beloved1bx
Well-Known Member
IDK if anyone used to follow ulovemegz on YouTube but I did since she had nice long relaxed hair. She went natural a few years ago but just returned to texlaxed hair a week ago.
Relaxed Hair Thread
- Thread starter sweetpeadst
- Start date
Kindheart
Well-Known Member
My hair hates glycerin it gets crunchy and dry , I used Qhemet olive balm and my hair was so icky and crunchy. Any product with high glycerin content is a Firm No for me
Kindheart
Well-Known Member
She was stunning with natural hair now she looks average
Rhealthyhair
Member
what is the brand of relaxer that you use? I relax my hair every 6 months or so, and even though I have another 4 months until I perm, I have been looking into other types of relaxers. I'm trying to see if I realize a difference, right now I use ORS brand.
I use Hawaiian silky no base relaxer in mild. I started using it because I couldn't find another mild lye relaxer in the beauty supplies stores near me. I have contemplated switching to another relaxer, especially to the more expensive ones just to see the difference but the result I got from my texlax makes me want to stick to the relaxer.
MzSwift
Well-Known Member
Yay, she's back! I wonder if a few of the other ladies I used to follow will be coming back. Namely prettywitty77 and (another one whose name escapes me right now, Lol).
beloved1bx
Well-Known Member
Prettywhitty has a looser hair texture and seems to easily be able to do wash and gos, and she wears her hair out a lot. So she may not experience some of the same hair woes that megan/kinkier hair nauturals deal with - marathon detangling sessions, SSKs, etc. I haven't seen her talk about her relaxed hair so my guess is she will stay natural.
ItsMeLilLucky
NotLucky no mo' just blessed.
I was trying to wait until March to relax, but I’m tired of all this new growth lbs. I love that my hair has grown, but I’m tired of dealing with two textures. I might do it before New Years’ but if I don’t, it’s okay too.
water_n_oil
Well-Known Member
I'm not relaxed but Megz has been one of my favorite youtubers for a while. I followed a lot of her tips for whenever I straightened my hair.
MzSwift
Well-Known Member
True. That was one of the things I realized when she was texlaxed, that my hair wasn't gonna look like hers because we have different natural hair textures.
That's the name of other one, Madam Gemini. I used to like watching her too. She used to texlax and stretched her relaxers. I found her and Briana Rashay (I think that's her name now) at the same time.
FadingDelilah
Well-Known Member
I didn't get any emails telling me someone responded (weird). But thanks so much for the feedback! I didn't plan on mixing anything into the relaxer. I figured I would just watch in the mirror to see how straight it's getting and wash it out when it gets to the point I don't want to lose any more texture. Is this a bad idea? I guess I'm confused because I don't get why everybody mixes stuff into theirs. Would you say during a bone straight relaxer there's a moment where your hair just drops fully straight or does it slowly loosen the curls and then get straight?? In other words, to texlax do you have to mix in oil/conditioner or can you just wash the relaxer out early?
MzSwift
Well-Known Member
@FadingDelilah
No worries, those are the two popular ways of texlaxing. Apply undiluted and just rinse it out early OR you can dilute it and rinse it. I've done both ways and each way I rinse almost immediately after applying. I did a little more smoothing with my fingers when I diluted it to help it penetrate a bit better. It's kinda hard to tell what the end texture is gonna be while I'm smoothing, even when I look in the mirror. My texlaxed texture when it airdries looks like a blow out when my hair was natural.
FadingDelilah
Well-Known Member
Your last sentence is EXACTLY what I want. Then I could have stretch and all the benefits that come a long with it, but still a lot of texture to achieve natural looking styles with volume.
Let me tell you, I will absolutely DIE if my hair comes out like that. I would be so pleased. 
But I'm not going to be upset with whatever I get. How long would you say detangling takes?
MzSwift
Well-Known Member
Your last sentence is EXACTLY what I want. Then I could have stretch and all the benefits that come a long with it, but still a lot of texture to achieve natural looking styles with volume.
Detangling is definitely easier. In fact one of the first differences I noticed when I texlaxed my natural hair was that I could now wash and detangle my hair in the shower. I could not do that as a natural as it took way too long. Like @abioni said, the hair might look the same but it feels and behaves much differently.
Because I have a lot of texture though, I prefer not to detangle in the shower or while wet at all. And I still primarily finger detangle. I actually detangle as I'm changing styles.
