Long Relaxed Hair: The Bi-Annual Haircut

Blow Dry and Haircut by Benita Blocker

(Blow-dry was done lightly on unwashed hair to achieve enough straightness for a dry cut.)

It was time for my client's bi-annual haircut.  We cut two or three inches off every six months.

Typically, she wears her relaxed hair in a flat twist out.  The wet set helps maintains the healthiness of the hair.  She gets relaxer touchups every 7 weeks.  She typically gets her protein treatment a week prior to the relaxer touchup.  Without haircuts, her hair continues to grow as seen in the before and after picture above.  We do a chunky haircut every six months to "prune" her long hair back into a blunt look.

Some Professional Black Women Prefer Relaxers in 2017

Vitale Pro High Comfort Regular Relaxer service by Benita Blocker.

Paul Mitchell Regular Relaxer Service by Benita Blocker.

Fiberguard Affirm Mild relaxer service by Benita Blocker.

All Black women are NOT going natural.  More than half of my clientele receive relaxer services.  If it is not broke, why try to fix it?  For the Black women who love their natural hair and have discovered a routine, more power to you. For those who are ready to give up, my business was built on chemicals.  The "creamy crack" has been around for as long as the "pressing comb" - you can have healthy, long, relaxed hair.  

The most frequent relaxer touch-up service is at a 7 week period.  Some clients get a virgin relaxer once a year. Relaxers are more weather resistant.  Overall, they save my clients time and money.

Natural Hair versus Relaxed Hair: It is All Good!

Natural hair styling by Benita Blocker

This client received individual double strand twists throughout her full head using Design Essentials Honey curlforming custard.  We completed permanent haircoloring as well.

Fresh relaxer and trim service by Benita Blocker

This client has gained length while sticking with the Paul Mitchell relaxer system.  I use the Affirm neutralizing system in conjunction with the Paul Mitchell system to make sure no relaxer residue remains in the hair.  The client wants to continue gaining length so what you see is her length after I trimmed it.  If she wanted a cut, I would have taken an additional inch off.  Since she is a roller set client, curls hide a multitude of flaws.

A Regimen for Long, Relaxed, Color-treated Hair

My client has been with me through thick and thin for the last seven years.  Pictured is all of her own grown hair without any hair extensions.  Do you wonder about her secret to her length?  Well, let me tell you the deal!

1) She does wear a partial sew-in (not pictured), but her own hair is longer than the hair extensions that she wears.  She wears extensions because she want the "Beyonce" fullness and glamour.  And since part of her hair is always braided up and sewn down, it is protected and continues to gain long lengths.

2) She never, never blow dries her hair.  We always roller set, roller set, roller set.  She is used to dryer time, and she brings plenty to keep her occupied for an hour and half dryer time.

3) She is a weekly hair client because she gets permanent color every four weeks and Mild Mizani relaxers every eight weeks.  She needs someone to keep an eye on her hair for treatments and tightenings.  She has Type 3c to Type 4a curl pattern.  Her natural hair color grows in more "salt" than "pepper."  She prefers gray coverage with lighter colors avoiding black and avoiding reds.

4) She does take dietary supplements, drinks a lot of water, and tries to eat as healthy as possible.

5) She does use curling irons and pressing combs for fine tuning of her hairstyle when her relaxer touch-ups are over  five weeks old.  She does not like too much frizz.  Of course, this particular bad habit results in a few setbacks for her hair that is not braided up in the protective styling.

So was her regimen at all a surprise?

Would you use this brush on Kinky hair?

At first glance, you probably are thinking this brush is not for kinky curly hair. It looks like a porcupine. Right? Well, I have started using more boar bristle and mixed bristle flat and round brushes on kinky hair to smooth and straighten it during my blowdrying. Guess what? It works better than the Denman brush! The vinyl bristle hold more heat and the boar bristles help with giving more tension as you gently work the curly hair straight. The boar bristles help distribute the hair's oil, moisture, and shine serums. With this particular brush, I can crush it with my hands without any pain or sticking.

CAUTION: 1) Test the brush with your hands first to determine the roughness or Softness of the brush. If the brush feels like you are going take the skin off your hand, then no -- do not use on kinky curly hair.

2)If the brush is soft enough to use as the one pictured below, then blow dry slowly with an ionic blowdryer. Careful not to use too much tension too quickly. You really need to be able to see what you are doing. Keep straight partings as you go slowly and gently through each section of damp hair.

3) For relaxed hair, get about 50% to 70% of the water out of the hair either by towel blotting and sitting under the platform dryer for about five minutes or rough dry it with the handheld blow dryer and no attachments.

4) Soaking wet relaxed hair, a brush, and a blow dryer is a recipe for disaster. Please detangle and rough dry the hair first from the roots to the ends.

