Emergency Relaxer Update (WARNING: Long Post)

Hello, ladies.
By the time you actually read this post, I will actually be a week post relaxer. You read correctly: I relaxed my hair on April 17th at 6 weeks post! I know 6 weeks is very soon to be relaxing hair on a HHJ, but I was losing my mind. I thought I was listening to my hair. SIGHS....here is the story:

I have been taking Hairfinity since the middle of January. My NG has been very thick, but not growing as fast as I thought it would on the vitamins. In the midst of all that, I ended up getting stressed out with my courses, work and family life. I was tossing and turning at night. My bonnet would come off every single night. I would see long hairs on my pillow every morning. I took two grad school classes in January, I was stressing HARD. My hair was coming out in the handfuls. I tried putting my hair in buns for days at a time so that I wouldn't have to deal with my hair. That didn't help. On wash days, I would lose mucho hair and I wasn't being rough at all. To put icing on the cake, I had to take my grad school comp the last day of February. The stakes got high for me for a while. AND my brother got into an accident.

In the end, my brother made a great recovery. I passed my two hard classes from January. I even made two 100s on my two finals. I started off practically failing one of these classes, and I ended up with an A and a B. I PASSED MY COMP! So, I am graduating this year from grad school. My work load at work started to ease up some. So, with this break come sudden destruction, lol. I decided to concentrate on my hair again fully.

The truth of the matter is, I have been getting really bored with my hair. I have been focusing on protection and limited manipulation that I have yet to enjoy my hair. I haven't been this length for so long, and all that is on my mind is hiding my hair. That mind frame has gotten old and I am casting it aside. I wanted to start anew with my hair. So this is what I have decided to do (and did).

I took time and eliminated the intense shedding and breakage I have had. I suffered tremendous breakage with that sew in I received in February. After I got that under control, I decided to relax my hair.

RELAXER PREP and APPLICATION:
-I prepped my hair with conditioner, a leave in, coconut oil and mixed oils. This was placed onto my length to prevent run off. My hair is fine naturally. I do not need any run off to cause any more breakage that I do not need.
-I based my scalp with castor oil. I also mixed up my relaxer and applied mixed oils in to slow down the process because of the amount of NG I had.
-I relaxed my hair with my Normal ORS relaxer with mixed oils. The entire application and smoothing process took 25 minutes.
-I rinsed the relaxer out and used my Elasta QP Stop Action Neutralizing Shampoo 6 times.
-After rinsing the shampoo out, I color rinsed my hair Radiant Black by Dark and Lovely.
-After leaving the color rinse on for 25 minutes, I rinsed it and applied my DC.
-My DC consisted of moisturizing conditioners and castor oil. I left it on for about 30 minutes and rinsed.
-After tshirt drying my hair, I applied my two leave ins: Crème of Nature Argan Oil Leave In and Elasta QP Spray Leave in. I spray the CON on my entire hair, from root to tip. I spray the Elasta on my edges and my ends. I put on a plastic cap and sat under a warm dryer for 10 minutes.
-After I got done, I just wrapped my hair and went to bed.
-The next day, I lost my bonnet in my sleep. So my wrap was a fail. But I walked around with my hair out and allowed it to air dry. Instead, I used my heat protectant and flat ironed my hair.

RELAXER AFTER THOUGHTS:
-I really liked the way I prepped my hair. I believe that it was a great prep. It succeeded with what I wanted it to do. I did not experience any breakage or weakening of my hair.
-My hair feels quite strong. I am really excited about that, especially being very soon after my relaxer.
-I have experienced some growth that I will share in a picture below. With growth means that I have retained!!! Yay!

So, Why Did I Relax So Soon Into This Stretch:
I wanted to give my hair a fresh start. I suffered some lost with my bonnet kept falling off. I suffered breakage with my sew in. I am bored with styles. I didn't have any idea what to do to my hair at a specific week post. So, I decided to break down a schedule of what style to do at certain weeks post:

Weekly Style Plan:
-Week 1 thru 2 - - - Saran Wrap Roller Set
-Week 3 thru 4 - - - Flexi Rod Set
-Week 5 thru 6 - - - Pincurl Updo
-Week 7 thru 8 - - - Braid out
-Week 9 thru 10 - - - Two Strand Twist with Satin Covered Sponge Rollers
-Week 11 thru 12 - - - Braids/weave/wigs/style (anything that I feel like doing this week)
-Week 13 thru 14 - - - Faux Ponytail (weave ponytail bun)
-Week 15 thru 16 - - - Natural Bun (using only my real hair for the bun)

I believe that I am going to incorporate this style regimen into my next stretch. I will be doing these styles for two full weeks. I have done a lot of research for this Style Plan. I believe that these are the best styles to incorporate with the amount of weeks I will be post relaxer. I believe that this style schedule will keep me from being bored with my hair, most importantly. I want to finally enjoy my hair. 

Even though I will be manipulating my hair at least once a week, I have not introduced any heat passages in this stretch. I am trying to go through one entire stretch without using heat. I have never done so, and I would love to say that I have gone through at least one stretch with no heat. With every wash, I will introduce castor oil into all of my DCs this stretch. I will use leave ins with every wash with heat.

I will follow this schedule for my next stretch. I will review this schedule after my next relaxer. We will see if this schedule has helped my hair. This will determine if this is helpful or should cut this out and move onto a new method of helping my hair.

Not only am I trying to help my hair, but I am trying to enjoy my hair at the same time. I have APL hair, and I am tired of hiding it. I want to enjoy my hair. I have a new significant other in my life, lol. I want to feel pretty and look pretty and my hair makes me feel pretty. Thankfully, this new person is not a stickler against weave. He said he wouldn't mind if I wear my weave or braids or wigs. YES! That is nothing like I went through with my last boyfriend. Out with the old and in with the new. LOL! Anyways, enjoy the pictures from this relaxer update.

In addition, look out for the following reviews:
I will have a review about my sew in.
I will have a review about my leave ins with heat.
I will be updating you on my mother's hair.
April Favorites Post!