Moisturizing Your New Growth In Relaxed Hair To Avoid Breakage

You know that awkward moment when you have just finished detangling, moisturizing and sealing your relaxed ends and all of a sudden you get that one itch that just wont go away right there in the center of your head.

You then reach up with all five fingers ready to let loose on your scalp only to notice that your new growth hair feels like the driest part of the Sahara dessert, wow! Really?

If you are on a healthy relaxed hair journey and part of your regimen includes stretching your relaxer, chances are you will have a ton of new growth that will require just as much focus and attention as the relaxed portions of the hair.

The reason for making sure your new growth is moisturized and healthy is breakage.

Simply put, if you do not have a moisture regimen for your new growth you might as well put away your bottle of super conditioner and magic oil mix because everything you are doing is counter productive and your hair will break.

A lot of people talk about the ends of the hair being the oldest  so tend to concentrate their moisturizing efforts there but when you are relaxed, you really cannot afford to neglect your new growth.

Friction

The importance of moisturizing your new growth lies in the structure of the hair and how it behaves during a stretch. New growth is much curlier and will tend to be much dryer in comparison to the relaxed portion of your hair. With all that character it tangles easily which causes a ton of friction if allowed to remain dry.

Not to mention that point where your new growth meets your relaxed ends, this part of the hair is known and the line of demarcation and is naturally the most fragile portion of the hair strand.

Adding moisture to your new growth not only reduces friction in your new curly hair but it helps to strengthen the line of demarcation making sure your are not making an already fragile situation much worse.

If your your new growth is dry there are few things you can do to reverse the Sahara dessert feeling and create something a little more like the center of a jelly donut, well not quite but you know what I mean!

Deep conditioning

The first suggestion would be to set the stage, start out with a moisture based deep condition using heat or steam. Deep conditioning* your entire head will give you a great foundation to begin your new ‘operation moisturize everything’ regimen. Try to pick a deep conditioner* that has water and other moisturizing agents as the main ingredients.

If you don’t have a deep conditioner* in your stash and no time to buy one or get in the kitchen and make one. Great moisturizing ingredients include honey*, bananas, avocado, oil or even that plain tub of greek yogurt that you have been ignoring all week. Yogurt contains plenty of protein so adding some to the mix cant hurt, it only helps to strengthen the hair while adding moisture and shine.

It is also important to make deep conditioning* a weekly event while you are still learning about your hair. Once you have your regimen down and you are comfortable handling your hair without fear of breakage, you can adjust the regimen to suit your lifestyle.

Moisturizing the new growth

Once you have established the foundation, you want to practice a regular moisture regimen every two to three days or even everyday depending on your hair needs and the climate.

Always use a water based product to moisturize, water based leave in conditioners or moisturizers. Apply the product directly to the new growth massaging and smoothing as you go along to ensure full coverage.

You can make your own daily spray leave in using a regular conditioner. A great rule of thumb to follow when mixing would be one part conditioner to two parts water, this will ensure the product is loose enough to be sprayed. Put the mixture into a spray bottle and enjoy.

Sealing 

Once you are done adding moisture the next step is to seal, sealing is just as important as adding the moisture because there is no point in adding moisture to the hair if you have nothing to keep all your hard work in place for at least a couple of days.

Sealing your new growth is pretty much the same as sealing your relaxed ends. You want to use a heavy or light oil or butter depending on your preference and the texture of your hair. If your hair strand is built like a strainer, thick and highly porous, then a heavy oil or butter would be ideal for you.

If your hair traps moisture well and you have relatively fine strands then you can get away with a light oil or butter with no fear of dryness by the next morning if you are a night time sealer.

It’s also important to section the hair while applying your moisturizers and sealants don’t just spray your hair willy nilly. Work in sections to ensure that you catch every strand and nothing is left dry and susceptible to breakage.

Jeni of Just Grow Already actually credits her moisturizing technique with the fact that she rarely loses any strands to breakage. You only have to look at her hair to know that she’s doing something right! Take a look at as she demonstrates in the below video how she moisturizes her new growth at nine weeks post relaxer.

Another example can be found from BabilonKay here. Once you got a handle on moisturizing your new growth as well as your relaxed ends you should see a difference in how your hair behaves and  retaining  length is a breeze.

How do you moisturize your new growth?