Help, my hair is breaking

> Hi, Nicole!If you have been getting relaxers for a long period of time, your hair may be experiencing overload. You should not get touch-ups every 6-8 weeks which most salons and many stylists suggest. As Karen's article on relaxers mentioned, you should wait a minimum of 3 months. I would only add that this is true regardless of your hair type-course, fine, average. In the end, the longer wait time helps to save your hair. You have to find alternate hair styles during the stretch period or alternate products which can stretch out the growth and increase manageability.You should also be giving yourself hot oil treatments weekly with jojoba or olive oil. Because of your constant breakage, olive oil would probably be best to start with. It packs a punch with quick results. It is heavier than the jojoba.If possible, please read Karen's article on relaxers. As someone who used to use relaxers, I think her article is superior.Hope this helps,Jade21Could anyone help me? I have chemically relaxed hair> which just keeps breaking. I have an active lifestyle> therefore I wash and deep condition 2 times per week.I> have my ends trimmed every 6 weeks when I get my> touch-ups.I recently started using nature's gate> keratin shampoo and conditioner and also Joico K-pak> deep conditioning treatment and KMS reconstructor. But> my hair still keeps breaking. Can anyone tell me what> I'm doing wrong or what I'm not doing. Thanks

>Hi, Melanie!I have seen your posts and have enjoyed them greatly.I decided to really let my hair grow a good while back. I had gotten relaxers to take a prominent wave out of my hair. The added length stretched out my hair considerably and with my hair care products, the relaxers were simply not necessary.(My hair is heading for the derriere.) When I say hair care routine here, I am referring to mostly Aubrey Organics products plus Infusium 23 Original Formula Leave-In Conditioning Treatment.The idea that your hair breaks or falls off after stopping relaxers is a myth. If it does break off, it's from something like poor handling or harsh treatment without the relaxer. Without the chemicals, your hair should have a real chance to reach its full growth potential, as long as you handle it with care. I have known several women, who are black, who decided to leave relaxers behind and go natural. All have had extremely coarse, hard-to-handle hair naturally. One woman I know likened the experience to going through some type of withdrawal, like with coffee or chocolate. She was just having a hard time with her hair. It took her close to half a year to find products to get through her hair when it was wet and products to manage it on a daily basis. Once she did, however, her hair grew faster and better than it had in years. I think the key, like when you have a relaxer, is to minimize breakage. I would only add that if you cannot manage your hair without a relaxer, or you simply like your hair better with a relaxer, your goal should be to minimize breakage and do things to keep your hair in top shape. It is not a contradiction of terms to have long, healthy hair and a relaxer--any more than it is to have a perm!One example that comes to mind is Vanessa Williams. I read an article about her about four months ago and the interviewer said that she thought her hair was lovely at a longer length. The interviewer also asked her whether she had dumped the chemical relaxer. Ms. Williams said no and then proceeded to explain how she maintained her hair. Key was constant conditioning. She even had a system of how she gave special attention to the new growth and made sure to get her ends trimmed to avoid split ends. Before I read this article, her hair was not to her shoulders. At the time of this article, her hair was way down her back and quite beautiful. Her hair just looked conditioned and healthy.The need to have relaxers is what I addressed re Nicole. The average amount of growth per month is about one-half of an inch. So, let's say that in eight weeks you get an inch of growth. That's not much and most people should be able to find ways to handle the growth, rather than having the growth relaxed. I used to get two to three relaxers a year, so that's about every 4 to 6 months. For me, that was plenty. My hair has always grown fast(once it started to grow:)) and at that point, I'm sure that I was getting at least an inch a month, excluding summer months. I never felt that the relaxer damaged my hair because I constantly conditioned and had a stylist who refused to relax the growth after short periods. She had clients who were black, Latino, mixed like me, as well as whites. I trusted her immensely and all of her clients had gorgeous heads of hair, even the ones with thin hair! I considered her to be a true professional and I know that she believed that her clients' hair was more important than lining her pockets with extra cash. She never had the experience of having a client's hair fall out in the shampoo bowl from a relaxer or a perm which had stayed on a client's head too long. This happened to an associate of hers in her shop and the woman was asked to leave and get more training.Sorry I ran on for so long:)Take care and all the best,Jade21How did you stop getting relaxers. I have been told> that your hair will all break off when you stop. Plus,> if you hair grows fast, you may need a relaxer after> eight weeks.> Thanks in advance.