A Healthy Hair Regimen For Relaxed Hair

Relaxed hair care can be a touch cookie to crack if you don’t know what you are doing but not at all difficult to care for when done right.

If you have resolved to have healthy relaxed hair this year then you may want to get cracking on planning and executing a healthy hair regimen for your hair.

The best way to start your journey is to create a plan of action and stick to it. Here are Five steps you can take to start a basic regimen geared towards healthy hair.

1. Make a list of all the products you will need – a basic list should include all or most of the following:

▶︎ A water based moisturizer- This will help with combating hair that is naturally dry, make sure that the moisturizer has ‘water’ as its first ingredient on the list.

▶︎ A light oil or heavy oil depending on your needs, the oil will be used to seal the moisture into the hair, for pre poos, scalp massages or just adding a natural sheen to the hair.

▶︎ A moisture based shampoo – Try any sulfate free variety.

▶︎ A clarifying shampoo*- These can be easily found online or at your local beauty supply store.

▶︎ A moisture based conditioner – This will be used in between washes for an additional boost of moisture.

▶︎ A protein based conditioner – Proteins are essential to any hair regimen but they are especially important with relaxed hair; they help to build and make the strands strong so that they can resist breakage.

▶︎ Henna is optional however trying a henna treatment can serve as a natural alternative to protein. Henna* adds strength to the hair and helps it to withstand the effects of the relaxer.

▶︎ Heat Protectant* – You may decide to use heat occasionally or regularly it just depends on what you want for your hair. Using heat sparingly helps with keeping the hair healthy and using heat protectant* can help to protect the hair during those times when using heat is necessary.

▶︎ The relaxer – Pick the relaxer that is best for you and stick with it. It may take some trial and error as you experiment with different brands, but once you find your match, no need to keep trying new ones.

2. Determine when you are going to do what – This might get confusing at first as you have to plan based on your own schedule and what you think your hair needs. If you break down your regimen weekly it is a little easier than looking at your hair care regimen over a month. For example:
Weekly do the following

▶︎ Use a moisture based shampoo and deep condition with a protein conditioner.

▶︎ Co wash mid week – seal the hair with oil and air dry to keep the moisture preserved in the hair.

▶︎ Avoid using a comb to manipulate you hair, stick to finger detangling during the week.

Monthly do one or all of the following

▶︎ Clarify and deep condition with something that adds moisture.

▶︎ Henna* (optional).

▶︎ Scalp massages.

Every 3- 4 months

Relax – Some ladies prefer to stretch the relaxer and this helps to give your hair some time to recover between relaxers.

3. Decide on Styling – Do what is easiest for you when choosing styles. However wearing protective styles not only protects the hair from damage but preserves the length you will start seeing as you follow your new healthy hair regimen. Buns, braids & pony tails are all great styles for protecting the hair as you go about your day. Heatless styling helps a great deal when trying to remain healthy- try curlformer sets and braid outs there are also ton of things on the market that can help with creating cool heatless styles. Do your research and determine what is best for you.

4. Come up with a method for evaluation – Evaluating your hair is just as important as every step we just described because you will never know what works for you without taking a critical look at how everything is affecting your hair. Great ways of evaluation can include taking monthly growth pictures, close examination of your ends and overall hair and scalp or even starting a personal blog. Whatever you decide, change, add or remove things based on what your hair is telling you.

And finally:

5. Start a fresh – When you are finally ready to start your new regimen start fresh and this usually means a trim or even a major cut to remove any damage that cannot be remedied away. Starting a fresh makes everything easier including monthly evaluation and progress.

Are you starting a healthy relaxed hair journey, if so how do you plan to start?