I am of african descent and when I relax my hair, even with the regular relaxer, my hair becomes so thin. I have tried keeping my hair natural for longer then relaxing my hair but when I comb the afro hair, its so tangled and I feel like its breaking a lot. I don't know whether I should keep relaxing my hair in the hope that it will eventually get thicker or just leave it natural even though its quite difficult to maintain. My hairline is also very thin and I am desperately trying to grow it. I long for thick beautiful healthy hair..
I have been wearing wigs for the time being while I am deciding

Thank you all for taking the time to read this.

Relaxing your hair, coloring your hair, perming your hair, etc. None of that will affect whether your hair grows in thinly. I just want to make sure you understand that. What you're experiencing is breakage. This does not mean that the root of the hair is damaged. It is not and relaxing will not damage the root.

Relaxing hair involves breaking some of the chemical bonds inside the hair shaft. The hair is combed into the desired shape and the chemical is neutralized. When the chemical is neutralized, the bonds are supposed to reform with different neighbors and lock the hair in that configuration. Unfortunately, not all of the bonds reform. This causes the hair to become damaged and to break off.

I don't think it's possible to relax the hair incrementally like you would do with coloring the hair (color only the roots). If you could, you could avoid continually damaging the hair.

It is possible to relax only the new growth. @ things to consider... 1. what products are you using? A lot of the over the counter relaxers are very harsh and can cause significant damage. Having it professionally done is expensive, but the products we professionals use really are better! 2. Are you doing this yourself or having someone help you? If you are doing it yourself you may be getting the product on areas that have been previously relaxed which is very damaging. Relaxer is not meant to be overlapped. Hope this helps!