Like you, I also wanted texlax for volume. Just know that it may look full until you braid, twist or bantu knot it. The hair is much more pliable and easier to straighten. So if you want bigger styles, do less braids/twist/knots and always on wet hair. For instance, for my fluffy braidouts I would only do at most 4-5 plaits or no more than 3-4 cornrows. OR I would unravel the hair before it dried fully (about 90% dry) so that it could fluff out a bit. I could NOT do any of that with my natural hair. Lol. If you do any braids/twists/knots on dry hair, you'll get a smoother/flatter look than if you did them on wet/damp hair.
GL to you! I hope you get the results you want! And if you don't, we'll help you troubleshoot until you do.
FadingDelilah
Well-Known Member
Detangling is definitely easier. In fact one of the first differences I noticed when I texlaxed my natural hair was that I could now wash and detangle my hair in the shower. I could not do that as a natural as it took way too long. Like @abioni said, the hair might look the same but it feels and behaves much differently.
Because I have a lot of texture though, I prefer not to detangle in the shower or while wet at all. And I still primarily finger detangle. I actually detangle as I'm changing styles.
Like you, I also wanted texlax for volume. Just know that it may look full until you braid, twist or bantu knot it. The hair is much more pliable and easier to straighten. So if you want bigger styles, do less braids/twist/knots and always on wet hair. For instance, for my fluffy braidouts I would only do at most 4-5 plaits or no more than 3-4 cornrows. OR I would unravel the hair before it dried fully (about 90% dry) so that it could fluff out a bit. I could NOT do any of that with my natural hair. Lol. If you do any braids/twists/knots on dry hair, you'll get a smoother/flatter look than if you did them on wet/damp hair.
GL to you! I hope you get the results you want! And if you don't, we'll help you troubleshoot until you do.
Thanks!! I look forward to my hair accidentally being "too flat" with minimal effort. Lol. I'll continue lurking till the 31st
FadingDelilah
Well-Known Member
I'm too terrified to do it. 
I feel like I'll apply it too slow, and the relaxer looks so thick like it won't be enough so I want to dilute it but I'm not sure if I should use oil or conditioner (I'm scared the pH will get too low and it won't straighten my hair enough), and I just can't get my hands to move. I just started at myself in the mirror ,stared at the relaxer, back at myself, rubbed my hair a little , stared back at the relaxer, and then walked out. Anybody else experience this before? Now that's it's here I'm so scared of burning my scalp and I guess deep down I don't want to lose my hair either. I'm scared it will just melt. I am sooo scared 
I feel like I'll apply it too slow, and the relaxer looks so thick like it won't be enough so I want to dilute it but I'm not sure if I should use oil or conditioner (I'm scared the pH will get too low and it won't straighten my hair enough), and I just can't get my hands to move. I just started at myself in the mirror ,stared at the relaxer, back at myself, rubbed my hair a little , stared back at the relaxer, and then walked out. Anybody else experience this before? Now that's it's here I'm so scared of burning my scalp and I guess deep down I don't want to lose my hair either. I'm scared it will just melt. I am sooo scared I switched to lye a long time ago and applied it to roots only.
11228
Well-Known Member
I apply to the roots and any parts that was previously relaxed but could use a pass.
I haven't seen a difference in my hair between the lye and no lye. I switched to no lye because I don't like burning my scalp.
Mine definitely was. It was also more brittle even though I practiced good hair habits like moisture/protein balance and chelating. I’m glad I switched. I haven’t experienced scalp irritation like some have and I even wash my hair the day before application if I’ve stretched too long and my new growth is matted.
Royalq
Well-Known Member
Yup. My hair used to look like weave. It was shiny, soft, flowy, slightly thick. I only used the no-lye one time in June and haven’t had a touch up since. But my hair looks like a shell of what it used to be. Now I’m even embarrassed to wear it down. It’s stiff, dull, and thin. I miss the way it looked when I used mizani butter blends specifically. Even the mizani Rhelaxer didn’t give me the same results
MzSwift
Well-Known Member
I'm too terrified to do it.
Aww, you poor thing. ((BIG HUG)) The good thing is that you have time and can do it whenever you're ready.
Testimony: I've never had long hair in my life. I started the HHJ and grew it from Caesar cut to WL in 4.5 years as a natural. I had only had short hair, 3-4" or less, when my hair was relaxed/texlaxed before. So I was scared of losing all of my progress that I had worked so hard to retain. But my desire to enjoy my length without SSKs and multiple wash and style setting days helped me not to give up. I watched A LOT of relaxer application videos on YT and practiced with conditioner until I was ready. And one night, I did it impromptu. I hadn't planned on it. I just told myself that when I got the urge to do it, I wasn't gonna overthink it, I was just gonna do it. BTW, I find it much better to apply with my hands than with a brush or a stick - that actually made the virgin relaxing process so much easier for me.
