I miss being texlaxed. But my hair always broke off at the line of demarcation. Probably due to not enough protein and ignorance of how to do it since stylist want to act like texlaxing is a foreign concept in my city
@L.Brown1114 , that's what my stylist told me too, then she didn't want to do it, (or take responsibility for it since it's not her regular line up and there are very few stylists who know how to do our hair here), so I learned (on here) how to self relax and feel empowered by it
i never knew anything about self relaxing, so trust me when I say that if Ican do it, anyone can do it
I also relate to the breakage issues you had at the line because I experienced that too. (Huge setback, cutting up to SL as a result)
Here's what I learned:
1. If I add oil to my perm/relaxer, I need not add anything else (protein fillers, conditioners, etc.)
Between the added products and the nap in the new growth, there just wasn't enough "perm" to tame my hair into being manageable. (It became more like people who transition so the line of demarcation between previously relaxed hair was too pronounced, which is why breakage resulted. When many actually transition their hair, they many times just big chop it. I just did not know how to handle that many different textures - new growth - texlaxed middle - straight ends)
Now I texlax adding only oil and try to never let the different textures become too distant in feel/texture.
2. When I texlax, it has to be done with the same scrupulous adherence to timing as I did with my perm/relaxer.
Again, this is about the line of demarcation and when I stretched (even up to around 4 months), it really weakened the previously texlaxed areas and when trying to style, the results were time consuming and not simple. (I mainly bunned at that time but detangling would take even 5 hours because getting a comb through that multi textured jungle was too dangerous, so I had to finger detangle most of the time.)
Now I follow the instructions onthe box and every 6-8 weeks, I redo it so that my hair stays smooth and easy to manage.
@L.Brown1114 , if you like texlaximg, I hope you can discover what works for you so that you can return to it. It's been a savior for my hair (my stylist only new "bone straight" perms which had my fine hair limp and thin) and I've learned on here how to get that protein that balances really well.
Some products that keep the protein going strong are: AO GPB (which I use with AO HSR) Ors deep conditioning pack, Jane Carter Replenishing Hair Conditioner.
When I'm in a "do it myself " phase, I use a raw egg (rinsed in tepid water because hot water turns it into scrambled eggs), and mayonnaise also does the trick. Even heavy, thick cream is an excellent source of protein and it even smooths out the nap.
In ayurveda, I've found henna to be a lifesaver! It not only straightens out the nap, it also conditions and strengthens my hair! I never add lemon to it (too drying for my head) and always mix it with oils and sometimes conditioner too. It's a natural source of protein.
Maybe others can chime in on which protein conditioners really help our texlaxed hair because surely, there are ways for you to overcome the demarcation dilemma.
I wish you all the best in your hhj and hope you find what you need to return to texlaxing with success!