Relaxer Day #6: 03.08.12

"Relaxer Day rolls around again!  The amount of new growth I had kinda snuck up on me due to all of the protective styling I've been doing since April."















With this kinda of new growth to contend with on this relaxer day at 17 weeks post ....

I once again I opted for the half and half relaxer method, however this time I did a vertical (front to back) part instead of a horizontal (left to right) part.

These are the steps I followed:


1.  Sectioned my hair into 8 parts and then finger detangled each section.  My hair had not been combed since my last wash day.  I decided not to use the comb on my hair pre-relaxer so the finger detangling was thorough to get as much shed hair out as possible.  Post relaxer tangles are no fun for me!  After detangling a section I put the hair into a 2 strand twist and clipped it up out of the way.


2.  Once my hair was in 8 x 2 strand twists I undid each twist, applied a little Affirm Preservo, Roux Porosity Control and my Profective Mega Growth Oil and Silk Amino Acid mix to the previously relaxed part of my hair before re-twisting and adding Hollywood Beauty Castor Oil to the very ends to protect from relaxer run off.  I then based my hairline with Motions Pre Chemical Scalp Protector.  I made sure not to apply too much scalp protector this time around - I decanted some into a jar and then used my finger to apply a thin layer between the parts.

At this point I realised that I hadn't had anything to eat so I jumped in the car and went to the local Tescos garage in all my pre-relaxer glory...!

3.  After grabbing something to eat, I set about sectioning my hair into 1 inch sections and basing my scalp as I went along and then securing the sections with a 2 prong clip.  This time I decided not to twist the sections held by the clip as I felt this leads to too much manipulation when smoothing as I get more tangles during rinsing out and at the end of the relaxer process.  I then placed a line of 2 prong clips down the centre parting and then placed my plastic cap on the left side as I relaxed the right side first.

All set to apply the relaxer...

4.  I started applying the relaxer with my yellow sprush to just below the crown of my head at the back, I then applied relaxer to the two 1 inch partings below my crown, then moved to the four sections in front of my crown, before moving to the middle (front) of my hair, then to the back of my hair, my nape, along the centre parting, the sides and then my hairline.  Basically I tried to hit all the sections in the order that they are either most resistant or revert first before applying relaxer to my less resistant areas.  I then smoothed the relaxer through using my gloved hands.  I left the relaxer on the right side for about 18 minutes.  Timed for 15 minutes but I think it was about 18 minutes before I finished smoothing and rinsed it out.


5.  I then rinsed out the relaxer over the bath whilst keeping my head tipped to the side and trying not to get any water on the other side of my head (the other side did get a little wet though, despite my best efforts).  After rinsing, I took of the plastic cap and replaced it with a clean one so any traces of relaxer left on the plastic cap would be able to get on my hair.  I then applied Aphogee 2 Minute Reconstructor for 3 minutes and then applied Affirm Sustenance for 5 minutes whilst finger detangling and distributing the conditioner through my strands.  I then rinsed out the conditioner before shampooing twice with Affirm Normalizing Shampoo.

The top four pictures shows one side of my hair which has been relaxed and the other which is yet to be relaxed.

6.  After shampooing/neutralizing my hair I put the relaxed hair under a plastic cap, blow dried the centre parting and the section of hair at the front of my hair which got a little wet before I set about applying the relaxer following the same proces as the right side i.e. resistant areas first and hairline last. For some reason this side took a lot longer to apply the relaxer so I ended up leaving it in for about 21 minutes before rinsing out.  I followed the same reconstructor and neutralising shampoo routine, however I did a final shampoo on each side using ORS Creamy Aloe Shampoo which I lathered up and left on for about 2 minutes before rinsing out and applying my Adore rinse in darkest brown.

7.  My wisdom hairs seem to be having a paarrrrrtaaay in the front of my hairline and it seems they are inviting all their friends to the rave!!!!  I applied the Adore rinse all over my hair concentrating my efforts on the front before putting on a plastic cap and sitting under my hood dryer for 15 minutes.  There are still two persistant greys at the front so next time I will leave it on for 30 minutes - that'll teach 'em!

8.  After rinsing and shampooing out the colour rinse, I applied my deep conditioner.  This time I used Giovanni 50:50 Balanced Conditioner which O.M.G I am totally loving!!!  I have had this conditioner for ages but never got around to using it until giving it a try during my kinky twist take down.  I left the conditioner on for 30 minutes under my hooded dryer before rinsing out.

9.  I applied my leave ins which were Aphogee Keratin Green Tea Retexturizer, Elasta QP H20 and then applied Bee Mine Deja's Hair Milk then sealed with EVCO and CHI Silk Infusion.  I then air dried for a while whilst deciding on whether to start a roller set at gone 2am in the morning!  I decided against it.  I blow dried mainly my roots (just realised I didn't use heat protectant - oops!!! Hopefully the CHI Silk Infusion will suffice)  and then put in my heated rollers until they cooled.  I then pin curled my hair, covered with a scarf and went to bed.

My hair has grown and is thicker than it was during my last relaxer.  The nape is really resistant.  It almost looks like it didn't get relaxed.  I am not too fussed about that though as texlaxing with a lot of texture in this part of my hair seems to reduce breakage at my nape.

You can still see the waves at the front which can be a little stubbon when it comes to relaxer days.  My hair was still a little bit damp at the roots at this stage - today, two days later, the waves are less pronounced.  The hair in this section grows in pretty little clumped coils.  It is much much stronger than the hair on my sides and at the nape.

 

It was my intention to do a length check but I have been moisturinsing my hair daily and bunning ever since my relaxer so the length check willl have to wait until next weekend.

All in all, I am happy with the relaxer day.  I have quite a bit of texture left but the relaxer seems to have taken evenly over my head so I am pleased about that.  I was very careful with over-lapping just a ltitle to make sure I didn't end up with under processed areas again.  My hair has grown alot since my last relaxer so I am looking forward to my length check.  My ends are also looking okay so I don't think I will have to take much off when I trim my ends at the weekend.

This is the amount of shedding and breakage I experienced during this relaxer day.  The first bundle of hair in the picture at the top shows the hair lost during the finger detangling prior to relaxing, the second bundle shows the hair lost during washing and conditioning and the third bundle shows the hair lost during detangling with a comb prior to and after blow drying.  Overall I am not concerned with this amount of hair lost as I hadn't combed my hair for a week.

Ciao 4 Now