Relaxer Day #8: 24.03.13

 

"As part of my plan to stretch my relaxer to every 12 weeks I was on schedule last week to carry out my first relaxer of 2013."

Below are the steps that I followed:

MY RELAXER 'KIT'  - This is how I transported my products from home - trust me this is not a small bag by any stretch of the imaginination.  This is alot of stuff, especially when youi compare it to the items you get in a no-lye relaxer box kit.  I don't mind one bit though because everything here works to keep my relaxed hair as healthy as possible.

MY STARTING POINT - I made a concious effort all week to keep my hair very well moisturised, flexible and tangle free during the week in an attempt to make detangling and sectioning my hair easier when relaxer day came around.

MY NEW GROWTH - This is how my new growth looked by 12 weeks post, prior to relaxing today.

 1. Sectioned my hair into four parts, finger detangled and put each section into a two strand twist.
 

My hair once sectioned into four.

2. I then went through each section again and using the same relaxer sections from my last relaxer day I applied my usual hair protectors Affirm Preservo, Roux Porosity Control Corrector and Conditioner (not photographed), Profectiv Mega Growth Oil mixed with Silk Amino Acid Powder and Hollywood Beauty Castor Oil on the ends before clipping the section together using a metal roller clip. I no longer twist my hair as this causes too much manipulation so I prefer to just section off and clip. As the final part of prep I went through each section and based my scalp and hairline using Motions Pre Chemical Scalp Protector.

All now in one in sections and ready for relaxer to be applied.

3. Starting at the top front left hand side I started applying the relaxer to zones 1&1 through to 6&6 as shown in the diagram below. After applying the relaxer I then went through each section and reapplied relaxer where needed to ensure that there was sufficient overlap to ensure that there were no areas of un-processed hair and then smoothed and then applied relaxer to my hairline. I removed the clips as I went along before I smoothed the relaxer in thoroughly to ensure that all areas were given adequate smoothing paying particular attention to my more resistant areas at my temples (area 6) and right at the top of my head (area 1).

This is the diagram I created after my last relaxer day to show the sections that I use when applying relaxer to the front  and back sections of my hair.  The area at the top is the back of my head,  and the section at the bottom reflects the front section of my head.  For each section I apply relaxer to sections 1 first, then 2 then 3 etc etc.  This time around I relaxed section 6 in place of section 3 and then carried on as normal (if that makes sense).

4. After leaving the relaxer on for 20 minutes (from application through to the end of smoothing) I rinsed the relaxer out whilst hanging my head over the bath. I am still not sure about jumping in the shower with relaxer on my hair so thus far I’ve not managed to try that option out, hence why I relax the front first when doing the half and half method.

5. After rinsing for what seemed like AGES, I applied Affirm Sustenance and left this on for 5 minutes as instructed on the bottle. I rinsed this out and then began neutralising with Affirm Normalising Shampoo. I did about three lathers with this shampoo and added an additional lather using a little ORS Creamy Aloe Shampoo which I left in my hair and covered with a conditioning cap whilst I moved on to relax the back section using the same process as before.

6. After rinsing and neutralising the back section I pulled both back and front sections together, shampoo’d again with two lathers of ORS Creamy Aloe shampoo before putting a towel on my head to soak up the moisture.

Relaxer day results.

  
7. Next, it was time for the colour rinse. I applied this to my hair in small sections, paying particular attention to my hairline. I covered my hair with a conditioning cap and sat under my electric heated cap for 30 minutes.

Luckily the colour rinse didn't leave black patches on my forehead following my particularly messy application!

8. Next, I rinsed out the colour rinse and then cowashed it out using Hair One Cleansing Conditioner and a little Elasta QP Crème Conditioning Shampoo. Both of these made my hair feel super soft.  I then made up deep conditioner mixture using Giovanni 50:50 Balanced Conditioner, RPCCC, KeraCare Humecto, honey, EVOO and SAA Powder. I applied this to my hair in four sections before pinning to the top of my hair and sitting under my steamer for 30 minutes.

My deep conditioner mix

9. After rinsing out the deep conditioner I did an ACV rinse to ensure that all the relaxer was neutralised.

10. I then applied my leave ins which were Aphogee Green Tea Resctructuriser, Infusium 23 Liquid Leave In Conditioner, Bee Mine Deja’s Hair Milk, sealed with grapeseed oil and Organix Coconut milk serum. I then airdried for a few hours.

11. After airdrying for a couple of hours my hair was still pretty damp (great, this means that the porosity level of my strands were in great shape as it my hair didn’t dry out as soon as the towel was removed!). I then set about detangling my hair firstly spraying Mane & Tail Detangler then letting it soak in before starting the detangling process with my fingers, following up with my Hercules Sagemann Jumbo Rake and lastly my Denman Ebonite Comb. I then left my hair to fully airdry.

This is the total amount of hair lost during the entire relaxer day.  The first bundle is from finger detangling prior to relaxing, the second was during shampooing and the third is after detangling using the three comb method and flat ironing.  The hair in my palm is all the hair combined.  I have pleased that I lost this small amount as it's less than normal.  I was very aware of reducing tangles when I rinsed out the relaxer and shampoo'd my hair so as to avoid a multitude of tangles which I have encountered in the past.

11. Once my hair was dry I sprayed it with Treseme Heat Defence and allowed to dry which only took a few minutes. Then, starting at the back sections, I began applying CHI Silk Infusion Serum and then flat ironed my hair in small sections using my GHD’s.

WOW - I HAVE DEFINITELY REACHED APL!!!! 

Whoop whoop! In fact I have actually passed APL which I still can’t believe - although the ends are a little too wispy for my liking!!  I feel a trim is heading my way.

Ciao 4 Now

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