ASK DABS- DO RELAXERS CAUSE HAIR DRYNESS & SHOULD I GO NATURAL...

Hiya,
So I decided to share this email I got from a blog reader as I found it interesting...especially because of her last statement about going natural as I've had a lot of ladies say they are going natural when they encounter such set backs and have wondered if it truly is the remedy...  

 Good day ma......I'm one of the contenders of the 6 inches challenge, I'm a student and as such I really don't have time for My hair. At the beginning of the challenge I followed a healthy hair regime but when school resumed there was no time again for my hair I just left it and had braids installed once for 3 weeks in the whole time in school. Now school is on break and I really don't know where to start from, My hair is really dry and I think it's as a result of the relaxer I've been using (a no lye relaxer ) My scalp is very sensitive so I can't switch to a lye relaxer and I've relaxed My hair just twice this year,the first time I did it myself cause most Haiti Salons don't know good to apply relaxers,the second time I told the hair dresser what to do and she really didn't get it...now I'm thinking of going natural because I can't self relax and no one really seems to get it.My hair is already really due.thanks alot

MY REPLY-
Hi,
Thanks for your mail and for entering the challenge...I don't think the relaxers which from your mail you have used just twice are the cause of the dryness you are experiencing. You haven't mentioned anywhere where you deep condition your hair regularly and it still stays dry...deep conditioning makes a world of difference when managing new growth because the hair strands are infused with great benefits from the treatments applied on the hair but these effects last just 3/5 days max and the wear and tear of the environment plus styling like braids etc take the hair back to its original state of dryness but if done regularly, overtime the hair strands adapt and become stronger and less prone to reverting...it's like having a store house, the more you put in it the less likely it is going to get empty even if say a cockroach or rat is in there chipping at its contents....in essence what I advice is to take your focus off blaming relaxing, going natural will not make your hair less prone to dryness, if that's why you are going natural, if it's because of the relaxing process then I do agree that lye relaxers are harsher on the scalp but if you base your scalp with Vaseline and work fast you will hardly suffer any burns, I have a post on relaxing-http://naijahaircangrow.blogspot.com.ng/2011/06/how-to-relax-naija-hair.html

heres a link on texlaxing- http://naijahaircangrow.blogspot.com.ng/2014/05/my-stretch-is-over-tips-on-how-to-self.html
Another link- http://naijahaircangrow.blogspot.com.ng/2012/09/texlaxing-effectively.html


Focus more on improving the quality of your strands and making them resistant to dryness, brittleness and breakage and that's all what regular deep conditioning treatments provide...you have mentioned how busy you are that's why I haven't touched on a daily hair routine which helps to back up the deep conditioning...if you can squeeze out time every other day to moisturize and seal your hair root to tip, in between deep conditioning, you will also see the quality of your hair improve.

Hope my reply helps.

Happy Sallah to all the Muslim readers out there!!

Xxx
Dabs