4 Tips for growing long and healthy relaxed hair

Whether natural or relaxed hair, every lady wants to have healthy hair. No one wants to deal with hair breakage, dry scalp and the likes now and then. It's all about growing healthy, beautiful hair. I will share with you 4 tips for growing long and healthy relaxed hair.

When it comes to relaxed hair, it can be a little challenging caring for it. How much of chemicals should you apply to your hair? How often should you relax it? Should you also deep condition your hair? There are lots of questions.

It's also a little bit more challenging because your hair is quite delicate now. So, you want to be careful not to destroy it by applying the wrong products. See? It's really just a lot of figuring out.

Well, it's probably not as you think, only if you knew a few tips to help. So, let me share with you some tricks to help you grow and maintain healthy relaxed hair.

4 Tips for growing long and healthy relaxed hair

1. Go easy on relaxer

Okay, I will try to explain how relaxers work, to start with.

So, our hair is made of certain chemical bonds called the disulfide bonds. These bonds are responsible for the curly nature of the hair. Have you ever wondered why everyone's natural hair is curly and stretchy? Well, disulfide bonds are responsible.

Anyway, when you apply relaxers, what happens is that the disulfide bonds are broken. The implication of this is that their elliptical shape which is responsible for the curl follicles are reshaped into circular follicles. Hence, your hair becomes straightened. In the process of straightening your hair, the relaxer rids it of its natural oil. So, your hair becomes a little weak and prone to breakage.

When you expose your hair to this process too often, you're likely going to damage it. To avoid this, however, go easy on relaxers. Here's a routine that you should consider. Relax your hair once in 16 weeks. If you can, make that once in 24 weeks (6 months). That way, you can maintain healthy relaxed hair.

2. Wash your hair weekly

Has it ever occurred to you that your hair is just like you? It needs both food and water to grow healthy.

Research tells us that about 60% of the human body is water. It means that to maintain a healthy body, you need to stay hydrated. The same thing goes for your hair. You need to keep it hydrated if you want it to grow properly.

Washing your hair regularly helps get rid of excess oils and hair products. Leaving these hair products in your hair for too long can lead to dryness of scalp. This is especially true if they are alcohol and silicon-based products.

So, keep your relaxed hair clean and hydrated as often as possible.

3. Deep condition regularly

Remember what we said earlier about relaxers stripping the hair of its natural oils? Well, there's a way to replace these oils. It's called deep conditioning.

You're probably wondering why you can't just apply moisturizer to get the oils back. You see, when you use greasy products to moisturize your hair, you're only coating it. Deep conditioning, on the other hand, helps to maintain moisture and improve oil retention on the hair.

4. Avoid regular heat styling

Your relaxed hair is fragile, so it's important to treat it as such.

When you put heat on your hair regularly, it dries out easily and can result in hair breakage. I'm pretty sure you don't want that. Do you?

An extra tip for you. Consider wearing a silk cap or scarf when sleeping to retain moisture in your hair.