Now, I DID over dilute my virgin relaxer so my initial results were VERY textured and I still had SSKs because of it. But the immediate benefits outweighed the urge to feel like I had made a mistake. Immediately, being able to feel the wind on my scalp again. I could finally do WNGs. Being able to quickly wash/condition in the shower and then wet bun gave me something else I could not do with with my natural texture. Braided ponytails and braidouts became my staple styles. Honestly, what caused me to have any setback was because I started wearing my hair out everyday! For a couple of years too. Lol. I had never had long hair and wanted to enjoy the fruits of my labor, daggonit! Lol.
After I got that out of my system, I was stuck in MBL land for a while. But even that was more hair than I'd ever had so I couldn't complain too much.
A big piece of advice I give you is to not do a corrective if you feel like you under processed your hair. It's too easy to mess up and lose your progress. That was my mistake. Even if it still *looks* natural you will still notice a difference in your new texture. If nothing else, braidouts that last and easier wash days will be something good to look forward to. Use your first year or two (depending on how often you relax) of touchups to figure out which technique you want (more/less dilution, length of time on the hair, smoothing, etc) in order to achieve the results you want.
Sorry so long. I felt your anxiety through the screen and wanted you to know that it's totally understandable and very common. But, overall, I'm sure you know the proper hair care basics to keep from having a disaster.
MzSwift
Well-Known Member
Aww dang. So sorry to hear that. I hope you get your beautiful hair back, sis! In fact, I'm sure you will. You've got the skills -- even if you need to put it away for a while, . IA w/ @demlew , I was worried about scalp burns too but Vaseline is one of the best scalp basers I've used (compared to grease and oils). I've also washed the day before doing my relaxer with no scalp burns. I also agree that you should just start the lye on your new growth. GL to you!
FadingDelilah
Well-Known Member
@MzSwift I DID IT!!!!! Oh my gosh I was so nervous but suddenly a calmness came over me. I chickened out on New Year's Eve. And I was about to chicken out tonight, but something told me "tomorrow you will feel just as much dread as you feel today." I didn't feel ready at all, but I knew that I had researched enough and that researching more wasn't going to make my hands any more capable. So I mixed oil into my relaxer (because after opening the jar I saw that it was too thick to coat all my hair), spent an hour (yikes - hated this part) heavily basing my scalp with vaseline, and then the worst part was just smearing big globs of the relaxer in my hair while having a panic attack. LOL. I imagined it going way more organized than that but I was trying to get done quick.
I felt like I was taking way too long (it took my about ten minutes to apply it alone) but somehow my hair is all the same texture. And... OH MY GOSH I couldn't believe it was my hair! I've never had a curl pattern - at all. I wasn't texturizing to get any curls either, as I never cared about that. I was only texturizing to be able to comb my hair and style it more easily. Plus, I've always thought if you didn't have curls before, you won't after texturizing. Duh. But my 90% shrinkage 4z hair turned into what looked like a million elongated spiral/waves. I was so happy because I could do a wash n go, which was unexpected, but my happiness was quickly trampled upon because the other 75% of the suffering was yet to come... lol.
I had a 2 hour battle with the neutralizing shampoo. I went through two 8 oz bottles. My water went cold, and I was thoroughly shampooing and rinsing, but it seemed like the suds kept coming back not completely white (its the kind that changes color when the relaxer is all rinsed out). I wanted to die. Pair this with my overly anxious personality and I was freaking out thinking I was going to run out of shampoo and wake up with hair coming out in chunks. Anyway, I finally got it all out, but by then my beautiful curls were all gone and my hair is now dull and looks like an unimpressive, definitionless slightly elongated afro that will still tangle bad easily. It feels like straw. I hate that.
I'm hoping its because my hair is just dry right now (I shampooed HARD at least 5 times, and I haven't conditioned yet...
) because mannnnnn, it was so beautiful I couldn't believe it when I did my first rinse with the neutralizer. I'm disappointed because it seems like I'll still have a lot of tangling and my bushy hair issues I had before but at least it hangs more? lol. Atleast I can say I did it. I'm also kind of hopeful that once I restore my moisture levels it will look all pretty again and I'll be able to just run my fingers right through it in the shower to detangle and feel like a mermaid. LOL. We shall see. I was too tired to condition tonight so I just sprayed some glycerin + water in my hair and it feels dry still but I can't do anything about that right now. Sorry this is so long, but I have no one else to tell who will care. 
