Corrective Relaxer Update - 23.03.14
Sunday, April 20, 2014I never relax my hair at 6 weeks post and haven't done since I was teen, but I found breakage and I was on a mission to fix the problem and fast.....
I just typed a long detailed post about my relaxer update and then my laptop froze, the page refreshed and although I saved as I went along, when the screen reappeared there was nothing.... Not even a few sentences and it is 2.20 am and I just cannot go through it all again so this will be an abbreviated version.
At about 4 weeks post, whilst inspecting my air-dried hair, I noticed some breakage that was down to my hair not coping very well with having different textures in my hair. I also put it down to my hair having a love hate relationship with air-drying as my hair would sometime feels dry even after doing the LOC method (liquid, oil,creme). I hadn't intentionally been texlaxing my hair, but with self relaxing and not wanting to over process my hair, I was washing the relaxer out of my hair to quickly and being left with soft but textured new growth. I found breakage in a particular section towards the middle of hair which was very under-processed. My last self relax was also an epic fail as I ended up with very textured new growth which felt like 10 weeks post by time I was 3-4 weeks post.
After continuous research over the next few days, I decided that I would opt for a corrective relaxer. I asked my mother-in-law to relax my hair for me to ensure it was done correctly. I decided to use a Lye relaxer because it is seen as the best relaxer to use when doing a corrective relaxer. I have been using no-lye relaxers for over 5 years so I was a little sceptical and nervous....
These are the steps I followed for my relaxer touch up:
Oiled my scalp with my oil mix; avocado oil, olive oil, pure castor oil and JBCO.
Applied my pre-poo oil mix to the lengths of my hair excluding the new growth to protect my previously relaxed hair from over processing.
I sectioned and secured my hair into 4 and then sat back and enjoyed having my hair done for me using ORS Olive Oil Professional Lye Creme Relaxer. Once the relaxer had been applied to my new growth and smoothed through, 5 minutes before I was due to rinse, I directed my mother-in-law to the lengths of my hair which were under-processed to which she added relaxer to these sections and smoothed through. After 5 minutes I went to rinse my hair.
I used ORS Creamy Aloe Shampoo to neutralise my hair and shampooed 5 times to ensure all traces of relaxer was gone and for the final wash, I left the shampoo on my hair for 3 minutes before rinsing.
Using my hair application bowl and spatula, I mixed ORS Replenishing conditioner and avocado oil together before applying liberally to my towel dried hair. I covered with a shower cap and then applied heat using my hair therapy wrap for 20 minutes.
After rinsing my hair with cool water, I t-shirt dried my hair for 15 mins before applying my leave ins; Creme of Nature Argan Strength Leave-in, Elasta QP H20 leave-in and S-curl and then detangled my hair in four sections using a wide teeth comb.
I then blow-dried my hair using cold air only in 4 sections before moisturising and sealing my hair using EQ Olive Oil & Mango Butter Moisturizer and Grape seed oil.
I inspected my hair after t-shirt drying and after blow-drying with cold air and my hair has definitely been corrected. I have a little texture in some areas of my new growth but very minor and nothing like before. My hair feels amazing and manageable. Oh and I am now officially arm pit length... Yay....!
By time I finished my hair it was 11pm and I had work the next morning so I struck a pose for the camera and then put my hair in one loose pin curl before covering my hair with a satin scarf and heading off to bed.
De’Onne x
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