Confused

[MelloYello]

Hi LHCF Ladies - I've been lurking here for almost a year and I have learned so much about my hair. I have a great regimen, have my holy grail products and I am thrilled. But... I have a MAJOR PROBLEM!
After being relaxer free for 5 years, I went back to relaxing last December (I was getting my hair pressed every 1-2 weeks and I could never do my hair myself - I was totally dependant on a stylist until I came here)
Well it turns out my old stylist completely underprocessed my hair. I have had a retouch from someone else since then, so the lower half of my hair is just a wreck. Managing it is hard - airdrying is NOT an option. I feel that these are my only options and I would love the opinions from you knowledgable ladies:

1)At my next retouch, have the relaxer pulled through to the underprocessed hair (this scares the

out of me because what if more damage is done)

2) Grow out the relaxer and go natural (no pressing this time)

3) Cut off the underprocessed part and keep relaxing or go natural

I am sooooo confused....

 

[jaibee]

Cut off the underprocessed part. This may be hard, but trust me, your hair will grow back fast. You are just prolonging the process trying to hold on to the damaged hair.

 

[MelloYello]

Thanks for the advice Jaibee...

I had a feeling that's what I will need to do

 

[soslychic]

Well, I dunno...I had underprocessed hair and I repeated the relaxer after waiting about 4 weeks and my hair didn't seem any more damaged. I think the major problem is overprocessing. Just as long as you make sure to just leave it on for a very minimal amount of time and check for straightness in the middle of the process just to make sure that it's not getting too straight, it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Now as far as if you should do that or go natural. I couldn't answer that. It depends on what you want. But if you still want your hair relaxed, I'd at least try another go round (after waiting 4-6 weeks if not more of course)

 

[dontspeakdefeat]

I agree with Soslychic. You don't necessarily need to cut the underprocessed part. Another pass over with relaxer should get it where it needs to be. You will just need to do a lot of deep conditioning along with this. I have done a corrective relaxer before and my hair came out great and in the long run it was healthy and shiny.

 

[SingingStar12]

Just wanted to say welcome to LHCF.

 

[Allandra]

Welcome to the LHCF.

 

[MelloYello]

Thanks for the welcome ladies!
Thanks for the feedback soslychic & dontspeak - I really don't want to loose my length and I love the manageability of my relaxed hair (except for the part that needs correcting!)

 

[dontspeakdefeat]

I surely understand you problem and I truly don't think you have to loose all of you hair. You may want to go to a reputable stylist to have it done. That is what I did and the results were great. I was able to grow my hair well past my shoulder blades after that.

 

[inthepink]

My hair was once underprocessed so at my very next relaxer (2 months later), I had the unprocessed section relaxed along with the rest of my hair. It turned out just fine. I don't know how that would go if you have a relaxer in between though. In that case, I am not sure I'd recommend it. I'd probably just deal with it until it grows out on its own. Let us know what you decide.

 

[karezone]

Corrective relaxer. Which means pulling through the underprocessed hair for a few minutes at your next retouch.

 

[alibi]

MelloYellow,

I agree that you don't have to cut off the underprocessed part. If you get it corrected by someone who knows what they're doing, you should be fine. And after all, the VERY WORST that could happen is that it gets damaged and you have to cut it off anyway, and then you're no worse off. But you should at least try to save your length if you can. Welcome

, and good luck girl

! Let us know how it goes!

 

[pebbles]

Welcome!

 

[CurlyCrly]

If you do a STRAND TEST, that will give you an idea of how your hair will react if you re-relax the underprocessed part. If your hair is relatively healthy, I don't see why you couldn't relax it again. Just continue to take good care of it and you should be fine.

 

[Zgirl]

what does underprocess means?
does it mean that your hair looks more like it had been texturized than relaxed straight?

I would think that is a good thing, isnt it better to not go bone straight?

I am not sure just asking, Iam natural and I am about to get a relaxer but I really dont want it bone straight

 

[CurlyCrly]

That's pretty much what it means. It IS better to not relax bone straight, but I think what she's saying is the strand is not consistent through the entire length of it and it's creating problems.

 

[MelloYello]

Thanks so much for all of the words of wisdom... I'll let you ladies know what I decide to do next week!