Keep Your Relaxed African Hair Healthy

The secret to having long relaxed hair is knowledge. It’s all about knowing how to care for your relaxed or permed hair for yourself and understanding your strands. Relaxed hair is processed with chemicals to make it straight or to smooth out the kinks in natural hair, once this is done, a relaxed head will require a different level of care than natural hair, it cannot be business as usual for your new hair. The problem is, persons with relaxed hair have no idea what to do with their new hair and so they lose it.

The general secret to having long thick relaxed hair are:

1. Low manipulation - Excess combing or brushing can weaken the hair shaft over time and cause shedding and breakage. The less time one spends combing their relaxed hair the better it will look.
2. Infrequency of relaxing - I learned this the hard way, one Sunday my mother was washing my hair and a clump from the back of my hair dropped out in the bath. I cried  for days because a whole chunk of my hair was gone. This was because I took the eight week relaxing time very seriously indeed and so the week after one of my frequent relaxers my hair had a tough time dealing with the pressure. Relaxers are chemicals, these chemicals alter the natural hairs curly pattern, if this chemical overlaps with a previously done part of the hair then you further break down the hair and this can cause serious breakage and hair loss. The prescribed option is to relax your hair just 3 times per year.
3. Switching relaxers - This is a serious hair offense and probably stems from our scientific ignorance. Make a vow to yourself never to put anything on or in your body that you do not have at least a basic knowledge about and you will be better off. Most relaxers have a hydroxide acid base. If you have a bottle of liquid drain cleaner check the label. It contains hydroxide (sodium or calcium) which is very good for breaking down hair and other things; this is what is in most of your relaxers. If you overlap relaxers, the chemicals can break down hair faster than it should and cause serious hair loss. If you are switching relaxers make sure that the base chemical is the same.
4. Conditioners - Black hair needs conditioning. It is the best product that could ever happen for our hair, we need it like grass needs water after a drought. However, not all conditioners were created equal, some have ingredients to coat the hair shaft and others were designed to go deep into the hair shaft. Deep conditioners need heat to swell the hair shaft so that it can enter the hair and repair any nicks or scratches on the hair surface from within. On the other hand, regular conditioners coat the hair so that it is easy to handle and comb. They both serve a very important function in hair growth and retention and should never be overlooked. It is better for you to condition your hair than to shampoo it.
5. Moisture - Many persons are unaware of the power of moisture for hair retention. Moisture serves several roles, a very important one is to make your hair supple. Supple hair does not break as easily as dry or brittle hair. A good moisture balance is needed to retain hair growth. A very good source of moisture for both inside and outside our bodies is
   
   water. If you are not drinking enough water your hair will get dry and brittle. Similarly, if you do not apply enough moisture to your hair it will get dry and break. Think about a piece of cloth left to dry in the sun with no fabric softener; the cloth will get hard, dry and rough. On the other hand fabric softener will not only make the cloth smell good, but it will make it soft and pleasant to touch as well. It is the same with our hair, the fabric softener is our figurative moisturizer. Important point to note: moisture is not oil!
6. Oils - Not all oils are meant to be used in our hair. Our hair is a natural extension of our bodies; hence we should use oils that are natural. If I can’t eat it for food or use on skin, I am not putting it in my hair. So oils like coconut oil, castor, jojoba are good oils. Bad oils include petroleum and mineral oil. Oils are used to seal in moisture, hence, if your hair is not already moist using bad oils will in fact seal out moisture. The prescription is to use moisture first then oil. 
7. Heat - The use of heat is usually the downfall of many a glorious mane. Heat can do several things to hair, one of them is to dry it out, the other is to straighten. If your hair is already chemically straightened, constantly using direct heat on it will cause breakage. The frequent use of curling irons, flat irons or dryers can cause hair to be brittle and ultimately lead to hair loss.
8. Your Diet - You have probably heard the adage, you are what you eat, well it's true. There are some foods that will enhance hair growth and some that will impede it. Even though your hair grows at an average six inches per year, you can experience unexplained breakage and lose it all, if your diet is not good. There are some persons who go on unbalanced diets, or switch their diet and the first thing that goes is their hair. There are others who do not drink enough water and are so dehydrated that their hair start shedding. To have good hair growth, you have to eat relatively well. There are some persons who swear by vitamin supplements and other things but I believe that if you eat a balanced diet your hair will grow long and healthy.
9. Weaves and Hair Pieces - I understand that sometimes it is necessary to wear wigs or
   
   weaves for conditions like cancer or bald spots or even a special occasion when you have no idea what to do with your hair, but wearing these things daily can affect your hair growth negatively. Why not learn how to take care of your own hair and wear it with pride. Weaves and hair pieces that are sewn into or attached to real hair with glue are a real hair killer, bits of your real hair are lost when they are attached or removed. Isn’t it better to rock your own healthy waist length hair than resorting to attaching someone’s mane?
10. Combs and Brush - This is where many persons have an issue. They do all the right things and yet they have a fine tooth comb with notches at the base scraping away their vulnerable hair strands. The best combs are the large toothed combs with no grooves at the base to snag hair. The best brushes are soft bristle brushes that will not pull or snag hair. The best thing to do is to never brush your hair. It serves no purpose for black hair except to give you a premature thinning of the ends. Never, ever brush your ends.

Culled and edited. Images: Google