Wish me luck
Thanks again for everything.
I felt like I was taking way too long (it took my about ten minutes to apply it alone) but somehow my hair is all the same texture. And... OH MY GOSH I couldn't believe it was my hair! I've never had a curl pattern - at all. I wasn't texturizing to get any curls either, as I never cared about that. I was only texturizing to be able to comb my hair and style it more easily. Plus, I've always thought if you didn't have curls before, you won't after texturizing. Duh. But my 90% shrinkage 4z hair turned into what looked like a million elongated spiral/waves. I was so happy because I could do a wash n go, which was unexpected, but my happiness was quickly trampled upon because the other 75% of the suffering was yet to come... lol.
I had a 2 hour battle with the neutralizing shampoo. I went through two 8 oz bottles. My water went cold, and I was thoroughly shampooing and rinsing, but it seemed like the suds kept coming back not completely white (its the kind that changes color when the relaxer is all rinsed out). I wanted to die. Pair this with my overly anxious personality and I was freaking out thinking I was going to run out of shampoo and wake up with hair coming out in chunks. Anyway, I finally got it all out, but by then my beautiful curls were all gone and my hair is now dull and looks like an unimpressive, definitionless slightly elongated afro that will still tangle bad easily. It feels like straw. I hate that.
I'm hoping its because my hair is just dry right now (I shampooed HARD at least 5 times, and I haven't conditioned yet...
) because mannnnnn, it was so beautiful I couldn't believe it when I did my first rinse with the neutralizer. I'm disappointed because it seems like I'll still have a lot of tangling and my bushy hair issues I had before but at least it hangs more? lol. Atleast I can say I did it. I'm also kind of hopeful that once I restore my moisture levels it will look all pretty again and I'll be able to just run my fingers right through it in the shower to detangle and feel like a mermaid. LOL. We shall see. I was too tired to condition tonight so I just sprayed some glycerin + water in my hair and it feels dry still but I can't do anything about that right now. Sorry this is so long, but I have no one else to tell who will care. Wish me luck
Thanks again for everything.
SugarRush
Member
@FadingDelilah I’m glad your hair came out well and that you love it. I’ve been following this thread for a while now. I’m planning to relax from over 6 years natural.
Similar to you, I was planning to do it before the new year but life got busy and my nerves got the best of me. I’m planning to get the supplies this week and self relax over the weekend.
Question for you and the other ladies who relaxed their virgin hair, did you blow out your hair before relaxing or you relaxed in its natural state? I have 4c hair and I’m worried about tangles.
Also, I think I want to use Mizani Butter Blends - is this something I can get on the ground? I thought I would be able to pick it up from Ulta but looking online, it doesn’t look like they sell it.
I’ve been thinking about texlaxing for the past couple of years and I’ve been watching videos and reading. My biggest worry is my hair coming out too straight or very under-processed.
Similar to you, I was planning to do it before the new year but life got busy and my nerves got the best of me. I’m planning to get the supplies this week and self relax over the weekend.
Question for you and the other ladies who relaxed their virgin hair, did you blow out your hair before relaxing or you relaxed in its natural state? I have 4c hair and I’m worried about tangles.
Also, I think I want to use Mizani Butter Blends - is this something I can get on the ground? I thought I would be able to pick it up from Ulta but looking online, it doesn’t look like they sell it.
I’ve been thinking about texlaxing for the past couple of years and I’ve been watching videos and reading. My biggest worry is my hair coming out too straight or very under-processed.
FadingDelilah
Well-Known Member
I don't love my hair, lol. It came out underprocessed and it's tangly still. I'm going to re do it. I think my mistake was judging my texture by how it looked when it was weighed down/clumped with the relaxer. Once it dried, it shriveled a lotttt. Next time I'm going to let it get a little looser looking than I want, so when it shrinks it will be (hopefully) right where I want it. I did my relaxer on well detangled hair with a tangle teezer. I put it in twists so it would stay detangled until I was ready to relax. I was concerned about knots too. I was able to apply it that way but I imagine basing my scalp would have been quicker if I had blow dried. Blow drying for me takes hours though so it would still amount to way more work and damage to do that. I think once it's time to do only the roots I will opt for it though, because blow drying shouldn't take as long once I get to the texture I want, and I'll want to be able to tell my roots from the already processed hair very easily.
