OK I CAN'T Take it Anymore!- Want a Corrective (long VENT!)

[secretdiamond]

I rarely start threads but I need your advice please.

I've been trying to avoid doing a corrective. It sounds really risky and I keep picturing washing out the relaxer and all of my hair and progress along with it. BUT this is just too much. Most of my hair is underprocessed (I hate saying texlaxed b/c it's NOT what I wanted AT ALL). I have dreads galore! Yes, I mean DREADS! It takes me on average 5 hours to detangle!! And don't even talk about when I'm stretching (like now!)!! Before my touch-ups, to FULLY detangle takes days and days! One time it took an entire week and sleepless nights. Ladies I'm not exaggerating... I wish I were. I even posted a pic of some of the shed hairs that came out.

Anyway, last week was the same thing and I didn't have time to fully detangle all the way to my roots. But I was determined to detangle fully this week. 2 days ago, I started detangling with my fingers. Then yesterday, I was seeing too much breakage so I decided to try detangling wet. Instead of clarifying, I went straight to using CON. Then I ACVed. My hair felt so velvety smooth and heavenly! I ran my fingers and comb through and it was great (or so I thought ). I then did my usual DC with Porosity Control, Keraphix, and ORS. I went under the dryer for 20 min and left in on overnight.

I washed it out this morning and decided to skip an appointment today, cause I know I needed the time. In the shower, the comb goes thru my hair. Then I get out and there are STILL dreads! I'm thinking it's b/c I was using a wide-tooth comb in the shower that was just going in between the dreads. I'm pissed! So I add WGO & Giovanni and get started for an hour and a half. But I had another meeting and I just put in a pony and left. I come back, and the dreads are bigger and harder. WHY can't my hair be like normal people's??! I am SO SICK of this! And 10 weeks of newgrowth and shed hairs CAUGHT in the dreads and newgrowth doesn't make ANYTHING better!!! I haven't been to the salon in so long because they get sooo mad at my hair and start ripping thru the dreads, making me want to RRRIP THEIR HEADS OFF!

Anyway, I want to just cut off all my again! It's like I cut it all off last year after making it to APL and now that I'm back to APL, I want to cut it again! But instead, I've decided to risk it and do a corrective. I don't want to go through this anymore! But I need advice on the plan:

I plan on using Silk Elements Lye (of course! ). My problem is which strength to use for the newgrowth and the rest of my length. At first, I was thinking of using regular on the newgrowth and mild on my length the last 5 minutes of processing. But now I'm thinking that going over the rest of my hair might take longer than anticipated, and people have reported that the regular works fast. So since I don't want to risk over processing my roots, I should just use mild on the roots too. BUT, my hair is VERY resistant and I'm afraid I'll end up with underprocessed hair again!

My other concern is how 'strong' the mild is for my length. I'm worried b/c the coarse worked in a blink of an eye. I feel like the entire SE relaxer line just works super fast. I don't want my hair to fall out.

What do you ladies think I should do? TIA.

 

[Radianthealth]

The dreads or hair hardness might be from too much protein.

I use silk elements and I am a 4-B. I use regular but I may switch to mild Lye because I have fine hair.

Silk elements is great though so you shouldn't go wrong.

From what I see texlaxing isn't for everyone, but your "dread" issue may be from too much protein...my hair becomes really tangled when I use too much protein.

 

[secretdiamond]

The dreads or hair hardness might be from too much protein.

I use silk elements and I am a 4-B. I use regular but I may switch to mild Lye because I have fine hair.

Silk elements is great though so you shouldn't go wrong.

From what I see texlaxing isn't for everyone, but your "dread" issue may be from too much protein...my hair becomes really tangled when I use too much protein.

Thanks for your reply. I don't think it's the protein though. When I do without the protein, my hair still dreads, but it seems to break more while detangling. The keraphix keeps my hair from stretching and snapping while taking the dreads out. One time I did without keraphix and added EVOO and for some reason my hair was moisturized, but too moisturized and weak.

