Hair update: Month 4 Gahl length retention challenge & my long-term transition update.

June 09, 2013


May was the 4th Month of the Gahl length retention challenge and I am already very excited to find out how much length I will have retained by August when the challenge ends. I have not trimmed my hair since the challenge started and I am quite proud of myself because I have only used heat once in those four months. And I have been religiously moisturising and sealing every other day and my hair is almost in a bun every single day.

I promised to update you ladies on my long term transition to natural hair so here goes the first update :)

The back and edges of my hair are currently 44 weeks post relaxer/texlax while the crown is exactly 20 weeks post. I do have a lot of new growth! 

I have been getting questions as to how I manage so much new growth without wearing protective styles such as braids or weaves. Well I have come to realise that my hair loves to be left alone and it does not like any kind of stress and manipulation whatsoever, Any time I did braids, twists or weaves in the past I always ended up with a small setback. This is why I decided to try and deal with my hair regardless of how much new growth I had. By sticking to this method I have been able to learn how to manage my own hair even with three different textures ( relaxed, texlaxed & Natural).

Managing different textures on one head can be challenging at first but it can be done, however you will need a great virtue which is patience. You will need to find out what works for your hair.
Here is what works for me.

  1. I always do a pre shampoo treatment( pre-poo) with a mixture of sunflower oil, tea tree oil & olive oil. I find that this oil mixture really softens my new growth.( I normally leave this on for about 30 minutes to 1 Hour.

    Left: Pre- shampoo treatment.                                              freshly washed, conditioned & Tshirt dried hair.

  2. Before going under the shower to wash my hair, I properly remove any shed hairs i can find using my fingers. My hair is usually divided into two or four sections.(I comb my hair only once a week)
  3. I then rinse my hair with warm water for a few minutes and proceed to shampoo with the cream of nature Argan oil sulfate free shampoo or the seba med everyday shampoo ( also sulphate free).( while washing I keep finger detangling my hair).
  4. After rinsing off the shampoo with warm water, I apply the nivea long hair repair 1 Min express treatment which I leave on for exactly one minute. After rinsing it off I apply my Aussie moist conditioner and rinse it off after a few minutes. I no longer feel the need to leave the conditioner on for too long because I usually get soft hair immediately. After using these two.


  5. Washday: sunday 9th June. moisturised & sealed hair, air dried in a bun
    I normally rinse off the conditioners with cool water, which makes the hair smooth and reduces frizz. This is also the point at which I will de-tangle my hair with my seamless comb. By this time the comb will just be gliding through :)
  6. I use a soft clean cotton T-shirt to gently blot water from the hair then I apply my home made leave in conditioner, followed by some coconut oil to seal in the moisture and a hair butter to seal in the moisture even better. This method is popularly known as the LOC method and it helps my hair retain moisture for about two to three days! This is why I moisturise every other day.


  7. Last but not least, I either let my hair air dry open or I bun it and let it air dry. I will later just bun my hair.

    Bun on air dried hair, I love trying out new buns :)

So far the transition is going on well and I hope that it stays that way. If you have any tips on how to long-term transition to natural with less breakage, please do share. I need all the information I can get . And thanks to all our readers for all the support you have been giving us. We really appreciate you for taking your time to share our hair journies with us :)





Share This Story

Tags: , , , , , , ,

You Might Also Like

2 comments

  1. Bebe10 June 2013 at 11:03

    wow, 44 Wochen post? Mein längstens waren 32 Wochen - wie schaffen das alle immer mit drei Texturen so lange zu transition? Da hab ich echt Respekt vor!
    Ich habe mir meine Haare am 31. Mai komplett abschneiden lassen weil mir der Relaxer einfach nicht mehr die erwünschten Resultate bringt. jetzt werde ich eine neue Route einschlagen müssen :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Grow African hair long(GAHL)10 June 2013 at 20:53

    Du hast ein Big chop gemacht! davor habe ich umso mehr Respekt! ich freue mich für Dich :) Drei Texturen auf einmal sind echt schwer zu handeln und deswegen habe ich damals mit texlaxen angefangen. Ich habe das relaxer immer nur 5 minuten drauf gelassen und so würden meine Haare kaum geglättet worden also fast natural. Aus diesem Grund kann mann den unterschied zwischen mein texlax und new growth kaum erkennen und sie benehmen sich auch gleich. Ich muss sagen, dass es mir immer leichter fällt meine Haare zu pflegen :)

    ReplyDelete