relax, texturize and natural...oh my!!!

[CurlyCrly]

ayanapooh,

Thanks! I am a 4a, with tightly curled 3b. If your hair is tightly coiled, texturizing should work well for you if done properly.

Strand test:
What I do is take a coil and separate it and snip off hair at the root. I take about 10 hairs. I tape them together securely at the end (not the root-new growth). I then tape it to a piece of cardboard or cardstock. I label the paper with the section of my head that it came from. I label the time that I applied the relaxer to it and the amount of time I plan to leave it on. I smooth it for the amount of time I'd smooth it if the hair was still attached to my head. I neutralize and condition it, then air dry. The reason I take a coil and separate it is because I can see how it will curl up once it air dries.

I usually do a strand test of the top, side, upper back and sometimes the nape as well. These all have different textures. Even though I've been texturizing for several years, I still do strand tests from time to time. Sometimes when I retouch, I do not retouch the sides because the hair is much finer there and grows more slowly.

Some people prefer not to cut their hair to do strand tests, but that is not accurate enough for me. I don't want to get the other hair wet, so I cut what I want to test. Sometimes, I want to redo the test and having the strands cut and separated makes that easier. Losing a few strands out of hundreds of thousands once or twice per year is worth it if it saves my entire head.

 

[Trell]

Well I guess she was right because I don't have any curl definition. I remember someone once asked me how do I keep my edges so straight. I told her nothing, my hair just won't curl up, so I don't have a "kitchen" or "Bee-d-bees".

 

[GinaG]

I too am at the stage where I'm considering a texturiser. I'm a weave wearer but I want to make sure my hair underneath is soft and easy to manage when I take my hair out for breathers. I was recommended that I texturise my hair every 6 months. I don't know whether I should do this /images/graemlins/wallbash.gif I don't want to put chemicals on my hair I just want it to be nice and soft and easy to comb.

Correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't my hair lie a lot flatter if it waw texturised and I had a weave? Please help this confused chick!

 

[model_chick717]

Hey sugawooga, I'm texturized and have been for a couple years now. I use a regular strength relaxer (Elasta QP) and I apply and leave on about 8 minutes. I also retouch in sections (front/back) so as not to overprocess.

Yes, you can definitely wear texturized hair straight--or straight-ER. I never fully straighten my hair out because even though I'm texturized, my hair seems to be still pretty close to my natural texture, so I still end up with a poof after only a couple days if I straighten it out. I tend to wear rollersets (done with medium size rollers) if I want a looser/straighter effect. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[DDTexlaxed]

modelchick, how do u apply tr. texturizer? Do u do yr hair in sections? I am diggin' yr curly look

 

[kristina]

I'm having the same dilemma and posted a similar thread to the same effect a little while ago. My opinion on which route to take varies by day. For the moment, I'm liking natural. When I attempted a texturiser, my hair thinned significantly, it didn't curl up really cute like modelchic's and it seemed to maintain the difficulty of detangling yet the weakness of chemically treated hair. And because it's your goal to be straight most of the time(this is my goal as well), I think it's probably better to relax just because you will have similar reversion issues and your hair won't be able to take as much heat as natural hair. If I decide to go chemmy, I think I'm going to relax. Of course, this terminology is confusing because there are girls who call themselves relaxed when they have a slight wave (my ideal) and there are girls who call that texturized.