Stopped losing head and relaxed (5)
I believe the answer is:
eased
'relaxed' is the definition.
(I've seen this in other clues)
'stopped losing head' is the wordplay.
'stopped' becomes 'ceased' ('cease' can be a synonym of 'stop').
'losing head' means to remove the first letter.
'ceased' with its first letter removed is 'EASED'.
'and' is the link.
(Other definitions for eased that I've seen before include "became less tight" , "Became less painful" , "Died down" , "Relieved, mitigated" , "Given relief" .)