So mid-week I got my hair relaxed by my mother. After my longest stretch ever it was kind of a traumatic experience and has taught me a lot about my hair and stretching. So this is how it went:
- The night before I detangled my hair in a process that took roughly 2 hours and still wasn't perfect - more of that to come.
- As we were getting ready to set up I coated my hair with JCBO and Organics Carrot Oil Creme and my mum coated my scalp in sections with Vaseline.
- My mum had my sectioned in 4 main parts and started applying relaxer (Organics Olive Oil Conditioning Relaxer in Normal strength) to the back sections of my head leaving the nape and edges of my head to last.
- After smoothing the relaxer in, we rinsed out my hair and washed out the relaxer with neutralizing shampoo.
- I then applied Aphogee 2 min reconstructor and rinsed, followed by Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Daily Treatment and rinse.
- Then a full application of ORS Hair Mayonnaise and sat under steamer for 15 mins. My hair was a full on tangled mess....I nearly cried with the amount of hair I saw swimming away in the bath and that came out during the detangling process.
- Once my hair was finally detangled and free of conditioner I applied Organics liquid leave in and Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Serum in sections and blow dried my hair in sections. My hair wasn't bone straight but still a bit of texture in the roots which is good!
Blow-dried straggly ends! Please note my cheapskate makeshift length check shirt lol! - Once the hair was dried, still in sections I applied ORS Olive Oil Heat Protection Serum and flat ironed my hair in small sections on the lowest setting of my TRESemme Salon Professional 2066U Ceramic Styler 230 Hair Straighteners.
Flat-ironed scraggly uneven ends - After seeing the state of my ends depends definite length retention I snipped snipped to remotely try and tidy them up...still not great as you can see but better that before!
Post trim ends - not perfect but better, will be excited to see length check again in a few months!!
So what did I learn from this experience....
- I really need to keep new growth highly moisturised. I can't help but think my sicky wash day before my touch up meant that my growth really wasn't looked after properly and hence serious tangling because of it's dry condition.
- In my next stretch no matter how long, really needs to be moisture moisture focused keeping the protein balance.
- Doing two protein treatments after the relaxer seemed like a great idea because of the severity of the relaxer process but I definitely should have followed it up with or mixed in a moisturising deep conditioner as my hair felt rather hard until it was flat ironed.
Lessons have been learnt and it's now time to move forward into this next stretch. I will be working out to the point of heavy sweat twice a week so will now encompass two wash days into my week but likely only one will be my normal wash day routine whilst the other will be a shortened version - posts to follow on that.
Definitely enjoying having no new growth to deal with right now even if my hair is a little on the flat side after the relaxer and flat iron but the fact I was able to retain some length and have healthier looking ends make me happy!!! I've been keeping my hair off my shoulders and moisturising and sealing lightly before bed.
Till next time, happy hair to all!!
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