Phyto Nightmare Survivors!

stacy

stacy

Active Member
My name is Stacy and I am a Phyto survivor. This is my story.

Well, I used all of the info I gathered about Phyto and invested about $120+ in doing my own virgin relaxer (bc'd November 2006). I used about 1 and 1/2 jars (Index II) for my TWA. I applied and smoothed within the maximum time. The hair looked and felt smooth. Fastforward. When my hair finally dried, it looked like the fur on a newborn chicken! Poofy and all over the place! Not texturized but not straight. I even tried to do a corrective relaxer and it was no different. Also, the dryness some people complained about is no joke. I have straw for hair on most days. And it's not due to the ole "my hair hates no-lye" schtick because I last used Affirm Sensitive Scalp and never had this problem. I will now wait until I have enough new growth to get a real touch-up and cut this Phyto hair off to get an ultra short do. No more Phyto (I even returned almost $70 in maintenance products because they sucked). No more self-relaxing. Other survivors, please come share your stories. Lets heal together.
 
I am really sorry this happened to you, I hope you dont have to cut and start over like you said. Good luck to you.
 
It's odd that you should mention this. I've used many different professional relaxers, Mizani, Affirm, Design essentials, and Deep Brilliance. All stylist have said the same thing, "your hair really loves relaxer." Or "I've never seen a head of hair straighten so easily." That was until Phyto. I had it applied by two different professionals and the results were the same. Texlaxed hair, regardless of how much time it was left in for. It won't straighten passed a certain point. But here's the bad part. I've done corrective relaxers with other product lines such as the ones I just mentioned. And the hair rejects it. It just won't take. So little by little I'm having to grow my hair out and cut here and there. I plan to continue this process until I grow out the phyto index II treated hair. However, I still want to give their maintenance products a try.
 
And so the healing begins......

ACEA, girl, I feel your pain. Do you have the dryness, too? I remembered an old fave, ORS Carrot Oil and ran out to get it. Unfortunately, the BSS was closed, so I picked up the ORS Olive Oil creme from Walmart. If you want to try Phyto maintenance products, I suggest buying them from a store with a great return policy, like Sephora. They took all my Phyto back, no problems at all. I just plan to cut it off in one fell swoop. I've been looking in hair magazines and at online hair pics for some short cuts (shaved in back and 1/2 to 1 inch all around). Keep healing, sister.
 
I know you guys are not alone. I've seen the these threads before. I think most people love Phyto but I know there are other ladies who do not like this relaxer at all for the same reasons. I'm sorry this happened to you. Good luck.
 
:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

Look at my siggy... I was about to do a virgin relaxer with phyto. I am soo scared , I don't want to cut my hair :confused: Dont know what to do :confused:

I have been looking at silk elements, maybe that would be better, or vitale

Ladies what is your hair texture, Maybe 4b's cant use phyto???
 
Unfortunately phyto turned on me. Loved, loved it the beginning and I was willing to pay the price for it but after awhile my hair could not buy moisture no matter what I did. My hair was so dry it eventually broke in my favorite spot and I moisturize, strenghten and moisturized. I didn't cut my hair. I just trimmed gradually until things caught up. Now my hair is getting back to where it was but it took me almost 2 years to get there.
 
Ummm....i hate to add to this:mad: But I just went to a salon that used only PHYTO on my hair and now :nono: I have extreme drying:confused: I'm so happy I didnt get a relaxer. Is there a way to reverse this drying:confused:
 
I am so afraid to try the relaxer again. It did not work well for my hair at all! After reading threads about the fact that I may have been applying it incorrectly, I bought it again to try.

I am scared to use it because of how well Profectiv's relaxer works for my hair. I may just resell it and stick with what i know.
 
I agree. Stick with what you know because you will be kicking yourself for not listening. I love Phyto relaxer but their product line didn't work for me and I especially did not like that reconstructor that comes in the kit.

HoneyDew said:
I am so afraid to try the relaxer again. It did not work well for my hair at all! After reading threads about the fact that I may have been applying it incorrectly, I bought it again to try.

I am scared to use it because of how well Profectiv's relaxer works for my hair. I may just resell it and stick with what i know.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for sharing, this is just confirmation for me. I'm glad I stuck with what my heart told me to do at my last touch-up and stayed away from the phyto, I was thisclose to ordering it.
 
jade998 said:
:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

Look at my siggy... I was about to do a virgin relaxer with phyto. I am soo scared , I don't want to cut my hair :confused: Dont know what to do :confused:

I have been looking at silk elements, maybe that would be better, or vitale

Ladies what is your hair texture, Maybe 4b's cant use phyto???
Click to expand...

