DRAMA OF SELF-RELAXING
Oh well! A lot of things have happened in the past few weeks that seemed surreal. But my hair seems to have survived it all!
I'm still mastering self-relaxing... the very reason why I had to cut all of my hair because I didn't know how to self-relax, nor how to care for my new growth, which resulted in the matted mess that inspired this hair journey... but it seems when I get the hang of something, I go ahead and mess it all up!
Since I started my hair journey back in June/July 2014, I've been relaxing with the normal strength of the ORS relaxer. My hair can easily stand the extra strength relaxer but I fear to over-process it... but in the meantime, my hair was getting so thick I didn't know what to do with it. So, last November, I bought the extra strength of the ORS relaxer and self-relaxed... As I am still learning to relax my own hair, the 20-minute window to apply and smooth the hair is never enough for me; I need an additional 10 mns to apply and smooth the hair and check the water temperature before starting rinsing out the relaxer. Although I tried to work quickly with the extra strength relaxer, the very thing I feared happened: I over-processed my hair! My hair felt like mush! They almost melted away! They were breaking and shedding... I didn't know what to do. I wanted something to work fast before I had a meltdown...
In that process I purchased the Garnier Fructis Damage Eraser Heal & Seal Treatment. It's supposed to be left of the hair for 60 seconds then rinsed out. As desperate as I was, I left it on for longer... 2 - 3 minutes... but it left my hair tangled. I used it twice after that with the same results. At the end I just threw it away. Then I keep thinking this could be the reason why I couldn't find a single review of this product on relaxed hair... because it just didn't work for me.
Anyway... I purchased the Organix Coconut Milk Anti-Breakage Serum... Things improved a little bit but not totally... I was still moisturizing and sealing, still setting my hair on rollers and dry it using my soft bonnet attachment on warm heat...
Then three Sundays ago, I decided to deep condition with the Kids Hair Nutrition Protein Enriched Conditioner by Africa's Best. It does claim to strengthens weak, damaged or over-processed hair. I unintentional left it on for 3 hours (longest I've ever deep conditioned!), and it seemed to have brought life back to my hair! It's no longer limp and doesn't break nor shed as much.
I had my last relaxer November 1st... exactly 12 weeks post-relaxer... Normally at this point, I would be planning to relax my hair again by next weekend, but I think this will be my first time stretching for longer than 12 weeks since the beginning of my hair journey. Another thing: I went back to deep condition with ORS Replenishing Conditioner... had to go back to what I know works for my hair.
We will see what happens in a couple of weeks :)
I'm still mastering self-relaxing... the very reason why I had to cut all of my hair because I didn't know how to self-relax, nor how to care for my new growth, which resulted in the matted mess that inspired this hair journey... but it seems when I get the hang of something, I go ahead and mess it all up!
Since I started my hair journey back in June/July 2014, I've been relaxing with the normal strength of the ORS relaxer. My hair can easily stand the extra strength relaxer but I fear to over-process it... but in the meantime, my hair was getting so thick I didn't know what to do with it. So, last November, I bought the extra strength of the ORS relaxer and self-relaxed... As I am still learning to relax my own hair, the 20-minute window to apply and smooth the hair is never enough for me; I need an additional 10 mns to apply and smooth the hair and check the water temperature before starting rinsing out the relaxer. Although I tried to work quickly with the extra strength relaxer, the very thing I feared happened: I over-processed my hair! My hair felt like mush! They almost melted away! They were breaking and shedding... I didn't know what to do. I wanted something to work fast before I had a meltdown...
In that process I purchased the Garnier Fructis Damage Eraser Heal & Seal Treatment. It's supposed to be left of the hair for 60 seconds then rinsed out. As desperate as I was, I left it on for longer... 2 - 3 minutes... but it left my hair tangled. I used it twice after that with the same results. At the end I just threw it away. Then I keep thinking this could be the reason why I couldn't find a single review of this product on relaxed hair... because it just didn't work for me.
Anyway... I purchased the Organix Coconut Milk Anti-Breakage Serum... Things improved a little bit but not totally... I was still moisturizing and sealing, still setting my hair on rollers and dry it using my soft bonnet attachment on warm heat...
Then three Sundays ago, I decided to deep condition with the Kids Hair Nutrition Protein Enriched Conditioner by Africa's Best. It does claim to strengthens weak, damaged or over-processed hair. I unintentional left it on for 3 hours (longest I've ever deep conditioned!), and it seemed to have brought life back to my hair! It's no longer limp and doesn't break nor shed as much.
I had my last relaxer November 1st... exactly 12 weeks post-relaxer... Normally at this point, I would be planning to relax my hair again by next weekend, but I think this will be my first time stretching for longer than 12 weeks since the beginning of my hair journey. Another thing: I went back to deep condition with ORS Replenishing Conditioner... had to go back to what I know works for my hair.
We will see what happens in a couple of weeks :)
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