Relaxing and Goals

I'm changing it up a little bit this week. I won't be using my growth serum. I have to do this because I'll be relaxing my hair in a week. And the directions cause for me to stop usage a week prior to relaxing. It's weird that I won't be applying it. :S I've gotten so used to it. But it'll only be two weeks without it. No big deal, right? I just know I'll be glad to get back on it. I love the way it smells.

One thing I can't help but be nervous about it relaxing my own hair. I've never done it before. And my mother seems to think that I'll make all my hair come out if she doesn't do it or have somebody else do it. So I got a little lippy and told her she is welcome to drive all the way over here and do it for me. LOL. I think she may take me up on it. But I don't want that. I don't mind if she supervises though. The thing is that I wear glasses. And I can't see without them. But I have to remove them to apply the relaxer. Or maybe I can keep them on until I apply to my edges...Not sure yet. But I must learn how to do it on my own.

After this stretch, I've had some insane thoughts. I was frustrated, angry, unsure, and tempted to relax. But now I've seen the error of my ways. And now I will be stretching more often. I think 12 weeks is fine. My hair certainly enjoying it because I'm not having much breakage at all. And despite being so far into my stretch, I'm able to maintain shiny, mostly manageable, easy to style hair. Giving my hair a break from chemicals has been good for it. I guess I'm saying that my decision to stretch more often will make it so that I will only have to relax 4 times a year. Chemical processing will be at an all time low. And I believe this will help the health of my hair.

I'm looking over this box of my relaxing kit. I've got Just For Me in the regular formula. I would've gotten the coarse version, but I want to be extra gentle with my hair. I'm not sure I'm into the bone straight thing anyway. It just has to be manageable. It'll be put into a bun most of the time anyway. No stress... But yeah... It's got all this stuff that comes with it. When I was younger getting relaxers, all this stuff didn't come with the kits. Even the Ultra Sheen relaxing kit I was using a few months only had the item you blend together to activate the cream (whatever it's called), the neutralizing color alert shampoo and some setting lotion. They seem safe enough to use. But I have my own items as well. I guess I'll have to get to that bridge soon.

I'll be able to see my actual length when I relax. It should be exciting. I'm guessing that my hair will measure about 20 inches from front to back. It's not that I'm so into measuring. I'm just anal. And I want to keep record on my progress. The numbers help me do that. But in the future, as my hair grows longer, this won't be necessary. I think my solid goal at the moment is either BSL of MBL. This is what I would be totally happy with. When it gets past this length, it won't matter anymore. It'll just be pleasant surprises. But this could change. And don't get me wrong, the more length the better. I'm just saying I would be satisfied if I got to BSL or MBL. Okay...I prefer MBL.

It's gonna be so exciting to see my length after this stretch. I love long hair. When I had it, I didn't know how to take care of it. Now I'm older and equipped with the information (and products) that will help it grow long, strong, and healthy. It'll be so nice to wear it down (for about 5 mintues) and see it flowing again like it used too. Right now, it's soft. But the more I take care of it and moisturize, it'll just get better. I'm just struggling with how I'm going to make sure I get maximum straightness without using heat. I guess I could rollerset overnight. I'll just avoid using setting lotion. That way the curls won't hold as well. And in the course of a day or two, the curls will fall complete. And voila! True length. I'll probably use heat once a year. And that will probably be about a year from now. I'll be charting my 1 year and some months progress. It should be a glorious experience. Other than that, I can't let myself use heat. No heat=no splits which means no trimming which means no cutting of any length with means no loss of length which means long hair.

My patience is getting thin! I want to see my length! I know that it's only 6 days now. But I wanna see her in all her glory. It's really grown. I just want to enjoy that for a moment. It's killing me! LOL. I must sound crazy, but that anticipation is something else. I was just looking at another lady's slideshow of the difference between her 12 week post relaxer hair and fresahly relaxed hair. There had to be a whole two inches in difference there. Her hair looked great. She used a flat iron though...I'm not gonna do that. I hope my rollerset plan works...

I have two length checks left now. I only had one, but then I joined the K.I.S.S. Challenge. So I'll be doing another check for the year in December I believe. I'll be at least 6 weeks post. It shouldn't be that bad though. My habits since the last relaxer have changed so that I suppose I won't see any really rough new growth for awhile. Or maybe not at all.