A Good Regimen For Relaxed, Texlaxed Or Texturized Black Hair

Use this simple regimen tweaking where necessary to grown your relaxed hair to its full potential

When growing out relaxed, texturized or texlaxed hair, there is one thing that you must remember. Moisture! Without it your hair will break, period. With any relaxed hair regimen this must be taken into account. The following are other points to consider:

• How often to wash your hair
• How often to deep condition
• How often to have protein treatments
• How often to clarify your hair
• How to style it to retain the most length
• How often to trim your hair
• How often to have hot oil treatments
• How often to rotate your shampoos and conditioners
• How often to have retouch the new growth

Outlined below is a moisture rich regimen for relaxed, texturized or texlaxed hair:

1. Co-wash (condition wash) hair on Monday with a moisturizing conditioner*, wet wrap with minimal oil or silicone serum to seal and air dry overnight for a straight style.

2. Co wash with a moisturizing conditioner* on Wednesday and air dry making sure to seal with oil or silicone serum. Pin curl the hair overnight for a curly do.

3. Never brush the hair when it is wet as this is when relaxed hair is weakest. Use a wide tooth comb* to detangle dry or mostly dry hair.

4. Keep hair moisturized daily between washes with a coin sized amount of a good hair moisturizer dabbed through the hair with fingers. Avoid combing excessively.

5. On Saturday, wash hair with a sulfate free shampoo* and deep condition with a light protein conditioner. Roller set the hair, sitting under a dryer for a smooth straight style.

6. Rotate the conditioners (both moisturizing and protein) every other week so that the hair does not stop responding to it.

7. A hot oil treatment should be used on the hair every 4th Saturday.

8. For special occasions smooth the hair out with a flat iron* for a straight style. Make sure to use heat protectant* beforehand.

9. Use only temperature controlled heat tools. As the relaxed hair has already lost some of its natural curl, very little heat will be required to smooth it out.

10. Apply a strong protein treatment to the hair a every 6-8 weeks or when you notice excessive breakage.

11. Make sure to use a strong protein treatment the week before the relaxer service. This is to strengthen the hair in preparation for the chemical.

12. Use the same relaxer with each touch up which should be every 2-3 months. You want to have at least 1- 1.5 inches of hair before relaxing, any sooner and you run the risk of over processing the hair.

13. Do not relax the hair ‘bone straight’; be sure to ask your stylist to leave a bit of curl in the hair. This is to ensure that the hair is left with some of its elasticity after the relaxer process.

14. If you self-relax, always use a neutralizing shampoo to wash the hair after the service. This will ensure that all the relaxer is removed from the hair and that the hair is restored to its normal ph level. The same should be applied if you go to a stylist for a relaxer touch up.

15. Use a caramel treatment a month after the relaxer touch up to hydrate the new growth and help to straighten it without using too much heat.

16. Do not braid the hair for the first 2 weeks after a relaxer service.

17. Keep hair braided for 2-3 weeks at a time especially if the hair is at shoulder length as it helps with length retention. If the hair is past this length then braiding is not necessary unless you want to!

18. When the hair is braided, normal washing and conditioning must continue to keep the hair moisturized until you take down the braids.

19. Do not braid too close to the edges (small baby hairs) to avoid thinning of the hairline

20. Clarify the hair once every 6-8 weeks or when a lot of product has been used during the week to get rid of build up. Do not do this often to prevent the hair from feeling ‘stripped’ and dry.

21. Dust any split ends once every 6 months. Trim the hair only if you want full ends as your strands do not grow at the same rate. Trimming the hair more often will only serve to reduce the length gained and does nothing for the overall health of your hair.

22. Track your growth every 3 months with pictures.

The regimen above can be changed to suit your hair’s needs or lifestyle. See the article on how to cheat at roller setting hair.