My last self-relaxer touch-up was on April 30th and yet again when washing out the relaxer; I noticed I was left with a lot of texture to the front and crown of my head. I was annoyed as I had prepped my hair by sectioning it into 1 inch sections so that when I'm applying the relaxer, I could apply with ease. I left the relaxer on my new growth for 20 minutes and only used my hands to apply and smooth so I believe this is where the problem lies.

I by no means wanted to do a corrective relaxer on my hair but given the amount of texture I was working with, it was inevitable and not a question of if but instead when I would do it.

I have previously suffered from terrible breakage due to having near natural under processed hair and this was made worse by the fact that I tried to just soldier on with it instead of correcting it sooner. My hair strands cannot cope with too many textures going on so I now have to aim for slightly straighter results with a kink.

I wanted to get my Mother-in-Law to do my hair next weekend, however, next Sunday is father's day in the UK and we have a busy weekend so I decided to do it myself.

I applied pure castor oil to the length of my hair excluding the new growth and the under processed sections which was directly below my new growth. I sectioned my hair into 4 and then divided these sections again into 1 inch sections to make it easier to apply the relaxer.

Starting with the back right section, I applied relaxer to my new growth leaving my edges and nape until last, then went through and applied the relaxer to these sections. Once I had applied the relaxer to my new growth, I began the smoothing process this time using a relaxer brush to smooth out the texture.  As I had sections of hair needing to be corrected, I ensured to smooth the relaxer a little further down my hair to cover and smooth those sections; from start to finish, my hair took 22 -23 minutes. I then rinsed out the relaxer thoroughly and then applied Aphogee 2 Minute Reconstructor to the length of my hair and left on for 5 minutes then rinsed.

I shampooed my hair using ORS Creamy Aloe Shampoo and made sure to lather 5 times to make sure all traces of relaxer was out of my hair. I wrapped my hair in a towel for 5 minutes to rid of as much water as possible and then applied my deep conditioner mix of ORS Hair Replenishing Conditioner, extra virgin olive oil and extra virgin coconut oil. I wrapped my hair with cling film (saran wrap) and sat under the hood dryer for 45 minutes then rinsed once cool.

I t-shirt dried for 30-40 minutes and then applied my leave-in conditioners; Crème of Nature Strength & Shine Spray, Aunt Jackie's Quench Moisture and then sealed with Silk of Morocco Skin & Hair Treatment Serum. I detangled my hair in sections and then blow-dried my hair section by section using cold air.

Before bed, I moisturised and sealed my hair in four sections using Elasta QP Olive Oil & Mango Butter and extra virgin olive oil.

Monday's Protective Style For Work

I am very pleased with the results. My hair still had a slight kink to it but I have managed to straighten out the texture which I knew would give me issues later and I am not bone straight which is always a worry when doing a corrective relaxer.

Going forward, I need to ensure I am leaving the relaxer on my hair for just over 20 minutes as my hair takes longer to process and I cannot afford for this to happen again. Looking back before I started my hair journey, I'd leave the relaxer on my hair for 22-25 minutes and was never left with bone straight hair so this is what I need to go back to doing.