Hello ladies,
I know I’ve been gone for a minute. I genuinely feel soooo bad about that. My absence was impromptu. Life and a lot of commitments led to my absence. I did check in very briefly once or twice and felt so bad that loads of you kept visiting. Thanks for not giving up on the blog.
I hope you have been well and that life has been good. How’s the hair journey going?
I am back now and have loads I want to share and discuss, starting with my relaxer (texlax) update. Although it was one of my best stretches ever I am so glad it’s over and going forward I intend to texlax every 5 months.
RELAXER (TEXLAX) UPDATE
Texture and scalp shots
I was supposed to texlax at the end of July, but because of my busy schedule I kept pushing it. I eventually texlaxed on 18th August. The crazy thing is that I didn’t really take any decent pictures on my texlax day. I took a few of my wet hair and planned to take “official” shots after blow drying…..but that didn’t happen because I was beyond tired. The pictures in this post were all taken after my wash day one week post.
Texlax day itself was hitch free however I left in more texture than I intended to. So my new growth was more blown out than texlaxed. I do not plan to do a corrective relaxer though, as you may know I love big hair and my blown out roots means that my hair looks fuller (#winning) so I am happy overall.
I know it doesn’t show in the pictures but my hair is sooooo much longer than it was when I texlaxed in February. It feels a lot fuller towards the ends. I intend to trim a few inches off next week and then I would have gotten rid of most of the thin weathered ends.
Happy with my ponytail and my bun. I dream of having a bun much bigger than my head….one day.
Didn’t have anyone around to help me arrange/comb my hair for the back shot…. so I squeezed my ends together and hoped for a decent shot
That’s its really for this blog post. I will be back in a few days with hair style pictorial and then with a trim and regimen update.
I have been doing a lot of hair related reading recently. I am sort of looking at black hair from a different more social angle and will share a bit more of that really soon. So there’s loads for us to look forward to.
Since iv e been gone for such a while i am sure you have hair updates for me??? What’s been happening with your hair??
X
Lade
Learn|Change|Grow
Hi Lade,
Am so glad your back. I discovered your blog a while back and i have read everything you’ve written and i’m beginning my own hair journey (yaaaaaay). Currently i am stretching for 5months and will relax in september. I had my first cowash on monday night with my conditioner (Natur Vita Conditioner and Henna) and my hair felt really soft afterwards. I hope to change my products though as time goes by. Thank you for being such an inspiration to me and many other ladies out there.
Wow your hair got sooo thick! Well, I got an update for y’all xD actually not really, my hair is in braids now(with extensions) I know its not the safest…. buuut…I am giving myself scalp massages, moisturizing and sealing, I deep conditioned once,I co-washed once too and I’ve been workin’ out alot too, keeping my body fit and for more growth! 😀 I’ve been wearing my box braids for 5 weeks I’m either taking them down next weekor by the end of september. I’m already 13weeks post so when I take my braids of I’ll give my hair a weeks rest and relax it give my hair anotherweeks rest and braid it again, and so on…
I live in Spain so its hard to find good quality black hair care products , is it ok for me to use white hair products? And what leave in creamy moisturizers do you recommend, I had the s-curl, I love it but I dont think my hair should dry out in about less than 6 hours, even with the sun… So whachta recommend?
Welcome back. Your hair looks really nice.
welcome back Lade,
My hair is a mess,strugging with shrinkage,hair growth and getting a standard regimen,although i’m thinking of doing natural hair on perm rods with shea moisture curl enhancing smoothie and aloe vera gel.*fingerscrossed*
You had me stalking your page literally every second!Glad you’re back. Your hair looks yummy!The length, the thickness, the fullness, the health and everything in general!I’m currently 12 weeks post relaxer, looking to relax at 24 weeks post (so help me God) lol!
Glad to know you are back, waiting for all the new ideas and blogs.
I’m sooooo glad you are back. your hair updates keep inspiring me. Yes i have an update for you too. I have been consistent with my finger detangling only and so far i have made it to 7weeks post without much stress. I still have 5weeks to go before i relax. We are eagerly waiting for your pictorial!