But I will definitely try no protein next week. Anything can help right now. Thanks.

 

[MizaniMami]

Some people just can't do texlaxed hair. I know for my 4b hair, it is very coarse, and i will admit very hard to deal with. I never really delt with my natural hair.

I did a corrective. All I did was purposely overlap and when it was time to relax, I added some relaxer to the underprocessed parts, smooth, and made it do what it do. Some parts still tex'd since my sis did the back and she was too cautious of overlapping, I kept telling her "it's okay!!!"

But yeah, if you can hold out 6-7 weeks after your last relaxer, you should be good.

 

[determined_to_grow]

You know what I am slowly moving toward relaxing straight again. I'm 9weeks post and it's so hard to get my hair the way I like it! I went to get a blow out and I'm w/ all of the heat they used - dryer 1 hour and then blew dry the roots... If this transition thing does not work out for me I w/ you sista!!!

 

[KhandiB]

Try this

clarify
CON
Motions Moisture Plus for 15 minutes
the comb should slip through your hair after you rinse

I had that prob .. it was too much protien in my case

 

[secretdiamond]

Try this

clarify
CON
Motions Moisture Plus for 15 minutes
the comb should slip through your hair after you rinse

I had that prob .. it was too much protien in my case

Hmmmm... first Trimbride and now you say that it may be too much protein. I don't use the keraphix every week, but I did use it for the past 2 weeks. I didn't think it was the protein b/c I don't get much breakage, but you ladies may be on to something. I'm gonna quit the protein for the next couple of weeks until my next relaxer and just use ORS Pak and Porosity Control. Hopefully this will help and cut down on detangling time. Maybe I should just get the Motions and quit my beloved ORS for a while.

I still may do the corrective though. Thanks ladies!

 

[secretdiamond]

Some people just can't do texlaxed hair. I know for my 4b hair, it is very coarse, and i will admit very hard to deal with. I never really delt with my natural hair.

I did a corrective. All I did was purposely overlap and when it was time to relax, I added some relaxer to the underprocessed parts, smooth, and made it do what it do. Some parts still tex'd since my sis did the back and she was too cautious of overlapping, I kept telling her "it's okay!!!"

But yeah, if you can hold out 6-7 weeks after your last relaxer, you should be good.

Did you use mild or regular strength for your corrective? And how long did you leave the relaxer on the rest of your hair? TIA.

@determined_to_grow: I hope it does work out for you. b/c it ain't pretty when it doesn't.

 

[MizaniMami]

Did you use mild or regular strength for your corrective? And how long did you leave the relaxer on the rest of your hair? TIA.

@determined_to_grow: I hope it does work out for you. b/c it ain't pretty when it doesn't.

Um I did two correctives before. The first one I did with Bantu reg, since Bantu underprocessed me in the first place-STILL was underprocessed.

So my next touchup 12 weeks later I used Silk Elements and that's when I purposely over processed. I used the reg. I left the relaxer on my whole head a total of fiften minutes-after about 9 minutes of the relaxer being on I pulled it down to the underprocessed parts and let it process for about 6 minutes then rinsed.

 

[Wishin4BSL]

Okay ladies, help me out. How does this corrective relaxer work? You HAVE to wait 6 weeks? My hair barely processed with my usual relaxer last week and I planned on waiting until 2 weeks from now to do a corrective. I guess that's not a good idea huh? I planned on using Silk Elements too. I'm confused!

 

[KeraKrazy]

I did a corrective 2 weeks after I underprocessed and had no ill effects so its probably down to personal opinion. I just knew I wouldn't have the time nor patience to deal with two textures.

 

[desperateval]

I permed my hair with Silk Elements Coarse 3 months ago and it made it WAY to straight. Last week I purchased the mild version and it underprocessed this one patch of hair that is very coarse. This area is very wavy and hard to comb. The other hair is not too straight but not kinky wavy either. I don't know what to do. I'm scared to comb my hair in this section for fear of my hair hair breaking. I'm going to perm just the kinky section in 2 weeks again- if I don't I don't think I will be able to stretch my perm out. In the future I don't know If I should use the two different strenghts together to perm my hair. Does anyone know if there is a danger in doing that?

