Transitioning to Texlaxed - My Journey so Far

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

I have been unintentionally texlaxing  (using a relaxer to purposely under process my hair so it's still has some texture ) my hair since 2011/2012 due to both self-relaxing my hair and also having a friend come round just to apply the cream and obviously I was washing the cream out quicker than necessary. I used heat with each wash day so the texture was never an issue for me as I rarely saw my hair in its wet state as I would wash then blow-dry. Stretching to 12 weeks was never an issue prior to my hair journey because of the use of heat which straightened my new growth.

I began my hair journey in June 2012 and it was only maybe a year or two into my journey that I realised my hair was texlaxed and this was when my mother in law had started to relax my hair for me and I noticed my roots were straighter than the rest of my hair. I did some research and realised what had happened and was devastated that without noticing I was in love with texlaxed hair and was sad to be bone straight again but I did enjoy the fact my hair was so easier to manage.

Once I knew what texlaxing was, I began to purposefully texlax my hair and loved the difference in texture and how thick my hair was becoming. I did not really have a set way to texlax as it had always been accidental before, so I began to focus on shortening the time in which I left the relaxer on my hair. I shortened the time from 25 minutes to 15-18 minutes which worked sometimes but other times where I failed to apply the relaxer to my hair as quick as required, I was left with way too much texture in my hair and this eventually led to breakage. Sections to the very front of my hair and the back at the nape were near enough natural and as much as I tried to baby those section and keep them moist 24-7, slowly but surely the most textured parts broke off and after a while I had no choice but to do a corrective relaxer to save the textured areas which luckily had not broken.

Sections of my hair towards the roots were near enough natural.
Following the corrective relaxer, I went through my hair when it came to my nape I took drastic action and decided to cut the very bottom of my nape hair to just below neck length. It was drastic but that section had previously been so under processed, the straighter ends could not cope and it was different lengths and weak so I removed all the straight ends leaving just the curly texture. I also had to trim a few other sections at my nape area to shoulder length to rid of straighter ends again not coping with the many textures I had going on. Luckily my hair was long enough to cover this, I just knew for the next year or two I would have shorter sections to some lengths to the back of my hair and nape which I would need to baby and keep moist so I could grow them out whilst maintaining the health and length of the rest of my hair.

The areas of my hair cut to shoulder length are now armpit length and the nape which was cut to just below the neck is now touching my collar bone so I am slowly but surely making progress in these areas.

For my next touch-up, I decided to try a different technique so I started oiling my new growth with either extra virgin coconut oil or extra virgin oil which enabled me to have more time to apply the relaxer to my new growth without panicking about time. This process worked, allowing for me to go through my hair at a steady pace in 22-24 minutes leaving me with manageable and visible texture.

My shower stopped working in August or September 2015 and so when I did my next touch up I had to rinse my hair in the bathroom sink as I could not find a shower attachment that would fit onto my bath mixer tap. My previously relaxed ends were protected with coconut oil but my biggest regret is not using petroleum jelly as when I rinsed out the relaxer, I forgot I was using the sink and not in the shower so my hair was left dangling in the sink whilst I was rinsing and this lead to the last 3-4 inches of my hair over processing from texlaxed to bone straight. I kid you not when I say I could of cried, in fact it went beyond crying as I actually got a bit depressed for a while as I just could not believe what had happened. The sad thing is, I did not notice straight away as my hair which still baffles me so it kind of hit me about 2-3 weeks after I had done my relaxer touch-up. One morning I went to put my hair in low ponytail and could not believe my eyes when I realised how straight my ends were. I had no choice to put my hair in a bun and keep it moving but I had that sick feeling in my stomach all day at work as I racked my brains as to what the heck had happened to my hair and then it hit me!

Before the setback of over-processing my ends with relaxer run off. My ends were beautiful and thick!
I started the castor oil challenge in September 2015 which included not only oiling my scalp with Jamaican black castor oil and adding it to my deep conditioner but also mixing it with a lighter oil to seal my hair with which is just what my ends needed. With this, I kept my hair in buns for the duration and although my ends were sadly straighter than the rest of my hair, they remained healthy and moist throughout the challenge and when I touched up in December 2015 towards the end of the challenge I was pleased and amazed to find my ends were in great condition and I was able to retain my length.

Results from from Texlax Touchup December 2015
For my touch up in December 2015, instead of oiling my new growth with extra virgin olive oil to slow down the relaxer process, I decided to try mixing the oil to my relaxer. I added one tablespoon of oil to ½ - ¾ of a tub of lye relaxer and applied to my new growth. My timer was set for 18 minutes and when the alarm went off I was still smoothing so total application and smoothing time was approximately 22-24 minutes and I was and still am so pleased with the results.
My Ponytail now, Left pic is air-dried with no product, Right pic is my hair with product but 6 days post washday!

My ponytail is not as bad as I first imagined although taking part in the castor oil challenge has definitelty helped and the picture above shows my hair in a ponytail last weekend on the left which was air-dried with no product, it then on the right shows my hair in a ponytail with product but admittedly the picture with product was taken last Sunday which was wash day so there is 6-7 days worth of product in my hair. You can see that with my hair moisturised the different textures in my ponytail are not as drastic otherwise I think I would have cut the straighter ends off by now.

Wet hair - texture shot
The picture above shows the most recent texture I am working with and I love it. My hair is still manageable, easy to moisturise, easy to detangle and style. Obviously I have less texture throughout the rest of my hair but it is still texlaxed and I will not be wearing it in its curly state so once air-dried and moisturised, the textures are less noticeable. I am happy to do a very long transition to fully texlaxed achieving the texture above and hopefully by the end of 2016 I will have managed to rid of most of the bone straight ends. I had noted in a previous post that by June 2016 the bone straight ends would be gone but I think that is highly ambitious unless I cave in and go for a long bob style which I have been thinking about but we will see nearer the time.

I am 10 weeks post today and planned to do a relaxer/texlax touchup on 9th March 2016 at 12 weeks post but (touch wood) my hair is playing ball and has been easy to manage so I may try to stretch to 13 weeks and then gradually work my way to stretching to 16 weeks then maybe even to 20 weeks so that I am only applying relaxer to my hair 2-3 times a year instead of four.

What’s happening with your hair right now?

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6 comments

  1. My hair is doing great. I keep it in protective style most of the time. Congrats on the transition! I love your hair either way.

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    1. Thanks Nerline. Protective styling is definitely the way forward, I'm thinkling of getting twists for a while at soem point to give my hair a break.

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  2. I love the texture of your hair. I apply vaseline to my scalp and new growth. I also add some oil to my relaxer to weaken it. I tend to get similar results everytime which is wavy and not curly.

    Are you going to get rid of your bone straight ends soon?

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    1. Thanks Tomes. I will slowly but surely get rid of my bone straight ends over the next 6 months or so.

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  3. Your hair is thicker now, well done on your transitioning.

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    1. Thanks Lebogang, yes my hair is finally getting thicker and i love it. Thanks for reading!

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