Relaxer #3

"After 6 months of stretching I've decided that I can no longer take another wash day with my multi textured hair, so time to grab my trusty pot of Affirm Fiber Guard Lye Relaxer."

Again I followed my ritual of booking my mum in beforehand to get her to help me out with applying the relaxer to the back of my head, leaving me to concentrate on the front and the nape.

Below are the steps I followed this time:

1.  I still had my higgle-dy-piggle-dy plaits in so I set about the monumental task of detangling these one by one.  I first spritzed the plaits with aloe vera juice and then applied a little grapeseed oil to ease detangling. I chose this method as it resulted in minimal hair loss whilst removing my last set of kinky twists.

These plaits sure ain't pretty, but they are pretty effective!

2.  Once I finished detangling a section I applied some Affirm Preservo (Step 1) and then some Roux Porosity Control to each section before putting into a two strand twist.  The whole detangling session took me about an hour - AGES!!!  But I had to do it properly and gently so as not to loose an unecessary amount of hair.
 

Detangled and ready for the creamy crack!

3.  After detangling and  protecting my hair it was time to apply the relaxer (Step 2).  My mum and I agreed on how much new growth there was to cover so we put on our gloves, I set the timer and we proceed to apply the creamy crack!  I don't know what my mum was doing back there, I couldn't see, but any time I felt that the ends were touching relaxer I told my mum and she moved them straight away.  In the front I seperated each two strand into 4 parts and then applied loads of relaxer to my new growth.  It was at this stage that I realised that it was difficult to judge how far down the hair shaft without overlapping.

4.  The whole application process took about 20mins.  The alarm went off after 15mins but I still had to do my nape at this stage and smooth through slightly before rinsing out.  After I'd finished apply the relaxer to my nape the left hand side of my head started to feel like it was burning.  I wasn't surprised about the burning because I'd made the decision to use the relaxer straight out of the tub because I didn't know how much relaxer I would need to use.  Alas, this meant that I couldn't add any olive oil to the relaxer...

5.  Once I started smoothing through I realised that a section of about half an inch hadn't really been covered by the relaxer **yep, I had some issues!!!** I then began smoothing the relaxer down a little more but at this stage I could leave the relaxer on longer because the roots were getting straighter and I didn't want them bone straight....!  Oh, and did I mention that my scalp was starting to burn!!!?

I washed out the relaxer about 1 minute after this picture was taken as my scalp was starting to tingle

6.  I then rinsced out the relaxer throughly and could tell that sections mainly on the left hand side of my head had been underprocessed.  Not too much of a biggie, I would prefer under rather that over processed hair any day!

Smoothing:  Can you see that massive section where the relaxer is not thickly applied....?  That is where I am now underprocessed...

7.  Next I applied some Trespak reconstructor to my hair for 5 mins before washing out with the Affirm Normalising Shampoo (step 4).  I rinsed and repeated the shampoo process.  It states on the package to do this a maximum of twice, what a load of shi*e, my hair needed more than that I would not feel comfortable leaving my hair after two shampoos - which I did throughly, the lather was still pink.  I then did one more shampoo with Organics Creamy Aloe Shampoo and then once more with the Affirm Normalising Shampoo, just to be sure all traces of relaxer were out of my hair.

8.  I then applied a healthy amount of Affirm Sustenance Conditioner (Step 3, yes step 3, I messed up with the steps, I was supposed to apply this after the Trespak but I got well and truly mixed up - probably due to fussing over the underprocessed hair!) I mixed the Sustenance with some hemp seed oil and left on for about 10mins without heat - to be honest, I couldn't be bothered to apply any heat at the stage, I was ready for my bed.

9.  After about 10mins I rinsed the Sustenance out of my hair and then applied some Keracare Humecto mixed with hemp seed oil and some aloe vera juice.  I left this mix on my hair for a further 10mins then finished with an ACV rinse.

10.  Next I put a towel on my head for 5 mins before spraying with aloe vera juice, my leave ins and a little moisturiser before sealing with grapeseed oil before airdrying to 70% dry.  At this stage I detangled gently and retwisted my hair into 9 two strand twists.......took a few pictures and then went 'bout my business!

Right side

Front

Left side (not balding, just bad parting - I hope!)

Back - You can see my underprocessed areas quickly

Back:  This is the texture I want all over my head.

Total Hair Lost:  1st - During first detangling prior to relaxer application 2nd during wash process 3rd during final detangling session

Total hair lost (compacted)

I plan on using Mrs D from 6 Foot Long Hair's corrective relaxer process when I do mine in 5 weeks time.

Length check and results to come next week. 

Ciao 4 Now