No Routine = Bad Routine

One of the first things I'm going to have to do as part of my hair journey is to develop a "regimen" for my hair. From my reading up on hair sites and blogs I gather that a good regimen (or routine) is one of the key steps to growing and maintaining healthy hair.

I've come to believe that my hair is naturally fine - it seems to get clogged down with product very easily and even when it's in its "best" condition there seems to be a lot of it but it's thin - but maybe that's not the case at all, maybe it would have potential to be thick and lustrous if I didn't mistreat it as follows:

• I have double processed - relaxed and permanently coloured my hair
• I don't go for regular moisturising or protein (reconstructor) treatments despite the fact that I know that the chemical processes I've used break down hair, weaken it and strip moisture
• I don't wash it regularly (I average about once every 2-4 weeks) because it's "time consuming" and I can never "fit it in" to my busy lifestyle when you factor in the time required for washing, blowdrying and straightening. I shy away from air drying as that takes even longer and I have been a slave to the blowdrier for years.
• I don't always wrap my hair at night  - I usually do it for a few days after relaxing/washing and then once my hair starts to feel dry and frizzy at the ends I don't bother anymore because I won't be able to wear it out anyway (or because I'm "too tired" to bother), in which case it gets put into a ponytail if it's lucky, or just gets left out.
• I don't always tie my hair in a scarf or wear a silk bonnett to bed at night - and thus when I change by bed sheets they're full of hair!

Breakage after brushing/wrapping hair at bedtime

When I think about the lack of routine I apply to looking after my hair now it's no wonder I have dry, damaged hair and a flaky scalp!

All of the above are things I know I shouldn't do, and yet I just go along not looking after my hair, telling myself it "can't" grow and resorting to weave, clip in extensions or braids when I fancy a bit of length or "easy to manage" hair.

Frazzled ends and flaky scalp

Well now that I've started my hair journey it's time for me to step it up and make a vow to make the most important (and cheapest) investment I will ever make in my hair - TIME.

Secondly I need to educate myself about my hair and the proper way to care for it so I can build a healthy hair care regimen with appropriate products to suit it.

I'm excited about taking this step - I know it's not going to be an easy road and there are some hair choices that I'm not sure if I'm ready to give up totally (colour anyone) but it's going to be enough of a challenge to find a regimine to restore and maintain my relaxed hair in a healthy state and coloured relaxed hair may prove a step too far...watch this space.

Ms Henissi