I wrote to Cathy Howse about this, not sure if this is allowed but this was her response:
As far as the neutralizing before the conditioner, The hairshaft is opened for hours after the relaxer. Thus the reason I color my hair at the same time with Bigen. If I wait until the next day, the color, over the next few days wipes off on my towel when I wash my hair. I believe protein goes inside the hair shaft also when the hair is relaxed so I will often apply my reconstructor immediately after my hair is neutralized. Since the protein has to dry, sometimes up to an hour, I will not allow my hair to go without neutralizing it before I do the protein reconstructor. I will then follow with a conditioner or sustenance for the softening. Doing it the way they advise is not going to hurt and I have found it does not hurt the way I prefer to do it either. So do what works best for you.
This helps /images/graemlins/smile.gif!