Since i´m still stretching my relaxer and on the no heat challenge till september 2012, i try to do low maintenance and protective styles that don´t require and heat or combing.
I have a lot of new growth which i touch only once a week when i wash or twice a week if i decide to condition wash my hair in between.
This time i went for a high bun, i´m trying to vary the position of my bun to avoid putting stress on only one area which might cause breakage.

I get my edges flat by applying my moisturiser and then tying the edges down with a scarf, works like a charm. sometimes i use aloe vera gel but i have currently run out of that.

As most of you already know i am on a no heat challenge till september 2012, so i have been experimenting with different protective hair styles.
( protective styles are those that keep the ends of your hair from rubbing on clothes or simply keep your hair or ends of your hair hidden. these include: braids, weaves, wigs, buns, hats, scarves e.t.c).
Here is one i tried out and really liked, i applied flexi rods on my hair in a mohawk style in order to be able to sleep in peace and left them in overnight, i think i did the set on damp hair.
 This is what it looked like in the morning after removing the flexi rods and applying my banana clip.


Do you have any other tips on  heat free protective styles i could try out? I would really appreciate your ideas.
or do you want to join me on this challenge? then jump on i  could use some company just click here for the rules of the challenge. Even though i started on June 15th you can still join me and extend to october :-)

I deep conditioned my hair with my usual deep conditioner tea tree cholesterol mixed with ORS replenishing conditioner and my oil mix( safflower oil, olive oil, castor oil & coconut oil). after t shirt drying for 10 minutes i applied my  home made leave in conditioner and lastly i applied a serum.

 This makes detangling very easy for me and my hair is always very soft. I will be doing a review on that very soon. I am currently 13 weeks post but these pictures were taken at 12 weeks post, i have lots of new growth which is still easy to manage. i hope it stays like that since i am planning to texlax my hair again in September.I have also realised that my texlaxed hair and my new growth behave the same, these two textures love water( moisture) so i will be co washing at least once a week for extra moisture.



After applying my leave ins i detangled with my wide tooth comb and proceeded to apply my satin scarf to keep my edges tamed. this really works in getting my edges flat. and when my hair is dry i usualy just remove the scarf and bun my hair.

I am really loving my texlaxed hair, i have so much texture and since the natural hair and the texlaxed hair are almost the same texture i don´t have a problem with breakage at the line of demarcation where the two meet, however i do have to be careful with the line of demarcation between the relaxed and texlaxed hair. I will be so glad when i am fully texlaxed but that will take a couple a years.



Two days after air drying this is what my hair looked like. quite nice and soft but i do have major shrinkage of the texlaxed and natural hair.

To find out more about texlaxing & air drying please comment below.

Joanne

Hi ladies, i know that i have been gone for a long time but i´m glad to share with you my hair journey update. I relaxed my hair last week and i´m quite happy with the results. My ends have really improved after i declared war against split ends and gave myself a good trim a few months ago.
Since i got my relaxer done at a salon this time round, i asked my stylist to dust my ends for me and she did a good job :-) here is what my hair looks like now.
by the way i´m wearing my home made length shirt ;-)

please excuse me for sleeping lol!

As i have mentioned above i experienced a setback due to not trimming my ends regularly this led to my ends looking horrrible it was a disaster for me because i was so focused on retaining length. Now i know that both go hand in hand, after every relaxer i will be dusting my ends to maintain them. Here is a comparisson of what my ends looked like a few months ago and what they look like now.


My hair is just a little past APL but i´m ok with that, now that my ends are looking good i´m sure i will be retaining length.
All in all i am very pleased with my progress i remember starting my hair journey with barely shoulder length hair, since starting this journey i have seen a great difference in my hair not only in length but also in health. my hair is always soft, something i never thought would be possible because my hair is naturally very coarse. Daily moisturising and sealing have saved my hair! check out my hair care routine here evelyn´s hair care routine.


now i am more convinced than Ever that African hair can grow long, with a simple working regimen we can all achieve that great hair we have always wanted.

here you can see what an evolution my hair has made.

Ladies if you haven´t started a healthy hair journey yet please think about starting one, if you have been hiding your real hair underneath weaves, wigs and braids because it is simply damaged or you don´t know what to do with it, then a hair journey is definitely for you.

weaves and braids should be an option for our hair to change up styles if we feel like but our real crown of glory should always be healthy no matter what length it is. So give your hair a chance, give yourself sometime to get to know what your hair needs and likes and in no time you should be on your way to getting lovely healthy hair which you can protect with weaves and braids too.

Want to start a healthy hair journey and you don´t know where to start? here are a few links that will help you out:
Have any questions or hair issues post them on our newbie corner, Gahl facebook page or simply leave a comment here.
if you are not a member of our website simply sign in with your facebook details.

join us today and Let us grow some healthy long african hair together!

Evelyn.

I was just looking at old pictures on my computer and i came across one picture, which i just had to share you. a picture of what my ponytail looked like in 2010. my hair was much shorter then, but my ponytail was really full and thick. i am working towards getting that thickness back.

I also noticed that back then i held my hair with a rubber band, something i would never think of doing today because they can be very damaging. This is just one of the many things i have learnt during this journey.





Are you on a hair journey or are you starting one then please make pictures of your hair as you go on, pictures will show you where you have come from and help you get to where you want to be.

Joanne