My texlax is dry...now what?

[lana]

Well I texlaxed after a 12 week stretch. I'm so glad I made it that far. I had about 2 inches of new growth! That's great for me since I'm really inconsistant with supplements.

Anyways I noticed that when I nuetralized for like the second time (I nuetralize more than once to make sure all the relaxer is out) that my hair got kinda hard and dry (even while wet it felt stiff). I put my reconstructor on which softened it up immediately. Then I rinsed, put on a moisturizing conditioner which also helped. I deep conditioned for an hour under a heat cap. My hair felt soft but as I began to blow dry I realized that it felt dry.

This morning I flat ironed and I added oil sheen and serum to protect it from my Sedu (on medium/low heat).

Why is my hair still dry? Is the PH balance off? What can I do to correct this? It feels super soft but dry.

Oh and for those that are wondering my texlax turned out beautifully. I don't have a digital camera so I can't show pics yet, but it's very pretty.

 

[preciousjewel76]

I've never had a problem with dryness since I started texlaxing. I add my reconstructor, Porosity Control conditioner, and moisturizing deep conditioner to my hair before neutralizing. This has worked well for me.

What relaxer did you use?

 

[lana]

I used Mizani. But here is my question, if I do those steps before neutralizing isn't the relaxer staying on my hair longer? I try to keep it down to 10 minutes. Yesterday it was more like 13 minutes and my hair is noticeably straighter.

I would appreciate any advice. I gotta get me some Porosity control, but what does it do? Restore the PH balance to the hair?

That's the step I'm probably missing.

 

[preciousjewel76]

I answered someone's question about relaxers and neutralizing just yesterday! I directed her to a thread by Sistaslick that talks about hair properties (specifically, pH and porosity). BTW, Porosity Control does help normalize pH, which is why I include it after relaxing. Here's the part of the thread where Sistaslick talked about post-relaxer treatments and pH:

http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showthread.php?t=94325

The pH scale and the Special Implications of Relaxing

For those of you who relax, understanding pH is particularly important. Our body and hair normally bear a pH of between 4.5 and 6. This includes the scalp and its secretions as well. Relaxer chemicals are in the alkaline pH range of 10-13, depending on the relaxer strength. If your body chemistry is such that you have a naturally lower body pH, below 4 or 5, your relaxer may only take your hair to a pH of 8 or 9. A pH in this range will not effectively break down the bonds in your hair to allow you to reach the desired straightened effect. If your own bodily pH is naturally low, you may benefit from relaxer with a greater strength—or one that bears a higher pH to raise your hair to the proper pH range for effective relaxing. Washing the hair two days prior to relaxing may help your relaxer take better. This will keep your natural acidic scalp secretions at bay so that they do not affect the relaxer chemical.

I've also come across threads where posters are concerned about properly neutralizing their hair-- either while doing a mid-relaxer protein step or because the person doing their relaxer decided to skip the neutralizer all together. Again pH's play a major role in how the action of a relaxer is stopped/neutralized. The relaxer process is only compatible at a certain pH's (usually 10-14). As soon as you begin to rinse the relaxer with water (ph 7), the neutralization process has already begun in two ways. First, by the physical removal of the relaxer creme and then by the gradual lowering of the pH. But as we know, water alone is not adequate for bringing down the hair to the normal 4-6 range- it will only bring a pH in the 10-14 range down to about 8 or 9. You still need something more acidic. This is where the neutralizing shampoo typically comes in (pH 3-4). For those who include mid-relaxer protein steps, your water (ph7) brings down the pH, your conditioner which is typically a normalizing (pH of 4-5) brings it down further-- and the neutralizing shampoo finishes it off. Since the pH is slowly being brought down with each product and the creme is removed with each rinsing, the hair is not continuing to process at full strength.

 

[Blackoutzangel05]

PreciousJewels!!

I've never had a problem with dryness since I started texlaxing. I add my reconstructor, Porosity Control conditioner, and moisturizing deep conditioner to my hair before neutralizing. This has worked well for me.

What relaxer did you use?

Do you rinse out this mixture and continue texlaxing? Or do you just apply it and continue texlaxing?? So basically I am asking for your process??

Thanks

 

[HoneyDew]

What did you use as a leave in?

 

[preciousjewel76]

Re: PreciousJewels!!

Do you rinse out this mixture and continue texlaxing? Or do you just apply it and continue texlaxing?? So basically I am asking for your process??

Thanks

I do all of this after rinsing out the relaxer. The only things I put on my head before relaxing are silk amino acids (all over the hair) and conditioner (ends of hair, not the new growth).