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.

I relaxed my hair at 11 weeks post not so much ready for Christmas but I planned to go out for my cousin's birthday on 27th December and didn't want to have to deal with my new growth puffing up half way through the night in the club so I ended up relaxing my hair on Christmas Eve. 


I started preparing my hair by sectioning into four and applying olive oil to the length of my hair excluding my new growth. Separated each quadrant into 1 inch sections and twisted hair from new growth downwards. 

With my hair ready I went on to set my timer for 18 minutes and then started applying the relaxer to my new growth starting with the two back sections. The timer went off whilst I was still smoothing so I continued for another 2 minutes then rinsed until all relaxer was out of my hair.

I towel blotted my hair for a minute or two and then applied L'Oreal Full Restore conditioner to my hair as a mid-protein step and let sit in my hair for a few minutes and then rinsed.

Using the ORS Creamy Aloe Shampoo, I neutralized my hair lathering 4-5 times to ensure all relaxer was out of my hair then blotted dry with a towel for a few minutes whilst I mixed up my the ORS Olive Oil Replenishing Conditioner with a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. I applied the conditioner mix liberally to my hair, covered with a plastic cap and sat under the hood dryer for 30 minutes then rinsed one cool. 

I t-shirt dried for 25 minutes and then applied my leave-in; Creme of Nature Straight from Eden detangling leave-in and sealed with Silk Oil of Morocco Treatment Serum for Hair & Skin then detangled my hair with a wide tooth comb and blow-dried my hair using cold air.

I moisturised and sealed with Elasta QP Olive Oil & Mango Butter Moisturizer and extra virgin olive oil and then oiled my scalp with extra virgin olive oil mixed with Jamaican black castor oil. For bed I put my hair up in a loose bun and covered with a satin scarf.

For Christmas day I wore my hair down in its blow-dried state as I didn't want to flat iron my hair until 27th when I was actually going out. 

I am pleased with my results, I am left with texture so my hair isn't bone straight and it is soft and manageable, and its nice to be able to run my fingers through my hair.

Although I am now fully texlaxed, as mentioned in my last hair update post, my hair is by no means uniform in texture from root to tip especially my where my last two relaxer touch ups led to my hair coming out with less texture than desired.

Late post!

I planned to relax my hair on Saturday 19th December but we had quite a few festive events to attend that I decided to do my touch up mid-week on Wednesday 16th December instead.

I started preparing my hair by sectioning into four and applying olive oil to the length of my hair excluding my new growth. Separated each quadrant into 1 inch sections and twisted hair from new growth downwards. I can honestly say I forgot to follow this up by adding petroleum jelly and have just remembered whilst typing this post which is irritating.

Anyway, with my hair ready I went on to add a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil to half a tub of ORS Professional Olive Oil Lye Relaxer and mixed thoroughly for 3 minutes until all mixed together, set my timer for 18 minutes and then started applying the relaxer to my new growth starting with the two back sections. The timer went off whilst I was still smoothing so I continued for another 4-6 minutes then rinsed until all  relaxer was out of my hair.

I towel blotted my hair for a minute or two and then applied Aphogee 2 Minute Reconstructor to my hair as a mid-protein step and let sit in my hair for a few minutes and then rinsed.

Using the ORS Creamy Aloe Shampoo, I neutralized my hair lathering 4-5 times to ensure all relaxer was out of my hair then blotted dry with a towel for a few minutes whilst deciding what to condition with. I grabbed the Creme of Nature Conditioning Treatment and applied it liberally to my hair and then sealed with my castor oil mix. I covered with a plastic cap and sat under the hood dryer for 30 minutes then rinsed one cool. Yes I should have used a light protein conditioner to condition with considering it was relaxer day but my mind was somewhere else and by time I realised it was too late to go on to add more conditioner, I had work the next morning.

I t-shirt dried for 25 minutes and then applied my leave-ins; Creme of Nature Straight from Eden detangling leave-in, Elasta QP Olive Oil & Mango Butter Leave-in and sealed with Inecto Pure Coconut Oil Serum then detangled my hair with a wide tooth comb and air-dried using a satin scarf to lay my edges.

When my hair was 70% dry, I could just about keep my eyes open so admitted defeat and put my hair in a loose bun secured with satin scrunchy and then tied down with satin scarf then took myself to bed knowing I would have to get up that little bit earlier to deal with moisturising and sealing my hair before work.

In the morning, I moisturised and sealed with Elasta QP Olive Oil & Mango Butter Moisturizer and my avocado oil and lavender JBCO mix, styled my hair and was out of the door.

I am pleased with my results, I am left with texture so my hair isn't bone straight and it is so manageable, I forgot how good it is to be able to run my fingers through my hair.

Saturday 3rd October

Friday after work, I applied coconut oil to the length of my hair including new growth, oiled my scalp with my castor oil mix then left in overnight.

Saturday lunchtime, sectioned my hair into four and applied Extra Virgin Olive Oil to the length of my hair including my new growth then followed up by adding petroleum jelly to the length of my hair from my demarcation line downwards. Divided sections into one inch sections and twisted for ease of relaxer application.

Applied relaxer to my new growth starting from the crown, leaving my edges and nape until last then went through again smoothing through each section.

Rinsed thoroughly and applied Aphogee 2 minute reconstructor to my hair and left on for 5 minutes whilst I prepared my deep conditioner mix. Shampooed with ORS Creamy Aloe Shampoo, lathering 5 times to ensure all relaxer was out of my hair then towel dried for 5 minutes.

Deep conditioned with Joico Moisture Recovery Treatment Balm mixed with 2 teaspoons of my castor oil mix, covered with a plastic cap and sat under the hood dryer for 20 minutes then rinsed once cool.

