processed enough or not?

[Lovelylocs]

I am interested in self-relaxing. I have read Southerngirl's tips, but I still have a few questions.
1) How do u know when your hair is done processing?
2) How bad is it to overlap? I figure that a little overlapping is pretty much inevitable, right? Besides, I remember one hairdresser said that u have to put a little relaxer over some of the previously relaxed hair so that the results will be even (ie. after washing u cant see where the freshly relaxed hair was in comparison to the old relaxed hair). Was she wrong?

 

[loonatick]

Interesting, i would like to know this too. For my texturizer touch up. I would imagine overlapping slightly is neccessary, as you would have relaxed hair next to new growth then relaxed hair.
Anyway, wouldnt DCs, moisturizers and maybe protein treatments strengthen the hair, if there was any damage done?

as for processing, im not sure how you know....

 

[Lovelylocs]

bumping for more responses...

 

[firecracker]

Everyones hair has a different response time. You can do a trial on a small section of hair to see how long it will take for your hair. They usually suggest this on the relaxer box. After applying the relaxer my hair would take 20 minutes to process. As long as the smoothing process is continous my hair straightens really well.

 

[Lovelylocs]

I guess my question is... what specifically am I looking for during the smoothing time? This may sound like a dumb question, but I have never self-relaxed before. Should the hair look exactly how I want it to look when wet or what?

 

[Lovelylocs]

bumping for more help...

 

[Faith]

The processing time varies. I tried different times and different strengths/relaxers and found Affirm mild 20 minutes for each HALF (I do one half then rinse then the other) is the best for me. AND I have to start from the front.