Relaxer Update #1/ Comparison Picture

I ended my 15 week stretch on Sunday!!! That last week was some kind of hard for me. I was dying to know if I made my goal of APL. I almost talked myself into waiting another week or two because I was not sure how I would feel if I did not meet my goal. But I really wanted a good starting point picture for 2013.

I originally planned on going to a professional to get a corrective relaxer. I was giving up on transitioning to texlaxed hair before I really got into the transition good. I wanted to take the easy route and go back to relaxing my hair bone straight. As luck would have it I was not able to go to the salon so I decided to relax my hair myself and continue texlaxing. I used ORS No Lye Relaxer in regular strength. I added a teaspoon of Extra Virgin Olive Oil to the relaxer. I parted my hair in four sections and started applying the relaxer to the back left section, then the back right section (my hair is thicker in the back so I knew it would need more time to process), and then I applied the relaxer to the front two sections. I smoothed my hair then jumped in the shower to rinse it all out.

I was very careful to make sure as I rinsed the relaxer out that my hair stayed smooth. I will be doing a post on why it is important to keep your hair smooth the entire time you are rinsing and neutralizing your hair. After I rinsed out all of the relaxer I applied Aphogee 2 minute Reconstructor to add protein back to my hair. Next I used the ORS Creamy Aloe Shampoo. Still making sure to keep my hair smooth I left the shampoo on my hair for a couple of minutes then rinsed it out. I washed my hair several times to ensure my hair's PH level returned to normal and all of the relaxer was washed out.

The relaxer came with the ORS Replenishing Pack. I made a deep conditioner mix with the replenishing pack, a table spoon of Queen Helene Cholesterol conditioner, grape seed oil, coconut oil, tea tree oil, and honey. This was a protein conditioner and moisturizing condition. I sat under the dryer for about 45 minutes. My hair was so soft when I finished I couldn't stop touching it!

I did not apply a leave in conditioner, the only thing I sprayed on my hair after rinsing out the deep conditioner was my Beyond the Zone Turn Up the Heat Protection spray. I will not be using this again because it really weighed my hair down and it left a waxy residue on my hair. It is okay for when I flat iron my bangs but that is it! I blew my hair dry then had one of my friends flat iron it. I was happy with my results and I was even happier to see that I was grazing APL.

I wanted to be full APL by 2013, but I can be satisfied with grazing. My new goal is to be at full APL by my next relaxer. I plan on doing a 13 week stretch because my birthday is 13 weeks away. I can't even tell you how happy I will be to be full APL for my birthday. So after this week I will go back to hard core bunning to make sure I retain as much length as I can.

My hair was not all the way straight, but I think I am grazing APL now!

To Texlax or Not???

One of the main things that drove me to start my HJ was how thin my hair had gotten due to breakage. I dyed my hair a reddish color around August of 2011. It took no time at all before I saw the damage from the color.

A few months before coloring my hair

A few months after the color. I had to cut bangs because of breakage.

While watching YouTube, reading blogs, and forums I noticed a lot of women talking about TEXLAXING. I had never heard of this, so I started looking into it because so many of them said it helped thicken their hair. I started my hair journey after I relaxed my hair in the end of July. So by the time I decided to texlax I was ending my 12 week stretch. I added conditioner to my Elasta QP No Lye Relaxer to get the texlax results. After I finished I was pretty happy with the results. But the next day I woke up to hair that felt and looked as if it hadn't been touched by a relaxer. This made me rethink my decision to transition to texlaxed hair. I am now 5 weeks post and after A LOT of back and forth I have decided to stick to it and continue to transition to texlaxed hair. I know all of the benefits and I am starting to see them. This will be a interesting journey that I look forward to sharing with you all.

Some of the things that has helped me manage my new textures are:

1. MOISTURE, MOISTURE, MOISTURE: I moisturize and seal every night and I spray my hair with a water/leave in conditioner before I style it. Because I wear protective styles 99% of the time I can be a little heavy with the Elasta QP Olive Oil & Mango. My hair does not feel weighed down because I seal with an extremely light oil (Sweet Almond Oil).
2. Deep Conditioning leaves my hair so soft that I don't mind the extra texture as much.
3. Patience has been my biggest helper. I have learned that I can not detangle as quick or style my hair as fast. I have to take more time to make sure I moisturize my roots good. And I have to be patient and get use to dealing with this new texture.

Not all change is bad. Texlaxing is a big change for me, so I am learning a lot.