Over the last year, I decided to make more of an effort when it came to my skincare. I had noticed some changes to my skin where it was breaking out more, I had several dark spots, it was kinda dull-looking, and had an uneven tone. So when we started wearing masks and I started wearing less foundation I realized that it was time to take some action.
I did a little research to see what my skincare issues could be and it all came down to one thing - hydration. Or the lack of it. I realized that the products and techniques I was using weren’t adding enough hydration to my skin so it was dehydrated.
The more and more I stretch my relaxers, the more and more I learn about how to do it with little to no damage. Deep conditioning is important, keeping the hair moisturized is important, gentleness is probably even more important.
One thing that is also just as important as the rest but doesn’t get talked about as much, at least in my opinion, is shampooing.
How I shampoo my hair a couple of weeks after a relaxer touch-up is a bit different than how I shampoo when I’m 10 plus weeks into my stretch and have a good amount of new growth.
The reason is the new growth adds a little bit of complexity as it makes my hair more susceptible to tangling and breakage. The good news is I’ve figured out how to get work around all of that when I wash my hair and I’m sharing my four tips in this post.
When the seasons change I tend to get inspired and want other things in my life to change as well. I may cut my hair, buy a few new clothing items, or get a new purse. I’ll also change up some of the decor in my house to make it feel more Spring-like and brighten things up. When I do this, I do simple things as I’m not looking to make big changes. I just reflect on the seasonal change and give my house a slightly different look.
I’ve used many different shampoos from several different brands since I started my healthy relaxed hair journey in 2014. Most of them were drugstore-type brands that you can find at big box stores and Ulta. I rarely used a salon hair brand unless I received it for free, or went to the hair salon. Mostly because of the cost and because I didn’t think salon products would make any big difference to my hair if I used them at home.
Early in my hair journey, I learned that my relaxed hair needs a balance of moisture and strength. I would help strengthen my hair by giving it protein treatments. When I maintained that moisture and strength balance my hair thrived.
A few years ago I found out what happens to my hair when that balance gets out of whack when
I gave my hair too much protein. To compensate, I eliminated protein and focused on moisture. Now that my hair is in a better place, I’ve been working to find that new balance of moisture and strength for my hair.
This time instead of using protein treatments I’ve been trying bond mender treatments. I’ve decided to try bond menders to add strength to my relaxed hair because
- I had a bad experience with protein and am wary of doing hard protein treatments on my hair
- Protein treatments are a temporary fix as they fill in cracks in the cuticle while bond treatments are formulated to work from the inside out.