my first relaxer corrective (sort of)...

[poookie]

but i didn't use a relaxer!

let me first mention that i am completely insane.

i did my first lye self-relax on 12/29. it turned out great, except for a few patches where relaxer barely touched the hair at all. i had originally planned to do my corrective on 1/29, but i haven't been able to use a comb for the past week, and today (which just so happened to be a wash day) i got especially desparate.

for those of you who LOVE the lotion from Bath and Body Works... have you ever read the ingredients? i did, and found that there's sodium hydroxide (lye) on the ingredient list. i got all excited, and compared the ingredient list to that of my hawaiian silky lye relaxer. while the relaxer has a much higher concentration of lye than the lotion, i figured that i'd still get some kind of result. plus the lotion has good things like glycerin and aloe. so i went for it!

i slathered some of this stuff on just my underprocessed parts, and left it on for about 2 hours (dangerous, i know! but if i can put the lotion on my body, then why not my hair?), then put on my regular pre-poo concoction (cream of nature nourishing conditioner + honey). left THAT on for an hour, rinsed it off, used a neutralizing shampoo (just in case), nexxus keraphixxed for 10 minutes, and used a bit of nexxus headress as a leave-in.

the previously underprocessed parts became REALLY soft with very loose waves. i'm talking, sections that were 100% 4a are now 3b/3c ish! and when i blow dried, the drier glided through my hair much easier than it did when i blow-dried right after relaxing! there were no puffy humps, because the bath and body works lotion (coco cabana, in case you were wondering) smoothed everything out!

just wanted to share how completely crazy i am.

 

[Amber_moon]

interesting. do you have photos of this? Im interested in knowing how it come out.

 

[lovegan]

wow, I would have never thought to do that...interesting.....

 

[poookie]

interesting. do you have photos of this? Im interested in knowing how it come out.

nah, i wish i had taken some pictures, but the results were pretty dramatic. i wasn't able to put a comb to my head 5 days after underprocessing, and now, the comb glides through. i'll DEFINITELY be doing this in the future when i mess up a relaxer again (yes, i said when), except i'll try to leave in the lotion for another hour. if i can get bone straight with this stuff, i'd be so happy

 

[Soliel185]

I wonder what other lotions contain this? I saw a thread about the Vaseline Intensive Lotion so maybe that would work as well.


Do you think it's permanant?

 

[mzhotniz86]

lol. im glad it worked for you. what made you check out your bath n body works lotion like that?

 

[poookie]

i'm sure it's permanent, because lye relaxers are permanent, and the lotion has lye in it.

and i'm kind of a label-a-holic; ever since i started lurking here, i've been reading all kinds of hair product labels, and i guess my disease has spread to all labels, including lotion, lol

 

[sylver2]

huh??????????

 

[lovenharmony]

Glad that it worked for you

LOL at the insane part...I thought I was the only one!!!

 

[ajargon02]

I wonder what other lotions contain this? I saw a thread about the Vaseline Intensive Lotion so maybe that would work as well.


Do you think it's permanant?

Hi all. This might help out a bit. I got this info off another site, but it speaks to pretty much the same thing.
Parts of the original post were taken out. The parts that are similar to this post were left in. I put in the "red underlined" txt bolding.
The original poster (bollyhair) asked this:

Ok, so I'm washing my hair this morning and I was using CREME OF NATURE SHAMPOO (green label/Ultra Moisturizing Detangling formula for dry, brittle hair) and I'm marveling over the fact that this stuff actually IS ultra moisturizing. So I think to myself "clearly this stuff doesn't have laurel sulfate or whatever ..." so I begin to read the label while massaging my hair & scalp w/ the silky lather....ONLY TO DISCOVER....that this shampoo contains SODIUM HYDROXIDE!!!
just wanted to search askjeeves to see if sodium hydroxide & lye are one & the same. And INDEED they are!!!

Am I the only one who wasn't aware of this? SODIUM HYDROXIDE is like the 13th ingredient listed from the bottom...do you think that's enough to cause damage? Or perhaps STRAIGHTEN my hair????

I have again done the "red underlined" txt and bolding and increasing the lettering on the post. the answer was given in post form by:B_Phlyy

There have been countless threads on this and the consensus is that it is not harmful. The sodium hydroxide in CON is used for a process called saponification, which basically means turning it into soap.

Because the lye is so much lower on the ingredient list and the pH of shampoo is much lower than that of it re.laxer, using CON cannot and will not straighten the hair, even if used for an extended period of time.

Hth.

 

[winterinatl]

Hi all. This might help out a bit. I got this info off another site, but it speaks to pretty much the same thing.
Parts of the original post were taken out. The parts that are similar to this post were left in. I put in the "red underlined" txt bolding.
The original poster (bollyhair) asked this:

Ok, so I'm washing my hair this morning and I was using CREME OF NATURE SHAMPOO (green label/Ultra Moisturizing Detangling formula for dry, brittle hair) and I'm marveling over the fact that this stuff actually IS ultra moisturizing. So I think to myself "clearly this stuff doesn't have laurel sulfate or whatever ..." so I begin to read the label while massaging my hair & scalp w/ the silky lather....ONLY TO DISCOVER....that this shampoo contains SODIUM HYDROXIDE!!!
just wanted to search askjeeves to see if sodium hydroxide & lye are one & the same. And INDEED they are!!!

Am I the only one who wasn't aware of this? SODIUM HYDROXIDE is like the 13th ingredient listed from the bottom...do you think that's enough to cause damage? Or perhaps STRAIGHTEN my hair????

I have again done the "red underlined" txt and bolding and increasing the lettering on the post. the answer was given in post form by:B_Phlyy

There have been countless threads on this and the consensus is that it is not harmful. The sodium hydroxide in CON is used for a process called saponification, which basically means turning it into soap.

Because the lye is so much lower on the ingredient list and the pH of shampoo is much lower than that of it re.laxer, using CON cannot and will not straighten the hair, even if used for an extended period of time.

Hth.

That is a great post, thanks.

OP I seriously doubt the effect you saw was due to that particular ingredient in the lotion. If the lotion was caustic enough to straighten your hair, you would not be able to wear it day in and day out - common sense?

I wonder if was all that great conditioning you did? You found a great way to stretch out your relaxer

 

[envybeauty]

basic chemistry.....

one ingredient/chemical may be caustic on its own but when you add another chemical to it, the result may be a neutralized.

so one ingredient ALONE in a body lotion is not caustic enough to straighten hair...and would be against federal regulation.