I have mostly 4b hair in the back of my head and Phyto gets me bone straight every time. My hair is fine and I've always been told that it breaks down really quickly so that may have something to do with it. The only time I came out underprocessed with Phyto was when I was using MTG religiously and probably didn't stop using it for the recommended 7 days prior to a relaxer. That was also my 1st time self-relaxing. I just touched up with Phyto 2 weeks ago and I overprocessed big time and I have not had any breakage problems since.

I'm sorry this happened to the OP but maybe if you clarify and then use Porosity Control it may help.
 
I HAD MY 1ST PHYTO II RELAXER LAST THURSDAY. I HAD IT DONE AT A SALON, AND IT DID GET MY HAIR STRAIGHT. IT DID SEEM A LITTLE DRYER THAN NORMAL, BUT THAT WENT AWAY WHEN I D'CED AT HOME. ALSO, I NOTICED THAT IT DID NOT MAKE MY HAIR SO STRAIGHT THAT IT FEEL'S FINE. SEE, THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT MIZANI DID TO MY HAIR, MADE MY FINE HAIR FINER BY GETTING IT TOO STRAIGHT. WHEN I RUN MY FINGER AGAINST THE PHYTO HAIR IT FEEL'S THICK UNTIL I REACH THE MIZANI RELAXED HAIR. NOW I KNOW FOR SURE THAT THE MIZANI WAS BREAKING MY HAIR DOWN TO THIN CITY.

I LIKE THE FULLNESS FROM PHYTO AS WELL. I ALWAY'S HAVE FLAT HAIR FOR AT LEAST TWO WEEK'S WITH THE OTHER RELAXER.
I HEARD THAT PHYTO HAS TO BE LEFT ON AT LEAST 25-30 MIN. TO GET OT REALLY STRAIGHT.

SORRY IT DID NOT WORK FOR YOU.
 
I have come really far with my hair in the 2.5 years being natural. I might buy the kit to do a strand test, but that is a lot of money for a strand test. I don't like it, But I would rather pay for the kit than kill my whole hair, I will buy the kit and if it looks like it will be my relaxer..If not, I might then do Silk Elements. I have fine hair and I heard you lose body with Silk Elements.

That is one of the things making me want to try Phyto..It is the body your hair has after.

Maybe I should try Vitale :confused:
 
I just wanted to say I'm sorry to hear all of the bad Phyto experiences. I almost used Phyto for my texlax from natural. But I'm glad I didn't. You don't want to texlax and lose all your texture (that would make you relaxed!) but you also don't want to texlax and not loosen any of the texture (you're basically super under processed).

I love Mizani but that's probably only because I use it for 7 minutes with minimal smoothing and it loosens up my curl pattern. The last batch almost straightened me out too quickly. I want loose curls not straight hair. My hair is thick and growing with Mizani. So I'ma stick with it.

I hope you find a style that will flatter you and keep on growing girl!
 
I love Phyto relaxer, but don't like their regular product line. The only one I thought was worth anything was the PhytoNectar poo. :ohwell:

I also have some straight sections, but those were the places I was heavy handed.
 
sareca said:
I love Phyto relaxer, but don't like their regular product line. The only one I thought was worth anything was the PhytoNectar poo. :ohwell:

I also have some straight sections, but those were the places I was heavy handed.
Click to expand...

OT: Sareca, I didn't realize it's been almost a year already!! Wow, that's awesome! Here's a Premie Happy Anniverdary! :rosebud:

Now returning you back to your regularly scheduled thread...
 
the first time i used phyto my hair came out puffy and dry looking, not sleek and soft like with regular relaxers. :confused:so i went back to ORS cause i thought phyto was a joke. but, in the end i've realised that it's probably the only relaxer that i can use and still keep my egdes and sides and thickness over time. :perplexedand thats why i've gone back to it. its bascially like a texturiser to me. it defintely doesnt act like a normal relaxer but i need to save my hair so hey. :ohwell:
 
stacy said:
My name is Stacy and I am a Phyto survivor. This is my story.

Well, I used all of the info I gathered about Phyto and invested about $120+ in doing my own virgin relaxer (bc'd November 2006). I used about 1 and 1/2 jars (Index II) for my TWA. I applied and smoothed within the maximum time. The hair looked and felt smooth. Fastforward. When my hair finally dried, it looked like the fur on a newborn chicken! Poofy and all over the place! Not texturized but not straight. I even tried to do a corrective relaxer and it was no different. Also, the dryness some people complained about is no joke. I have straw for hair on most days. And it's not due to the ole "my hair hates no-lye" schtick because I last used Affirm Sensitive Scalp and never had this problem. I will now wait until I have enough new growth to get a real touch-up and cut this Phyto hair off to get an ultra short do. No more Phyto (I even returned almost $70 in maintenance products because they sucked). No more self-relaxing. Other survivors, please come share your stories. Lets heal together.
Click to expand...