Yaay! Been waiting for this post since forever…welcome back! Your hair looks so thick & awesome 😀
I have a question though…do you experience an increase in shedding during the last few weeks of your stretches? I’m 16weeks into my stretch(which is how long I used to stretch for before my HJ) and i’m going for 18weeks(new growth’s driving me crazy…lol) and I don’t know if i’m imagining things but I seem to be shedding more.
Is this normal?
@Tomi, Hmmmm. Na only you waka come o. Lol. I intended to do 16 weeks but after 14 weeks,I was experiencing shedding and general hair discomfort. I texlaxed it at 14wks and I’m resolved that my max will be 14weeks henceforth cos the hair turned out purrrfect.I’ve read somewhere that long stretches are not exceptionally beneficial .and usually once you start experiencing shedding, that’s your cue. Save what’s remaining before you lose it all. Lol.you can correct me if i’m wrong though. I hope I’m in line here Lade?
Lol.
Na only me true true.
Funny thing yeah…i said i was going to end my stretch at 18 weeks abi…i’m going to be 21 weeks post on Saturday! I still haven’t done a thing.
i ended up protective styling with crotchet braids for 2 and a half weeks then switched to wigging it for about 2weeks (still wigging it till Saturday…relaxer day;D)
i clarified, did a light protein treatment before and after the crotchet braids and my shed hairs form a ball two times the size my thumbnail! maybe i was imagining the increase in shedding, or maybe i wasn’t, but everything is back to normal now.
i think putting my hair away helped me a lot. and the protein treatments too.
everybody’s hair is different. 16 week-stretches have been the norm for me before my hair journey…my 21 week stretch has not been harmful to my hair so far…no thinning…just a lot of surprising new growth.
i hate relaxing my hair(flat hair and i don’t gel) so a 21 week stretch suits so well.
thank you though :*
Hi Miss Lade it is me the 13 year old again.Although you havent answered my previous question on the last post I want to ask another. I have been doing research and I recently heard that during moisturizing and sealing no moisturizer or oil should touch the scalp because your scalp get moisturized during shampooing and that the only thing you can use on your scalp to obtain moisture asides washing is deep conditioning and the GHE.Is it true that I cant put oil or moisturizer on my scalp because it will clog my scalp?BTW I am open to suggestions from anyone that is willing to give it,not just Miss Lade.
Hello,
Well I’m no expert but from my own personal experience putting moisturizer directly onto my scalp made it extremely greasy to the touch as this was something I used to do daily (I stopped this because I believed it could be cutting off oxygen to my scalp). I could be wrong but I think that this may cause the clogging that you are talking about BUT as a person who suffers from severe dandruff, I oil my scalp every 3 days with extra virgin olive oil by massaging just about 4 drops of it into my scalp and I experience no clogging whatsoever.
Hi Lade,
I have a few questions. I had my first wash day today and it didn’t go so well. I did a hot oil treatment last night (a mixture of olive and castor oil and raw shea butter). I didn’t put my hair in braids before washing and I had a lot of breakage. I washed and deep conditioned and my hair felt a little better afterwards. I’d like to ask if it’s okay to deep condition with hair in box braids or if the hair should be loosened after washing before deep conditioning?
I do hope you’ll reply soon. Thank you.
Thank you for your well informed yet simple post on hair care. I have enjoyed it and started my hair care journey. A week in and my damaged hair looks and feel different and the breakage and shedding has minimized. I will my hair a year to get healthy again. My hair broke a lot after surgery so maybe you can share about hair care while taking medication. I now take biotin, vitamin. E and collagen to help my hair grow. Collagen also helps to grow healthy nails and skin. Which has bevome more importamt to me at 45 years old. I also juice alot and workout at the gym since healthy eating and exercise helps the body remove toxins and get rid of stress. Maybe you can share more on this. Looking forward to your insight on caring your hair from the inside-oit. God’s blessings on your life and hair ministry.
Jaw dropping…amazingly…beautifully…gorgeous.
I started my hair journey with a mix of motion and creme of nature intensive treatment, not even sure how my hair is responding to this as I still experience little breakage while combing,heeeeeeeelp! Plus can I braid my hair in corn crows while I moisturize and seal daily?
2 years later…just wanna say wow wow and hair goals!!
Well done for achieving, I’ve been stuck at mid back length (6years natural) for awhile and only now beginning to move past. Thanks for inspiring us all.
😀