T-shirt dried for 45 minutes then applied leave-ins; Creme of Nature Straight from Eden Leave in, Elasta QP Olive Oil & Mango Butter Leave in and sealed with Creme of Nature Argan Oil. Detangled my hair in sections with wide tooth comb then air dried with satin scarf laying my edges.

I usually moisturise and seal when my hair is 90-95% dry but I was having a movie day with the Mr so put my hair in a loose bun and chilled, plus I wanted to trim my ends and I prefer to do this without too much product in my hair.
Whilst I am happy to have made it to bra-strap length, I am all about health over length and all being well, I will be back to if not just past bra-strap length after my next touch-up in December, plus I'm doing the castor oil challenge which ends in December and it will be interesting to see the results.

Made it to Bra-Strap Length (Air-dried Hair)

I am officially bra-strap length which has been a goal I didn't think I would ever reach. I am surprised as with my texlaxed texture I experience some shrinkage, I never flat iron my hair and these days I rarely even tension dry my hair so it's hard to see the true length of my hair. I am happy to have achieved my goal, however my ends were in need of a trim so last night I trimmed my hair, taking off an inch. I used a similar method to Babilon Kay in her video which can be seen here. I thought I would have to take off a little more but following my trim, I went through my hair and am pleased with the results.

Before bed,  I lightly spritzed the length of my hair with water, covered with a plastic cap and left on for 30 minutes then moisturised and sealed with Elasta QP Olive Oil & Mango Butter Moisturizer and my avocado and castor oil mix. I oiled my scalp with my castor oil mix then cross wrapped my hair and covered with a satin scarf.

I am really happy with how yesterday's relaxer touch up went. Dividing my hair into one inch sections prior to applying the relaxer was definitely a great help when getting through my hair. I have the perfect amount of texture left in my new growth and I will definitely follow these steps for my next relaxer touch up in December.

Well hello there…

I know, I know.. It’s been about 6 weeks since I last posted and I feel terrible. Life has been so hectic recently, I have been working ridiculous hours at work putting in the time so I can progress at a quicker pace,  my son has officially finished primary school, it's the summer holidays and we are preparing for Secondary school (High school), my birthday came and went and then it was my son’s 11th birthday so it has been go go go…

I have missed documenting my journey and I hope to get myself organised and posts scheduled in advance so I am not MIA for any longer than a week going forward. I would also like to get into making a few videos as I think it’ll be easier to see my progress, texture etc. better in video and it will be nice to interact via a different platform so watch this space…

So what’s been happening with my hair….

The last time I posted I was 8 weeks post, throughout the rest of my stretch to 11 weeks I continued to protective style and kept my regime  as simple as possible. From 9-11 weeks, my new growth was so out of control that air-drying was not an option, so I tension dried my hair using cool air. At 10 weeks post, I have no idea why I could not wait but after blow-drying my hair I trimmed of two inches off my ends and felt good for it as my ends looked thicker already.

Root2tip Honey rain juice was my new growth’s best friend, I mixed together extra virgin coconut oil and Lavender JBCO for my scalp to help make my new growth easier to detangle. My hair seems to go through phases where the moisturizer I use has no effect and my hair just drinks it and laughs leaving my hair mega dry… During my stretch this is exactly what happened so I found myself going back to Elasta QP Olive Oil & Mango Butter Moisturizer and my hair loves it and had me wondering why I ever deserted it.... (I do know why, my hair went through a phase of rejecting it)

Breakage....

I relaxed my hair at 11 weeks because I noticed breakage at the nape and at the front of my hairline due to the many textures I am working with and at first the plan was to get it done by my mother-in-law but something came up so we planned it for a different day but by the time I got home knowing my hair was prepped, I decided to self-relax.

These are the steps I followed…


Relaxer Touch up 19th July 2015 

• Applied extra virgin coconut oil to the length of my hair including new growth the night before.
• Next morning applied Vaseline to scalp, hairline and the length of my hair.
• Applied relaxer to my hair in four sections and then went through each section and smoothed through. I am slower than I was as it took me 23 minutes but my hair was prepped with oil so I didn’t panic and plus I am not about that leaving too much texture life anymore.

• Rinsed and applied Aphogee Two Minute Reconstructor to my hair and left on for 5 minutes.

• Neutralised my hair using ORS Creamy Aloe Shampoo lathering 4 times, the last two lathers I left the shampoo to sit on my hair for 5 minutes.

• Deep conditioned with Crème of Nature Intensive Conditioning Treatment, Aunt Jackies In Control conditioner and a teaspoon of lavender JBCO, covered with a plastic cap and sat under hood dryer for 25 minutes then finger detangled and rinsed once cool.
• T-shirt dried for 40mins then spritzed with mane and tail detangler. 

• Applied leave-ins; Root2tip Honey Rain Juice, Crème of Nature Strength & Shine Leave-in and Organix Coconut Milk Anti-breakage Serum. Spritzed with Fantasia IC Heat Protectant Spray then tension dried my hair with cool air in sections.

• Moisturised and sealed with Elasta QP Olive Oil & Mango Butter Moisturizer and Grapeseed Oil. Oiled my scalp with Lavender JBCO & extra virgin coconut oil mix.
• The next day, having only trimmed my ends at 10 weeks post, I just tidied up the ends now that my hair was straight and took off just over a centimeter.
• I am still left with slight texture to my new growth which was the intention and I am happy with it and will continue to use the same above steps going forward.
• I will no longer be aiming for the more under-processed look as no matter how moist I have kept my hair, I have experienced some breakage in the areas which were under-processed when I touched up back in December, I find my hair thrives more when it is left with a little texture so that is what I am sticking with from now on.