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  • Hey there, I have not  blogged in quite a while, even though I have been meaning to do so for quite some time now. But i am here now and with an update of what has been has been going on with my hair lately. I am still on the Gahl length retention challenge even though i do break a few rules here and there sometimes.

    If you read my latest “texlax” update, you already know that i did not apply any relaxer to my edges and to the back part of my hair because I felt that the curls there did not need any loosening up. I only applied the relaxer to my crown and left it in for less than 10 minutes. This left my hair with a lot of texture which i am absolutely loving. My crown is currently 9 weeks post relaxer while my edges and back of the head are 34 weeks post relaxer. 
                                                               New growth at 8 weeks post relaxer

    Dealing with three different textures (I have relaxed ends, “Texlaxed” hair and the new growth), can be very challenging and i personally feel that the best way to work with these textures is to avoid straight hair styles, especially those that require direct heat such as blow drying and flat ironing, as it is much easier to get your hair into curly styles as opposed to keeping it straight all the time. Curly styles such as braid outs, Bantu knots out, rod sets and even roller sets are great ways to blend in different textures together and still have your hair looking fabulous.
                                                                   Bantu Knot out.

    Lately i have been trying out Bantu knots out and i totally love them. They blend in all the textures so well and i do get lots of compliments when i do them too ;). I have been styling up my buns too. Since my “texlaxed” hair has a lot of texture, i decided to try out those gorgeous buns i see ladies with natural hair do on their hair and to my surprise it did come out great! With bone straight relaxed hair it would have been almost impossible to get the look. 

                                                   Bun, absolutely natural hairstyles inspired ;)

    Do you have any more ideas on ways to blend in different hair textures? it would be great to hear from you :)


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    I had to clarify my hair since i had been swimming. To protect my hair from the chlorine water i applied some sunflower oil and Vaseline to my hair. I guess this really helped because my hair felt soft and moisturized after washing.

    I applied some moisturizing conditioner and sat under my hooded drier for 30 minutes, rinsed off the conditioner and proceeded to dentangle with my fingers under the shower and with a wide toothed comb after applying my home made leave in and serum. I then left my hair to air dry. I pretty much wore a bun for the whole week. Since i do not comb my hair in between the week i greatly rely on my fingers, soft brush and scarf to get my edges lying down.
    I did not relax the back of my head this time round because i realised that the curl pattern was already very loose. I wish it was the same all over. This just shows us how different afro hair can be when it come to texture. one head can have lots of different textures!

    have you noticed different textures in your hair too?






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    I texlaxed my hair at 25 weeks post relaxer, this is the longest relaxer stretch that I have ever done and I don´t think that I will be doing another one that long anytime soon.
    This time around I did not use the just for me texture softener, I opted for the Revlon lye relaxer regular strength and the results were really good because it left a lot of texture in my hair. The just for me texture softener is good but it left some parts of my hair straight after application and since my aim is to leave as much texture as possible in my hair I guess I will not be using it any more.

                                                Texture turned out just as i had imagined it.





    The other thing I did different this time round was to only apply relaxer to the areas where my curls are too tight. I left out the nape and the sides because the curls in those areas were loose enough to pass as texlaxed. I got this tip from Tendayi of africanhairblog.com (Thanks Tendayi).
    As always, I used the half and half method to apply the relaxer to avoid over processing my hair. I proceeded to do a mid protein step using the L’Oreal total repair immediately after rinsing off the relaxer. I immediately followed with my motions neutralizing shampoo and rinsed it off after a few minutes. After the relaxing process was done I neutralized my whole head just incase there was still relaxer left in and then I deep conditioned with the lustrasilk mango Shea butter cholesterol.
    Since I wanted to flat iron my hair, I did not want to use my home made leave in so as not to weigh down my hair. I ended up applying the Gliss kur liquid silk leave in conditioner and the chi silk infusion serum and proceeded to air dry.
                                                      These are the ends I cut off.

    I knew I had to trim off some hair since I had suffered a setback a few weeks earlier but I didn´t know how much, on straightening my hair it became clear that I had to cut off a lot. 
    The ends of my hair were just too thin for my liking. The thin ends were at mid back length, so I would say that I was mid back length for a minute. I ended up cutting my hair back to right above bra strap length. And since I am joining the Gahl length retention challenge 2013, I am hoping that the length I lost will grow back in time. 

    I will be doing reviews on all the new products very soon, I have to keep looking for new products because I now have more texlaxed hair than relaxed hair and unfortunately the products I used to use just don´t work as good any more. 
    Please excuse the poor quality of my pictures, I am trusting God for a new camera since mine broke.

    Have you had to cut off thin ends lately? what are you doing to retain length?


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    Beautysets - Gahl length retention challenge set

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    Straightened hair at 21 weeks post relaxer
    I was really not planning to stretch my relaxer this long but somehow I have managed to do so, I will be relaxing/ “Texlaxing” my hair at the end of January so stay tuned for my relaxer preparations for the next few weeks. 

    I decided to flat iron my hair on Sunday 31st of December 2012 after months of air drying. After clarifying and deep conditioning I decided not to blow dry my hair before flat ironing it, I air dried it instead and to my surprise there was actually no difference to flat ironing air dried hair as compared to blow dried hair. I guess I will stick to air drying in the future. 
    My ends are still not as thick as I would like them to be but I am working on that, I will keep trimming off the thin ends until I am satisfied with the thickness.




    I did however lose a lot of hair because my hair still had some tangles from the mini twists I had done the previous week. So 2012 practically ended in a second setback. However I still keep convincing myself that it will grow back and that every little setback is an opportunity for me to learn something new about my hair. I have come to the conclusion that my hair likes being left alone, so this year the only protective styles I will be doing are buns, braid outs and twist outs.

     It is really nice to be able to pass a comb through my hair.


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