My hair care regimen is completely different than it looked a year ago. Last year I relaxed every 8 weeks, I washed my hair 2 times a week, conditioned with any conditioner, moisturized with anything, blow dried and flat ironed. I would keep my hair shoulder length with this regimen but had consistently dry ends, split ends, breakage. I was unpleased with my hairs condition.
Relaxing is not that good for the hair. Relaxer break down the bonds of the hair in order to give you straighter hair. Relaxer are full of potentially harmful/harsh chemicals. They can cause burns and alopecia if not done right. But I relax. I have been relaxed since I was five years old. My plan is to grow my hair mid back length (just to see if I can do it) and then cut my hair and go natural. I will explain on another day why.
I started stretching my hair beyond 6-8 weeks to 10 weeks. I realized that I was consistently overprocessing my hair. Even when I went to a hair care professional to relax my hair. The reason why is that I didnt have enough new growth. In 8 weeks you should have about an inch of new growth. That's not enough room to work with. When you apply a relaxer, you should apply it to the new growth only. But because we are human and dealing with a cream; it can get on already relaxed hair. When the cream is applied to already relaxed hair you can be overprocessed.
Overprocessed hair will appear unhealthy, flimsy, and will break easily. So I stretched to 10 weeks to give it more new growth. More new growth gives you more room to relax. I also apply Mizani's Protective Shield to already relaxed hair just in case the cream slips down to prevent over processed hair. I set a timer for 20 minutes before I apply. It takes me 20 minutes for application and smoothing.
I am on a 12 week stretch now. I am currently on my 11th week and its going great. But I have to tell you my hair is getting real rough to deal with. If it wasn't for Aubrey Organics White Camelia or GPB, I dont think I could do it. The key is keep your hair moisturized and dont manipulate at all between washes when stretching. Especially when you get to that 10th week. I use protective styling, like a braided bun. I let down the bun without unbraiding it to moisturize it and then seal it with an oil.
Lastly, since I am relaxing; I use a protein conditioner once per week. It temporarily bond protein to the hair to keep it strong. This is a temporary fix to the bonds being broken down to your relaxer, so it is necessary to repeat every so often.
I use Mizani's Butter Blend no-lye regular, the whole system. If you would like to try this relaxer Go to L.A.D.Y STORE to buy.