetch. This BLADE represents my strength, my ability to fight back, and the trials and tribulations I go through to try to be pleasing in gods eyes.
To every women around the world your BLADE is being Bold, Loud, Attentive, having
Drive, and giving life your best Effort, to be the best you.
Starting off the new year with an idea that had been on my mind. When god was ready for it to come to forum he placed it in my mind, my heart, and right in front of my eyes. We all know that as of lately going “Natural” has been “the move”. Don’t get me wrong I am very proud of these changes because it’s very beneficial. But I’ve come across many women that were regretful, confused, and just following the crowd.
I wear many hats and one of those being a hairstylist. I love all my clients they bring me so much joy, new ideas, and great conversation. Which was a great force behind my idea of this hair tag. Many clients and others have asked me “are you relaxed?” and after I would say yes they would immediately respond and ask “Why?”.
So at first, I had to process that being relaxed wasn’t apart of the society norms anymore even though the same women asking me that question were relaxed not too long ago. In my new project (not yet released) I compared natural vs. relaxed to the light skinned vs. dark skinned issue. I noticed that as African American women their is always SOMETHING used to separate and categorize our race as if it isn’t enough of that going on in the world already.
“Growing up it was ‘your pretty for a dark skinned girl’ and now this, i’m just wondering when is it going to stop?”
I had to ask myself why did I really love my relaxed hair because now it was being questioned, challenged, and frowned upon. By the people who say “you really shouldn’t put chemicals in your hair” and “you don’t love the natural tresses that grow from your head”.
For me that was not true at all. Being relaxed is a choice and it isn’t something that I did because everyone else was doing it or that it was acceptable to society. I’ve been relaxed since I was a small child and its always worked for me. I love my hair straight and I can wear my hair in many different styles and it is very flexible and versatile. My hair is very healthy and thick and this is true for many many relaxed women around the world.
Being relaxed is a choice, just like being natural is a choice, just like bleaching your hair, what you eat for dinner, and what you chose to learn. Relaxed ladies don’t be discouraged, don’t give up on something just to follow the trend. I know it’s hard to do when all you see is naturalista’s all over, but I am here and hopefully more relaxed ladies will join me in telling you WHY WE LOVE OUR RELAXED HAIR and just maybe it’ll help you love your relaxed hair too.
BriannaRashay 