The Gahl length retention challenge is officially over and I would like to share what is going
on with my hair. I decided to straighten my hair so as to be able to
see if I retained length during the last six months and yes I did
retain length. My hair is now a little past bra strap length.
However, I will be trimming off a little of my relaxed hair soon.
shrinkage after blow drying on cool hair Vs straight flat ironed hair. |
My transition is going
quite well and I am learning more about my hair everyday. For
instance I learnt never to go more than a week without washing and
detangling my hair. I made this mistake last week and as a result my
hair ended up being tangled and matted. I had too much shed hair
caught up at the point where the relaxed and natural hair meets (Line
of demarcation). It took me more than one hour just to detangle my
hair and this also caused unnecessary breakage. The back and edges
of my hair are currently 53 weeks post relaxer while the crown is 28
weeks post relaxer.
wet hair texture. front 28 weeks post relaxer, back & edges 53 weeks post relaxer. |
damp hair texture shot. |
After washing,
conditioning and de-tangling my hair. I moisturised it with my homemade leave in conditioner and then applied some heat protectant
serum. I then proceeded to blow dry on cool air. Blow drying on cool
air does not get the hair straight but it will make it manageable and
you will not cause any damage to your hair. I then proceeded to flat
iron my hair. I loved the results! it was so nice to be able to
actually see my length because my hair shrinks a lot. Before
straightening my hair I had a feeling that my ends looked to thin,
but after it was straight the difference was not so bad. I am very
pleased that I have not had any significant breakage despite having
to deal with different hair textures.
click here: My previous heat pass
My ponytail |
Sideshot |