Hair Growth Review: Five Months Timeframe

It's September 2011. Eight months without using a ionic flat iron. (See article on flat iron free pledge) Five sodium hydroxide relaxer attempts where four attempts only texturized my type 4c curl pattern. My final styling was completed with stove and marcel irons and the True Indulgence relaxer system. (Please see separate article.) I still have a little wave in my hair. On a separate note, I think that I have 3 different hair textures in my head. Below the occipital bone is probably a type 4a. Above the occipital bone into the crown is probably a type 4c. Let me clarify that my occipital bone sits low. Therefore I have a lot of type 4c hair. My front hair is probably a type 4b. I have had about five trims trying to keep some shape. I mainly layered in the back so I have been cutting away length there.
This picture is from April 2011. Big difference right? I had started to eliminate all the ends that had been flat iron damaged. Apparently, the curlier your hair; the more flat iron passes you take trying to get the hair straight. I figured out that I was losing the battle; so no more flat irons for me. So I started the "protective styling." (i.e. wigs and half wigs)
Then in June 2011, I realized the wigs were too heavy. The wigs were cute but they started traumatizing my scalp. Please my article on wig weight. The synthetic wigs are heavier than the human hair wigs, but they all were too heavy for my head shape. I still was growing lengthwise, but who needs thin hair? I intentionally left my hairline out to avoid damage from the traction of the wig. Can you imagine me thinning my hairline out?
So by July 2011, I was recovering from the wigs and protective styling. My front had thickened back up. I had started wearing my natural styling. The natural styling was a "bear" to deal with. I did not have a choice. The wigs were too heavy. I was trying to avoid the heat from any type of irons. I could not find a sodium hydroxide relaxer that straightened without burning me within 20 minutes or less.
August 2011, my new growth comes in strong again! It controls my whole look. I also started wondering if the texturized hair is reverting some. It was time to attempt the next relaxer. That was a battle. (See the separate article on my August hair battle) I was not pleased with the relaxer that I tried. It was extremely drying. I was going to have to discover a completely different combination of natural products just to adapt to this new partially relaxed hair. I did not have any more patience for this natural hair care. So I went into the gluefree quick weave styling to just let it rest because some areas were too straight to try to wear it natural, and some areas were too natural to hold straight in the crazy weather that we were having. Talk about caught between a "rock and a hard place."
September 2011, my growth was doing well. The Viviscal pills seem to work well. I decided to discontinue them during relaxer time. I am proud of my five months of hair growth. It was good for me to actually see my progress. I have been wearing my hair natural part of the time. I have also used the partial gluefree quickweave styling a few times. This styling is less stressful on the hair than the synthetic wigs, but it allows me a longer, straighter look for a styling change. Well, this was my hair texture before this September 2011 relaxer. I did not take a picture of the texture of my hair wet after the relaxer. Sorry. I still had texture in it but more wave than curl. I did not want it bone straight. However, I did need it straight enough not to revert back in high humidity. It took four sodium hydroxide relaxer attempts, and I still had not achieved enough straightness to prevent frizzing in high humidity. I am actually beginning to wonder if going from ultra kinky, sensitive scalp to straight enough to avoid reversion is realistic in one sodium hydroxide relaxer setting? I was not able to successfully do this in one setting. Of course, sensitive scalp formula relaxers can probably achieve this, but they are not healthy for the hair nor scalp. Once or twice a year in a bind, yes - you should recover; but I avoid sensitive scalp relaxers now at all cost!

This documentation is important to me because some stylists and people in general feel that "nappy hair" can only grow to a certain length and break. This is not true. "Nappy hair" is fragile in its natural state and if it is chemically overprocessed or heat damaged. If you keep "nappy hair" texturized enough to soften and not revert without over straightening it - length and strength can be maintained. So far I have learned that the frequency of relaxing is not a problem. It is the type of relaxer used. It is also how much straighening that you are trying to achieve in one setting. Stay positive, stay focussed, stay tuned!

Growing Long Healthy Relaxed Hair

My client has been with me for two years and nine months. Some parts of her hair started at an inch or two long when she first came to me. We have grown it out since her first visit. Hair stylist: Benita Blocker


My client of two years; nine months, receives relaxer and trim services about every 4 to 5 months. She does not hot iron nor shampoo at home. She only wears loose ponytails when it gets close to time to come back into the salon. Hair by Benita Blocker.

Anyone that desires this type of growth has to prolong relaxer services to 7 weeks mininum to six months. Yes! The hair will be puffy for weeks or even a month because of the delay in receiving the relaxer service, but it is important to limit the chemicals. Also, as the hair gets longer, it needs a professional eye, professional products, professional tools which means the hair shampooing should be done by a professional like Hair stylist Benita Blocker. Also, avoid adding hair color. One chemical is plenty. My client above is Type 3 hair which allows us the freedom of flat ironing every two weeks. No roller sets because we do not relax the hair except 4 to 5 months at a time. Stay tuned by becoming a follower of this blog for long healthy relaxed hair in the Type 4 category.