 

[~*~ShopAholic~*~]

I believe that the hair that is shedding is wrapping around the length of your hair causing the dreads, and a wide tooth comb don't always work, like you said it's just passing through but skipping the tangles you need loosend. If you do a corrective relaxer after appling to the NG, instead of just smoothing, you will comb through the underprocessed parts for the last 5 min. or so of the relaxing process, I would use regular because the further away a chemical is from the scalp the slowwer it processes (heat helps w/the process). Do a strand test to see how long it will take to process your underprocced parts that way you'll know when to comb it through during the remander time of the process.
This happened to me during one of my stretches and I used Porosity control by itself to detangle, along w/a regular size comb working my way up from the ends, some sections I had to do a strand at a time and it took me 3 days, I examined the hair that came out during the detangling process and all of it had white bulbs at the end (shedded hairs) so I was happy it wasn't breakage. But I did learn that wide tooth combs helped some but not much w/those locking areas and that when shedding alot and 3 months post relaxer I have to wash in 4 or more sections keeping the other sections braided until done rinsing and applying conditioner to that sec. and then twist or braid that section back up. I even DC in those 4 platts and rinsed them out one at a time replatting when done, and air dried in those platts.
Keeping them in platts helped to stretch the NG out some and kept my hair from drying in it's normal way, and my hair likes to back wrap around the coils like a jacked up phone cord. Anyway, I styled my hair as usual when It was dry or I would just leave it in those platts, , noone outside my friends and family sees my hair anyway.

 

[AtlantaJJ]

Have you tried using olive oil as a pre-poo? Or Cream of nature shampoos or conditioners? They seem to really help me with bad tangles. I don't like to use them regularly because of the build up but I keep them on hand for tangle emergencies. I have an under process issue myself and I posted the way I plan to correct it. I'll find it and post it to see if it makes sense. I do know that that you have to get those dreds out before you relax some how..... Some kind of super duper deep moisture...

I rarely start threads but I need your advice please.

I've been trying to avoid doing a corrective. It sounds really risky and I keep picturing washing out the relaxer and all of my hair and progress along with it. BUT this is just too much. Most of my hair is underprocessed (I hate saying texlaxed b/c it's NOT what I wanted AT ALL). I have dreads galore! Yes, I mean DREADS! It takes me on average 5 hours to detangle!! And don't even talk about when I'm stretching (like now!)!! Before my touch-ups, to FULLY detangle takes days and days! One time it took an entire week and sleepless nights. Ladies I'm not exaggerating... I wish I were. I even posted a pic of some of the shed hairs that came out.

Anyway, last week was the same thing and I didn't have time to fully detangle all the way to my roots. But I was determined to detangle fully this week. 2 days ago, I started detangling with my fingers. Then yesterday, I was seeing too much breakage so I decided to try detangling wet. Instead of clarifying, I went straight to using CON. Then I ACVed. My hair felt so velvety smooth and heavenly! I ran my fingers and comb through and it was great (or so I thought ). I then did my usual DC with Porosity Control, Keraphix, and ORS. I went under the dryer for 20 min and left in on overnight.

I washed it out this morning and decided to skip an appointment today, cause I know I needed the time. In the shower, the comb goes thru my hair. Then I get out and there are STILL dreads! I'm thinking it's b/c I was using a wide-tooth comb in the shower that was just going in between the dreads. I'm pissed! So I add WGO & Giovanni and get started for an hour and a half. But I had another meeting and I just put in a pony and left. I come back, and the dreads are bigger and harder. WHY can't my hair be like normal people's??! I am SO SICK of this! And 10 weeks of newgrowth and shed hairs CAUGHT in the dreads and newgrowth doesn't make ANYTHING better!!! I haven't been to the salon in so long because they get sooo mad at my hair and start ripping thru the dreads, making me want to RRRIP THEIR HEADS OFF!

