Texturized ladies, how do you distinguish new growth???

[sprungonhairboards]

I texturized my all virgin hair with Phyto index 1 in May 2005. I only did it once and I wanted to make sure I didn't overlap so I waited as long as possible to retouch. Now here I am 8 months later and want to do a retouch but I can't for the life of me tell where the new growth ends! I can't tell when my hair is wet, dry, blow dryed or anything. The texture difference just isn't distinguished enough for me to tell the difference. It's still really close to my natural texture.

I don't want to overlap, how do I tell the difference? The only thing I can think of is to flat iron it all straight and wait a week or so for the roots to get puffy since the texturized hair stays pretty straight and retouch then. But that's not foolproof either. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Isis]

What is your hair type? Hair type could make a difference in being able to clearly see the difference or not. For me, my new growth is kinky/coily compared to the "texlaxed" part of my hair, which has waves. I can feel and see the difference easily.

Were you ever able to tell the difference after texturizing your hair?

 

[sprungonhairboards]

I'm assuming it's 4a?

I could see the difference after texturizing, it was just a looser curl, and not as poofy, but not a HUGE change, which was what I was going for. My new growth is more of a tight wave, but the rest is too! More of a spiral curl than a wave. It's hard to explain, even harder to determine. I guess that's why I've been able to go 8 months without a retouch. The only clear difference I see is it's 'puffier' at the roots now ya know? But that's only at the scalp, once it grows an inch or more out it all looks that same.

 

[Isis]

I'm assuming it's 4a?

I could see the difference after texturizing, it was just a looser curl, and not as poofy, but not a HUGE change, which was what I was going for. My new growth is more of a tight wave, but the rest is too! More of a spiral curl than a wave. It's hard to explain, even harder to determine. The only clear difference I see is it's 'puffier' at the roots now ya know? But that's only at the scalp, once it grows an inch or more out it all looks that same.[/quote]

That could be because your hair is long and the weight stretches some of the puffiness out. Perhaps a professional can take a took at your new growth and see the difference. It is very important to see the demarcation if you're going to retouch.

 

[sprungonhairboards]

I'm assuming it's 4a?

I could see the difference after texturizing, it was just a looser curl, and not as poofy, but not a HUGE change, which was what I was going for. My new growth is more of a tight wave, but the rest is too! More of a spiral curl than a wave. It's hard to explain, even harder to determine. The only clear difference I see is it's 'puffier' at the roots now ya know? But that's only at the scalp, once it grows an inch or more out it all looks that same.[/quote]

That could be because your hair is long and the weight stretches some of the puffiness out. Perhaps a professional can take a took at your new growth and see the difference. It is very important to see the demarcation if you're going to retouch.

Exactly! The weight is stretching it out.

But NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO It's so hard to find a PROFESSIONAL nowadays as I'm sure everyone HERE knows. I'm sure I know my hair better than any stranger taking my money for a service. I'm sure they'd be guessing as well. My hair has never been longer or healthier since I stopped going to salons a couple of years ago and I don't plan to back track now. I have more faith in you guys than I do in a stylist.

 

[Isis]

Exactly! The weight is stretching it out.

But NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO It's so hard to find a PROFESSIONAL nowadays as I'm sure everyone HERE knows. I'm sure I know my hair better than any stranger taking my money for a service. I'm sure they'd be guessing as well. My hair has never been longer or healthier since I stopped going to salons a couple of years ago and I don't plan to back track now. I have more faith in you guys than I do in a stylist.

I totally understand! I personally stopped going to salons also. I meant have a professional just look at it to show you the difference, not do the retouch or anything else.

I too trust the ladies here much more. It's just more difficult to determine by speculating. Do you have a friend who has experience in relaxing hair? Do you have hair pics we can see? If your hair is thriving and there's no breakage from the two textures, and you can't tell the difference between them, maybe your hair loves being natural. I bet it looks beautiful!

 

[sprungonhairboards]

I totally understand! I personally stopped going to salons also. I meant have a professional just look at it to show you the difference, not do the retouch or anything else.

I too trust the ladies here much more. It's just more difficult to determine by speculating. Do you have a friend who has experience in relaxing hair? Do you have hair pics we can see? If your hair is thriving and there's no breakage from the two textures, and you can't tell the difference between them, maybe your hair loves being natural. I bet it looks beautiful!

I'm sure they'd LOVE that Hey I'm not gonna pay you for anything but I was wondering if you could just look at my hair and....

Not to sound stuck up, but I have no friends whose hair is in better condition or thriving better than mine whose advice I would trust. They come to ME for advice.

I don't have any pics that show my new growth but I plan to take some and post later . Right now I'm weavin it up!

My hair loves being natural. That's when the majority of my growth and healing occurred. But me and my hair have different ideas on what it should be sometimes Oh if only it would understand that sometimes it's OK TO BE WORN STRAIGHT! for more than 10 minutes at a time!

 

[Isis]

I'm sure they'd LOVE that Hey I'm not gonna pay you for anything but I was wondering if you could just look at my hair and....

Not to sound stuck up, but I have no friends whose hair is in better condition or thriving better than mine whose advice I would trust. They come to ME for advice.

I don't have any pics that show my new growth but I plan to take some and post later . Right now I'm weavin it up!

My hair loves being natural. That's when the majority of my growth and healing occurred. But me and my hair have different ideas on what it should be sometimes Oh if only it would understand that sometimes it's OK TO BE WORN STRAIGHT! for more than 10 minutes at a time!

I was hoping some of the other ladies would give their opinions... One place to get a free, professional look at your new growth is a beauty school. They answered some questions for me in the past before I learned about hair boards and will give an honest answer.

However, as I mentioned before, it sounds like your hair is doing exceptionally well, just like it is.