I touched up my new growth on the 11th of January. I self relaxed using ORS Olive Oil No-Lye Hair Relaxer in medium strength, this is the 4th time I am doing it and I am becoming better each time and I *think* I have it on lockdown now. I did the half and half method which I am a fan of because it gives me more time to get the job done. I followed these steps:
- Sectioned my hair in 4, and further sectioned each quad. I ended up with 4 sections/quad at the back and 6 sections/quad at the front. I twisted each section
- Applied JEBA Naturals Hair Food to my previously relaxed hair – I really laid it on thick
- Covered the back section of my hair with 2 shower caps and help them down with clips
- Applied good ol’ Vaseline to the perimeter and on my ears
- Applied the relaxer to my new growth and smoothed – I had the relaxer on my hair for 12.5 minutes
- Rinsed and used SunSilk Neutralising Shampoo until the suds were white. T-shirt dried that section
- Applied more JEBA Naturals Hair Food on the whole front section of my hair and covered that with 2 shower caps and help them down with clips
- Repeated step 4-6 on the back section of the hair
- Shampooed my whole head with ORS Olive Oil Creamy Aloe Shampoo – again, as last time, my hair was letting off a very chemicall-y smell which I didn’t get when I was using the SunSilk shampoo
- Deep conditioned using the ORS Olive Oil Replenishing Pak mixed with glycerine and some of my JBCO oil mix. I DCed with heat for 45 minutes
- Rinsed that off, sprayed ACV solution on the hair and applied my leave-ins: Beautiful Textures Tangle Taming Leave-In Conditioner and Motions CPR Triple Action Leave-In Conditioner
- Blowdried using warm air
- Applied heat protector CHI 44 Iron Guard Thermal Protection Spray
- Flat ironed
My ends are in definite need of a trim – which I am planning to do in the next few days. And as for the breakage in the middle of my head *boo hoo* I was expecting it though because I could definitely feel some thinness of the hair before I had relaxed. I have not assessed the degree of texlaxed-ness of my hair properly, I will do so at my next wash because I plan to air-dry the hair.
So this is what I am working with for the rest of the year, I plan to halt the breakage in the middle of my hair – I am working on a plan for that, and I need to pay more attention to my ends: keep them moisturised and hidden most of the time.
I have been enjoying wearing my hair out these last couple of days – it has been a bit windy in my city and I have been enjoying the *hair flying in the wind* moments whenever I step outside 🙂 – it is very important for me to have days when I have my hair out and enjoy the fruits of my labour because this healthy hair business does take some work!
I am planning for my next relaxer in 16 weeks.
Your hair is coming along really well, I have the same issue of thin ends so i’m planning a mini trim after my next relaxer it always helps to create an illusion of thicker ends.
Thanks Nosihle. Trimming is one of those necessary evils, but thick ends are the way to go!
Nice post! What do you think is causing the breakage?
Thanks Uzoma.
I think it might be lack of moisture coupled with over manipulation. I plan to really take care of my ends during this stretch and see if anything changes.
I was thinking of doing the protein layering that you do with your weekly DCs.
I think protein layering is great. Just be careful for protein overload. Good luck.
Hi there, the no-lye relaxer may be what is causing your breakage. I was looking at a website that talked about no-lye relaxers being good for sensitive scalps but they left a layer of calcium deposits on the hair. This particular salon used a certain treatment after to remove these deposits. It stated that the deposits if not properly removed caused the hair to be dry and brittle. That explained why my days using design essentials no-lye relaxer i had super dry hair that would not feel moisturized no matter what kind or how much conditioner I used. My hair just started breaking which i had never experienced before. I chopped it all off and decided o attempt the natural route. I did that 3 times but always went back to relaxing…twice with the no lye and it was the same story. I have a sensitive scalp so i was drawn to the no-lye being good for that. The 3rd time however, I decided I want to switch relaxers and luckily I came over the website because it finally dawned on me that the no-lye was what was causing my breakage. I relaxed my hair using a lye relaxer, it is now almost 5 months post relaxer and I don’t have any breakage and my hair is moisturized. When I read comments asking what you thought was the cause of your breakage, I had to scroll back up to see what you used as relaxer and so it was no-lye. Let me see if I can find the online post before I hit send. I FOUND IT!!! http://crownworthy.com/uncategorized/lye-vs-lye-relaxer You can start by seeing her recommendations on what to make sure you do when using no-lye relaxers. It is very informative.
Pardon the typos up there please.