Anyway, I want to just cut off all my again! It's like I cut it all off last year after making it to APL and now that I'm back to APL, I want to cut it again! But instead, I've decided to risk it and do a corrective. I don't want to go through this anymore! But I need advice on the plan:

I plan on using Silk Elements Lye (of course! ). My problem is which strength to use for the newgrowth and the rest of my length. At first, I was thinking of using regular on the newgrowth and mild on my length the last 5 minutes of processing. But now I'm thinking that going over the rest of my hair might take longer than anticipated, and people have reported that the regular works fast. So since I don't want to risk over processing my roots, I should just use mild on the roots too. BUT, my hair is VERY resistant and I'm afraid I'll end up with underprocessed hair again!

My other concern is how 'strong' the mild is for my length. I'm worried b/c the coarse worked in a blink of an eye. I feel like the entire SE relaxer line just works super fast. I don't want my hair to fall out.

What do you ladies think I should do? TIA.

 

[AtlantaJJ]

I don't mean to highjack a thread, but Ms MM I was wanting your advice because I have the same problem but no one saw my thread. I was looking for your words of wisdom, and of course your sister, but you won't loan her to me...hehee Cause she da bomb.

Thanks I will hold out until after Holloween, it's rough tho.

Some people just can't do texlaxed hair. I know for my 4b hair, it is very coarse, and i will admit very hard to deal with. I never really delt with my natural hair.

I did a corrective. All I did was purposely overlap and when it was time to relax, I added some relaxer to the underprocessed parts, smooth, and made it do what it do. Some parts still tex'd since my sis did the back and she was too cautious of overlapping, I kept telling her "it's okay!!!"

But yeah, if you can hold out 6-7 weeks after your last relaxer, you should be good.

 

[secretdiamond]

I believe that the hair that is shedding is wrapping around the length of your hair causing the dreads, and a wide tooth comb don't always work, like you said it's just passing through but skipping the tangles you need loosend. If you do a corrective relaxer after appling to the NG, instead of just smoothing, you will comb through the underprocessed parts for the last 5 min. or so of the relaxing process, I would use regular because the further away a chemical is from the scalp the slowwer it processes (heat helps w/the process). Do a strand test to see how long it will take to process your underprocced parts that way you'll know when to comb it through during the remander time of the process.
This happened to me during one of my stretches and I used Porosity control by itself to detangle, along w/a regular size comb working my way up from the ends, some sections I had to do a strand at a time and it took me 3 days, I examined the hair that came out during the detangling process and all of it had white bulbs at the end (shedded hairs) so I was happy it wasn't breakage. But I did learn that wide tooth combs helped some but not much w/those locking areas and that when shedding alot and 3 months post relaxer I have to wash in 4 or more sections keeping the other sections braided until done rinsing and applying conditioner to that sec. and then twist or braid that section back up. I even DC in those 4 platts and rinsed them out one at a time replatting when done, and air dried in those platts.
Keeping them in platts helped to stretch the NG out some and kept my hair from drying in it's normal way, and my hair likes to back wrap around the coils like a jacked up phone cord. Anyway, I styled my hair as usual when It was dry or I would just leave it in those platts, , noone outside my friends and family sees my hair anyway.

THANK YOU!! Your post is so helpful! Your situation was exactly like mine! Thanks again.

Have you tried using olive oil as a pre-poo? Or Cream of nature shampoos or conditioners? They seem to really help me with bad tangles. I don't like to use them regularly because of the build up but I keep them on hand for tangle emergencies. I have an under process issue myself and I posted the way I plan to correct it. I'll find it and post it to see if it makes sense. I do know that that you have to get those dreds out before you relax some how..... Some kind of super duper deep moisture...

Thanks. I will try the pre-poo too.