Relaxer day – 19th November 2014
Week before
I washed and deep conditioned my hair using a light protein conditioner. Please read that wash day HERE.
Night before
- Moisturized my hair with Pura Body Naturals Muru Muru moisture milk and finger detangled my hair as thoroughly as I could.
- Sealed in the moisture with my coconut oil and hemp seed oil mix.
- Massaged Jamaican black castor oil into my scalp. I did this to prevent my scalp from burning.
D-day
Relaxer process
Relaxer used: PhytoSpecific PhytoRelaxer Index 1 – Delicate, Fine Hair
I had planned to use the Linange relaxer but opted out because I noticed that it contained Sodium hydroxide i.e lye. My previous relaxer was calcium hydroxide i.e no-lye. I didn’t want to change between lye and no-lye.
Applied vaseline to my edges and a few areas on my scalp. Also applied the vaseline to my previously relaxed hair.
I didn’t self-relax: got a home visit from a stylist. In the past, a friend of mine has been helping out but this time, she was a bit too busy.
I sectioned my hair into six: 2 in the back. 2 in the sides. 2 in the centre.
The stylist started applying the relaxer from the back and ended up in the central sections. The back is the thickest part of my hair and the centre the thinnest/lightest.
After applying, she smoothened out the relaxer with her fingers. This entire process took about 18 minutes and straight to wash out the relaxer.
Wash-out Process
Neutralizers: Linange neutralizing conditioner AND Mizani Butter Blend Balancing Hair Bath.
- Applied the Linange neutralizing conditioner, leaving it for 5 minutes. Rinsed it out. Reapplied it, leaving it for another 5 minutes. This conditioner doubles as a mid-protein treatment as well as a neutraliser because it contains keratin too.
- Washed with the Mizani Butter Blend Balancing Hair Bath just to be double sure that the Linange conditioner had worked. The Mizani shampoo has a colour code and I was expecting the foam to be pink but to my utmost surprise, it was white. The Linange conditioner had worked after all!!
Deep conditioning
Deep conditioned with Hairveda Sitrinillah hair masque. Sat under my standing dryer for about 30 minutes. Rinsed out. My hair was still not soft enough. Used the Garnier triple conditioner. A little better.
Leave-in conditioners
- Kurlee-Belle Leave-in conditioner
- Pura Body Naturals Muru Muru Moisture milk
- Naturalista Cosmetics Juicy Yummy Leave-in conditioner
Drying/Styling
Sat underneath my dryer for about 30 minutes ‘cos I had to go out. No time to style. Plus my scalp felt a little sore.
My thoughts
If you didn’t know, I have a love-hate relationship with relaxers. This time, we did the entire relaxer process within 20 minutes. Next time, I am going to aim for 15 minutes and I will also use loads of vaseline on my scalp. It is a wonder that we still have hair on our scalps after all these years of leaving relaxers for over 20 minutes!!! Sometimes, even getting the hair burned onto our scalps! Gosh!!
I really love relaxed hair but honestly, I am getting tired of having a sore scalp afterwards. When I try 15 minutes and vaseline next time, here’s to hoping my scalp feels better afterwards! If it doesn’t, then maybe 10 minutes and then 5 and then maybe no more relaxers!
Results
Will do a proper roller set or flat iron in a few weeks and will share my results then but in the mean time, here is a rough length check.
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