Part 4: Caring for Relaxed Hair and Komaza Hair Analysis

Komaza Hair Analysis, is a service where the experts of Komaza Hair Care analyze the health and properties of your hair. Through the hair analysis, you will learn how to care for relaxed hair plus more. In Part 3 of my Komaza Hair Analysis, I shared the consultant’s recommendations. If you missed it, check it out as it will help you to understand this post which shares my thoughts on caring for relaxed hair with the Komaza Hair Analysis approach.

Cuticle Damage and Breakage

Reason: resulted from over moisturization

When I was first told I had cuticle damage, I was not surprised as I have a tendency to always believe my hair is unhealthy. My hair breaks often so logic suggests my hair isn’t 100% healthy.

My hair measured at 16 inches per the Komaza report. I accepted this to be truth as I was too lazy to measure for accuracy. Although insignificant to Komaza, my length quickly became significant to me as it allowed me to estimate how old my hair is which helps me to pinpoint what was happening with my hair at that time. The consultant was confident my cuticle damage resulted from over moisturizing (steaming too much) and my breakage is a result of damaged cuticles. I’m starting to question this theory. Hair grows at a rate of about 1/2″ per month and 16 inches of hair means, my hair is about 2 years old, give or take, from root to tip. If I reflect back on what was happening with my hair over the past 2-3 years, I must admit, my hair has taken a beating for about 2 1/2 of the 3 years. I was salon hopping and skipping trims. My hair was breaking more than normal and things were just all wrong. I finally drew a line in the sand and returned to my old salon/stylist that did me right back in the day, but that was long after the damage was done. I’m thinking the cuticle damage is a result of over processing, improperly caring for relaxed hair care and things of the like.

Diminished Root Sheath

Indicator: early signs of thinning

I have inspected my hair throughly and I’m simply not seeing any thinning. However, pictures don’t lie. I’m very slow to adopt new medicine/vitamin regimens unless prescribed by a doctor. Therefore, I compared my GNC Be Wholesome vitamins to the vitamins the consultant recommended and they are similar in some areas but differ greatly in others. I will keep with my current vitamin regimen until I speak with my medical doctor.

Treating Relaxed Hair Likes It’s Relaxed

Logic: relaxed hair should be washed with sulfate shampoo, moisturized once every 2-3 days and not sealed with oil. 

I get that I’m relaxed, make no mistakes about it. However, my relaxed hair has flourished with natural inspired techniques. I will admit, some of the techniques I’ve tried have been a complete fail but most have been a hit.

Although I love co-cleansing, I recognize it doesn’t remove all product buildup. Therefore, I alternate co-cleansing and sulfate-free shampooing which I think is sufficient. I expressed my concerns to Komaza about weekly sulfate use and they gave me the thumbs up to use sulfate-free shampoo. But here’s the kicker, they want me to use sulfate shampoo weekly. That, I’m not 100% on.

While I agree straight hair (relaxed or not) allows oils to travel down the strand, I feel that has nothing to do with sealing in moisture. Besides, after you wash your hair, your scalp is free of oils. I mean, how long does it take for oils to replenish (on the scalp) and travel down the strand. I’m thinking moisture would have evaporated out of my strands before this process happens.

FYI: I asked what does moisturized hair suppose to feel like…it should be soft but not wet and should not break or feel like it will break when running your fingers across it. My hair is habitually dry and always feel like it’s on the verge of breakage which totally makes me scratch my head on the over moisturization aspect.

Conclusion

I’m on the fence about some of their tips for caring for relaxed hair, mainly because my porosity is TBD. After it’s conclusive, I will feel better and can finalize how I plan to move forward. Everything they advised is geared toward normal to high porosity. That scares me. I swear I’m low porosity. I could be wrong but gosh, my hair just mimics all things low porosity.

Komaza seems to believe mostly all relaxed hair is normal to high porosity. That kind of made me feel labeled. However, my strands were showing lifted cuticles so I guess pictures don’t lie. I will feel much, much better when they re-analyze a small collection of strands from a normal wash day.

I’m gonna put some of their theories to test….I’m due to wash my hair and I am planning to follow a Komaza inspired regimen. Stay tuned for Part 5, Komaza Inspired Wash Day.

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