Whether you're going natural or simply stretching your relaxer, at some point you're likely to experience breakage at the line of demarcation. This is the point in which the relaxed hair and natural hair meets, and it's a very fragile area.

The more new growth you have, the more fragile the demarcation line will be, so it's important to keep your moisture levels up - especially at this area!


As I get deeper into my transition, I'm noticing my hair - especially my roots are feeling extra dry. So I'll share with you a simple yet effective tweak that I've made to my conditioning technique.


Apply conditioner to new growth as if it were a relaxer

I've simply been parting my hair in small sections and applying conditioner mixed with oils to the new growth. I do this all over my head - not forgetting the hairline (nape & edges). Once complete, smooth the conditioner down the hair shaft until it reaches the ends. If necessary, apply more conditioner to just the ends to ensure full coverage.

Once my hair is fully covered, I will apply a plastic cap and use my heat wrap for 30 minutes

This technique is particularly good if you're prone to forgetting certain areas when deep conditioning.

I know I sometimes take the simple advice for granted - so do consider trying this technique if you have not done so already!

Deep conditioning is a crucial aspect when trying to grow and maintain healthy hair. It aids in providing the moisture and strength that our fragile hair needs, helping it to cope against chemical services, manipulation and heat.

Using heat is a great way to deep condition hair as it allows the cuticle to open, thus allowing the conditioner to penetrate deeper into the cortex. I use a great product called LookGreat Heat Wrap, which is a head wrap with microwavable gel packs inside. It allows you to condition with heat on the go. Figure 1 (below) shows that as the temperature used to deep condition increases, so does the absorption of the conditioner into the hair strand. The graph suggests that that 60 degrees is the optimum temperature for deep conditioning. Dr Ali suggests this can be achieved by using an electric heat cap on the medium setting.



How long is best to leave the treatment on our hair? If you spend time deep conditioning for hours on end or even overnight, you might find the following results interesting:
 

Figure 2 (above) simply shows that the longer we leave the conditioner on our hair, the better it can penetrate into our strands. However, after 25 to 30 minutes, the hair reaches its maximum absorption. This means that leaving the conditioner on for any longer will give you no extra conditioning benefits.

So if you have been deep conditioning over night in the hopes that the product absorbs better, you can be safe in the knowledge that after just 30 minutes, you can rinse your hair having conditioned thoroughly. Use heat to achieve the maximum benefits.
Of course, if you like the way your hair feels after conditioning for an extended period of time, keep doing what works for you!

This post is based on the research carried out by Dr Ali Syed, president of Avlon (Keracare) Cosmetics. To read the full article, click here.

So I'm officially 5 months since my last relaxer. Even before I had decided to transition, I had never gone this long so I'm quite proud of myself. It's a whole new experience for me, and exciting too seeing my natural hair come in. Since my mum was the one who looked after my hair when it was natural, I've never really got to 'know' it, and so I believe transitioning instead of 'big chopping' is better for me as it's a slower process.

My thoughts so far:

• My new growth feels much rougher and drier compared to the rest of my hair. Partly, I think it's because I'm simply used to my relaxed hair, and partly I think I haven't got my moisture levels up yet (probably doesn't help that I straighten my hair often).
• The back of my head is fully natural now as that's where the shortest layers are. I'm using this area as a testing place for products and techniques. 
• I've noticed that my beloved Main n Tail Deep Moisturizing Conditioner no longer leaves my hair feeling like feathers, and now leaves it feeling hard and tangled.
• I'm thinking I should start washing my hair in big twists or sections now to avoid tangles.

So I've been thinking for a few weeks that I want to dye my hair jet black. I've been wanting to do it for months actually.

I just find that jet black hair reflects shine better and looks healthier and more exotic. So here are the pictures! I like it

Hair is primarily composed of a protein called keratin, which is what makes our hair strong. While all hair needs protein to keep its strength, relaxed hair often needs a dose more often. This is because the chemicals in a relaxer break down and weaken the protein bonds in the hair, thus reducing strength. 

