The Start of Our Relaxed Hair Journey

Hair journeys can be really fun and watching the progress can be great. I've just started one with my 14 year old daughter's hair. Her hair type is 4A, a tight curl with an "S" pattern. However, I've just kicked this journey up a notch because I relaxed her hair about two weeks ago. As much as I struggled with this decision, she's really not a child who likes to put much time into her hair and becomes easily frustrated with it. However, now that she has chemically treated hair, we're doing a regimen that will be easy enough for her to do and will give her the achievement she's seeking.

This is going to be a bit challenging because we've moved from having natural hair that was already a bit fragile to having damaged hair in the sense of all chemical hair being technically damaged by the chemical that's in it. So we're now working with an even more fragile hair type that is going to need special attention. I know it sounds like I've added more responsibility to the already easily frustrated child; however, with the relaxer, she's achieved her ability to wear her hair in more versatile flat ironed styles.

So the key with her hair will be to keep it free from breakage while increasing its length. Since her hair is fairly short measuring 3-3/4" in the front, 4-3/4" on the sides, 3-3/4" in the back top and 2-3/4" in the lower back, I'll only allow her to flat iron her hair once weekly. Her other options will include a wrap without heat, a set with minimum heat, and twist outs.

Our hair regimen will include a shampoo spiked with a few drops of rosemary essential oil twice weekly. We are currently using Dr. Bonner's 18 in one Hemp Peppermint Castile Soap (diluted) for our shampoo with Doo Gro Mega Long Deep Conditioner once a week for 15 minutes under the hard dryer. The second shampoo will be conditioned using Aphogee 2 Minute Reconstructor Conditioner, no heat but a plastic cap for five minutes. We will also be using a hot oil treatment as needed. Our moisturizer will be coconut oil since it is easily absorbed by the hair and does not sit on the hair shaft as many oils do. We don't want oily hair but healthy, moisturized hair that shines as a result of its healthiness.

So we're starting our first shampoo today with the keratin conditioner and have noticed that no hot oil treatment is needed. Today we'll also be doing a wrap that we'll tie up with a doo rag and allow to air dry. We want to use as little heat as possible so that we don't encourage breakage, the opposite of our goal. Also because tomorrow we will use our one flat iron day and then we'll continue to wrap with the doo rag until our next shampoo, on Saturday.

I'm excited to see how this works and will post pictures and track measurements as we proceed.