Each person hair react different to products. What works for some may not work for others. However, I think it was very risky of you to try to do your own virgin relaxer. I'm not sure how much experience you have applying relaxers but maybe you have been out of practice since it has been two years since you BC.

My advice to the other ladies going natural, please get a professionally done by a skilled stylist.
 
Fortunately Stacy, I didn't experience any dryness. My problem was keeping the hair tame. I've manage to do that, but the phyto part of the hair gets tangled alot, causing big knots. Which I used to sit there and try to detangle, losing lots of hair in the process. Now, I have less patience and just cut them out. It's a little drastic I know, but it actually saves some hairs.
 
I had a really bad experience with Phyto about 1.5- 2 years ago too, same scenario at OP. There are some ladies on the board whose hair is so healthy using it, I had to try. My hair came out hard and steel wooly and just WEIRD. I was so upset, I DC'ed alot - I think the two things that did it was salerm and EVOO together - and went into braids off and on. I feel like I am finally back at where I started back then to begin my growth journey.

I'm not too upset - I just HAD to try it. I am back in braids now and actually considering just going natural (i'm about 90% there now anyway) but I'm not decided.
 
I'm sad to read other people also got extreme drying but I thought I was crazy. I used it last summer and my hair hated it. I have pretty resistant hair but it was no match for phyto's drying power. I could not stand touching my hair it was so nasty. I had to baby my hair untill the dryness finally went away. I returned back to ORS and will never leave it now.
 
Like another poster wrote, I was just so tempted to try Phyto. I read every post on Phyto (as well as self-relaxing) to prepare myself. One poster even wrote that the Phyto people themselves said that Phyto was meant to be a relaxer to be used at home. So, I felt fairly knowledgeable and confident. However, my experience was less than ideal, to say the least. And, I do realize that every person's hair reacts differently to the same products (boy do I ever). I consider my natural hair texture to be beyond the 4b's on the board (extremely kinky). So, maybe Phyto is just not made for my individual texture. However, I could live with the hair not being straight, it's the dryness that is killing me.
I do not want to take away from the success/joy of Phyto users who have relaxed successfully. I just want some help and comfort from those who have been through the same thing with Phyto. What helped you improve your hair? What is a chelating/clarifying shampoo? Is neutralizing shampoo clarifying? My last shampoo was with the Phyto neutralizer, porosity control, & Fermodyl 619. My hair was a little less dry. Last night, I added ORS Olive Oil Creme and applied Surge to scalp and hair. I baggied my whole head overnight wearing a skull cap. This helped a whole lot. I am applying just the Olive oil creme and bagging tonight, too.
 
I am so sorry that you are still experiencing dryness. My hair can get quite dry. I classify my hair as beyond 4b as well. I actually put in picture of my hair in my signature just so you ladies can help me out. (I was sceared to show my face :) )

My hair has never, and I mean never looked this way ever, this has been 2.5 years in the making, and I have been consistantly in a weave for a year. I am sooooo scared to mess up all this progress.

Now I know I want me hair straight (or can be straight after a roller set) and about 85% straight. I can't deal with tangles. I want more waves rather that curls (I am being realistic cause my hair is 4b).

Anyone with my hair texture, use Phyto?

Thanks
 
1 1/2 jars on a twa? That sounds like alot. I used 2 jars on my BSL virgin hair the first time I used Phyto. It's been 2 years now and I haven't experienced any problems (except with that nasty reconstructor), but even that I can use now I just cut it with moisturizing conditioner. So far so good, BUT...

For me, I don't see Phyto being the end all be all that everyone raves about. (I wanted to wait at least 2 years of use to say for sure and I'm sure now). My hair is healthier and thicker than when I relaxed in the past with other stuff but I'm not sure how much to attribute to Phyto or how much are just my good hair habits that I didn't have before.

I don't want straight hair so I use index 1 and am happy with that but if I wanted straight hair I would go with a lye relaxer. I think my hair likes lye better. But because of the milder ingredients in Phyto and the fact that it gets the job done I'd probably go natural again before I used any other relaxer. And since I only touch up twice a year and do it myself, $60 isn't hard to swallow.
 
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