There are several other factors that reduce the amount of protein within the hair:

• Manipulation of any kind: touching, twisting, coming, washing etc can all reduce protein in the hair

• The elements: harsh weather such as cold winds can reduce the strength in your strands. Protective styles are a great way of keeping your hair- especially the ends- tucked away and shielded. 

• Any form of chemical service 

• Using direct heat not only diminishes moisture with in the hair, but protein also.

More information:

• See: The Brief on Moisture
• See The Science of Black Hair to read all about protective styles

Why do we need to moisturise our hair?

Black hair especially needs moisture to help keep it supple, soft, retain its elasticity and keep it from getting dry. Moisture deficiency in afro textured hair is probably one of the biggest reasons for not retraining length.

Let me start by saying that water is the utmost moisturising ingredient. When our bodies are dehydrated, we drink water. This is no different for our hair. It is a complete myth that 'black hair should not get wet'. Our hair loves water and moisture. Furthermore, you can not moisturise your hair by simply adding an oil or grease, as they do not contain the water that our hair needs.

There are loads of great moisturisers for hair on the market, but if you want to keep things simple, just using plain water in a spray bottle will do just fine. 

• See Hairlista's recommended moisturisers for natural hair
• See Hairlista's recommended moisturisers for relaxed hair

However, just using water alone is not enough. Water - and any water based moisturiser will soon evaporate from our hair strands, especially if your hair is porous. You must 'seal' in the moisture with an oil. The idea is that the oil molecules are too large to penetrate the hair strand, and thus create a barrier to trap in the moisture.

You should be moisturising your hair once a day until you get to know what works for you. 

Moisturising conditioners & treatments
Just like protein, moisturising treatments are essential for building a healthy hair regime. You should be doing a moisturising deep conditioning treatment at least once a week.

Weekly washes
You should be washing your hair with a sulfate-free shampoo, which doesn't contain the harsh detergents that strip the hair. You might also choose to incorporate co-washes. Washing the hair regularly means your scalp is kept clean. A clean scalp means pores are not clogged and hindering hair growth. Clean hair also gets rid of product build up, which prevents moisture from getting into the strands efficiently. 

How do you know if your hair needs moisture?

• Your hair feels dry to the touch, and is snapping when you comb it or touch it 
• Your hair breaks easily when stretched 
• Your wet hair feels hard and tangles easily
• You use heat regularly. Using direct heat is a sure way to rid your hair of its moisture. It is recommended that you do a moisturising deep condition before you use direct heat. 

Be careful of a moisture overload! How do you know if your hair has too much moisture?

Perhaps it's time for a protein treatment if:

• Your hair feels weak, limp, gummy, or super stretchy
• You have been moisturising non-stop without a protein treatment 

After a disaster flat ironing episode a few weeks ago (didn't use heat protectant), my hair was suffering from heat damage. I was determined to get my hair cut. Not only would it get rid of the damage, it would get me closer to being fully natural by getting rid of more relaxed ends.

When I arrived at the hairdressers, it was closed. I was so eager to get a haircut that I went to another salon and asked them to keep the same bob style, but just go shorter. As soon as the woman started cutting, I could tell she didn't know what she was doing. Chopping layers here and there, she totally ignored the bottom half of my hair and only cut the top! I was left with very short layers up top and a MULLET (well, not quite) at the back! It looked like a boy's haircut. I was so upset and annoyed.

So today I went to my usual stylist and told her what had happened. She said she couldn't do the exact style I wanted but she'll make the best of it. I still don't particularly like the style but I guess it's the best of a bad situation. This is the shortest my hair's ever been. The good thing about having it this short however, is I do not need to straighten my hair as much.  I literally just tie a scarf round my head without having to wrap my hair.




Lessons learned? If my stylist isn't available, WAIT until she is!
For more on heat damage, see blackgirllonghair.com: 7 Signs of Damaged Hair

My crown area is the first place to break when I have a considerable amount of new growth. It's happened before and it's happening now. 

