Relaxer Day - August 1, 2014

Last Relaxer: April 25, 2014

My plan was to forgo this relaxer and apply the Kera Minerals Smoothing Treatment in its stead; however, when I went to Sally's to purchase the treatment both the sales girl as well as a customer who happened to be a licensed hair professional told me not to use the treatment because it was for natural hair and may cause extreme shedding and breakage. I was not willing to risk my hair for an experiment and simply purchased a bottle of neutralizing shampoo to use with my remaining relaxer.

Prep

• I did not do too much prepping for this relaxer simply because I had been maintaining my hair throughout my stretch, doing protein treatments regularly and keeping my hair oiled so there was no need for a pre-relaxer protein treatment. My hair also did not need much additional oil since I was coming off my inversion challenge and had plenty of oil on my scalp and hair already.

Application

• I sectioned my hair into fours - two in front and two in the back, and proceeded to apply the relaxer base that comes with the kit to the perimeter of my hair line and the exposed scalp from the four sections.
• I mixed the relaxer and had my Mom apply beginning with the middle section/crown of my head as this area is the thickest and takes the longest to process. She applied the relaxer working outwards from the crown and ending at the nape and perimeter of my hair.
• Once the relaxer was fully applied she smoothed each section lightly to leave a bit of texture.
• This entire process took approximately 18 minutes.

Rinsing & Mid-step Protein

• Using the kitchen sink I rinsed my hair thoroughly with lukewarm water for about 7 minutes, making sure there were no visible traces of the relaxer left on my hair or scalp.
• Once the relaxer was completely rinsed out I applied a mixture of Aphogee 2 Minute Reconstructor and GVP Joico K-Pack Reconstructor in sections. I placed a plastic bag over my hair and sat beneath my bonnet drier for 10 minutes then rinsed with lukewarm water.

Shampoo

• Once the conditioner mix was rinsed I shampooed using Elasta QP Stop-Action Neutralizing Shampoo approximately 3 times, making sure to allow the shampoo to sit for two minutes for effective neutralizing.
• This shampoo is color activated so it was easy to tell when all the relaxer was rinsed out because the lather turned from pink to white.
• I found this shampoo to be quite moisturizing as well, my hair did not feel stripped or hard after using.

Quick Conditioning

• Using my GVP Matrix Biolage Conditioning Balm I did a quick 2 minute follow up condition for maximum moisture and softness, then rinsed with lukewarm water.

Deep Conditioning

• I applied Kera Minerals Smoothing Deep Conditioner in sections, piled my hair atop my head, placed a plastic cap on and sat beneath my bonnet dryer for 15 minutes.
• I allowed my hair to cool for about 2 minutes then rinsed first with lukewarm water, then again with cold water to seal the cuticles.

Leave-In Conditioners

• I applied the following leave-ins: Aphogee Green Tee Restructurizer & Kera Minerals Smoothing Leave-In.
• I sealed the two leave-ins with a small amount of Proclaim Glossing Polish

Styling

• Using the Dominican Blow-Out technique I proceeded to blow dry my hair using a round brush and ionic blow dryer on warm air. Once each section was dry I blasted it with a shot of cold air to seal the cuticle and set the style.
• I set my flat iron to 450 degrees and proceeded to flat iron 1 inch sections using one pass from root to tip.

Results

 The results of this relaxer have been by far the best since my initial salon relaxer in November. I attribute the difference to the fact that I had someone else apply the relaxer as opposed to doing the application myself. My Mom was able to get the perfect texlaxed texture and I am thinking of doing a corrective relaxer on the areas that I did myself as they are very under processed. My hair felt soft, but I noticed it still had that "just relaxed feel" where it was a little stiff and almost plastic-like. This is something I experience even when my hair is professionally done, so I don't worry too much about it and after my first wash day my hair feels normal once again.

I did not experience any breakage although there was some shedding, but nothing I should be alarmed about. I chose not to dust my ends since I had just taken off about an inch less than one month ago due to some thinning ends and found my hair fell about a half inch past my bra-strap. I am extremely pleased with the results of this relaxer and have received several complements on my hair texture as well as on the length, so although it does not appear to be longer to me it has definitely grown a great deal since last November.

When was your last relaxer?