For me, I know it's demarcation breakage. Some years ago my nape also broke off - I basically had a hole at the back of my hair where you could see through to my neck. In my case, it was because I used to wear wooly scarves while wearing my hair down. They used to rub and result in breakage.

I've heard many stories about similar situations, so I've compiled a set of causes and solutions for crown and nape breakage that you might consider.

Possible causes for hair breakage at the crown:

• Often, the hair is courser in that area but also the weakest and first to break. For relaxed and transitioning hair particularly, this means a more prominent and weaker demarcation line.

• If your hair is courser in this area, perhaps you are compensating by brushing harder.

• You are missing that area when conditioning or not giving it enough moisture. It is often a forgotten area. Perhaps you are only focusing on the outer layer of hair?

• When you relax your hair, you create four parts and start applying the relaxer to the centre. It is the first area you relax each time, so gets the most processing.

• The crown is the place where you place your hair clips and tie your ponytails.

• Because this area is often the coarsest and driest, your heat tools are frazzling it and causing it to break.

• Before combing the crown area, make sure to moisturise. Hair that is dry will snap easier. Try not to brush this area, but when necessary, isolate the area and comb gently. 

• 'Baby' the area. What I mean is moisturise the area morning and night. Handle it gently. Give it first priority. When deep conditioning, use an applicator brush to apply product to that area, ensuring to apply to the demarcation line and ends (relaxed/transitioning hair).

• If your crown is breaking, do not use this area as the first place to apply relaxer. Perhaps only relax this area every other relaxer. Consider holding off your relaxer a few more weeks, or only texlax the area.

• Make sure to vary the places in which you place your clips and ponytails. When wearing ponytails & buns, make sure they are not tight.

• Lay off the heat for a while. Try heatless styles like Curlformers instead.

• The hairs here are often some of the finest on your head, making them more vulnerable to manipulation.

• The nape rubs on the back of your collars and scarves, getting overly dry and breaking off (most probable cause).

• Perhaps you wear a head scarf that ties at the back, and you are tying it too tightly.

• Try the LOC method: moisturise with a liquid, seal with an oil & protect with a cream. This moisturising technique is heavier and may weigh hair down if it is fine. If so, use on just the nape.

• Alternate where you tie your headscarf knot.

• If you wear your hair down and it is long enough, do a horizontal cornrow using just the nape hairs in order to give it a break.

• Start wearing your hair up so the nape does not rub against your clothes and get dry.

So I'm 4 months and one week post-relaxer and my hair's really starting to break at the demarcation line*

New growth. Shaking my head at how thin my relaxed hair looks

The relaxed hair in my crown has broken off so bad, leaving just the two inches of natural hair. I've been experimenting with braid-outs and twist-outs but they look pathetic because my ends are so thin and straight. It's been recommended that I use curling rods at the ends of my twists to combat this problem. I will be trying this.

Anyway, let's get to the point:

Until I can find a heatless style that I'm happy with, I plan to transition by wearing my hair straight (yes, yes c'est très mal). In the last four months, I've grown about 2 inches of new growth, thus we can assume that once I hit my 1 year mark, I'd have obtained the average 6 inches of hair growth per year.

In the past few weeks I've become more and more excited to be reacquainted with my natural hair, and I'm actually looking forward to wearing twist-outs on my natural hair (as it won't look so pathetic). Originally, I wanted to do the 'big chop' for my 23rd birthday (27 May), but reality tells me that by then (my 16th month), most of my relaxed hair would've broken off anyway. I now have this growing idea that I should maintain my bob hairstyle and cut off the relaxed ends every couple of months to speed up the transition.

The longest layer of my hair is 6 inches with 4 of those inches being relaxed. That means another eight months of gradual cutting until my bob is fully natural. Maybe I'm over excited and wishful thinking but at least I'm putting the thought out there...

*Breakage? See 8 Reasons Why You Have Crown & Nape Breakage & Their Solutions!