So happy for your first go at it. I always use ACV rinse 1:3 ratio after neutralizing. Also try letting the neutralizing shampoo sit in the hair for a bit and massage it into the hair after initially rinsing out the relaxer. That sometimes helps. Make sure you use a really good moisturizing deep conditioner and maybe with heat.@MzSwift I DID IT!!!!! Oh my gosh I was so nervous but suddenly a calmness came over me. I chickened out on New Year's Eve. And I was about to chicken out tonight, but something told me "tomorrow you will feel just as much dread as you feel today." I didn't feel ready at all, but I knew that I had researched enough and that researching more wasn't going to make my hands any more capable. So I mixed oil into my relaxer (because after opening the jar I saw that it was too thick to coat all my hair), spent an hour (yikes - hated this part) heavily basing my scalp with vaseline, and then the worst part was just smearing big globs of the relaxer in my hair while having a panic attack. LOL. I imagined it going way more organized than that but I was trying to get done quick.
I felt like I was taking way too long (it took my about ten minutes to apply it alone) but somehow my hair is all the same texture. And... OH MY GOSH I couldn't believe it was my hair! I've never had a curl pattern - at all. I wasn't texturizing to get any curls either, as I never cared about that. I was only texturizing to be able to comb my hair and style it more easily. Plus, I've always thought if you didn't have curls before, you won't after texturizing. Duh. But my 90% shrinkage 4z hair turned into what looked like a million elongated spiral/waves. I was so happy because I could do a wash n go, which was unexpected, but my happiness was quickly trampled upon because the other 75% of the suffering was yet to come... lol.
I had a 2 hour battle with the neutralizing shampoo. I went through two 8 oz bottles. My water went cold, and I was thoroughly shampooing and rinsing, but it seemed like the suds kept coming back not completely white (its the kind that changes color when the relaxer is all rinsed out). I wanted to die. Pair this with my overly anxious personality and I was freaking out thinking I was going to run out of shampoo and wake up with hair coming out in chunks. Anyway, I finally got it all out, but by then my beautiful curls were all gone and my hair is now dull and looks like an unimpressive, definitionless slightly elongated afro that will still tangle bad easily. It feels like straw. I hate that.
I'm hoping its because my hair is just dry right now (I shampooed HARD at least 5 times, and I haven't conditioned yet...
Wish me luck
MzSwift
Well-Known Member
@FadingDelilah
OMG!! Yay!!
Getting over the inital fear is hard and you did it!! And you still have hair on your head!! LOL
And
Sorry to hear that your hair is hard. Yes, PLEASE, do an ACV rinse and let it sit for at least 10 minutes. That will help restore your hair's pH and help get that relaxer out without 50-11 washes. LOL. You can still do one now.
Also, always deep condition after relaxing. You've gotta add protein back into your strands. Some ladies do a mid-step protein before neutralizing or a protein after neutralizing. Typically, slathering on a protein/moisture mix is good even if you have it leave it on overnight. Then you can just rinse it out in the shower the next day, apply your leave in and bun until you're ready to deal with your hair.
Sounds like you may have overdiluted the relaxer. Do you remember how much oil you added? It's one of the reasons I stopped diluting bc I didn't like the results as much. Instead, I add the products that I would dilute with directly to my hair right before relaxing. So I slather oil and conditioner on my virgin hair and then relax it. I hope that makes sense.
I know exactly how tempting it is to do a corrective. But I think you should condition the heck out of your hair for a while first to see exactly what you're dealing with. Doing a corrective (redoing the relaxer) is such a gamble that really hasn't been to my hair's benefit the 2 times I've done it. Both times, I ended up w/straighter hair that I later had to cut off. I would say that maybe instead, you operate like SistawithRealHair. ACV rinse, DC with heat, apply your heat protectant and straighten your hair. Rock straightened hair for at least two weeks, no touchup heat. KISS. The benefit to having texlaxed your hair is that it should take to heat better and reversion shouldn't be as bad.
OMG!! Yay!!
Getting over the inital fear is hard and you did it!! And you still have hair on your head!! LOL
And
Sorry to hear that your hair is hard. Yes, PLEASE, do an ACV rinse and let it sit for at least 10 minutes. That will help restore your hair's pH and help get that relaxer out without 50-11 washes. LOL. You can still do one now.
Also, always deep condition after relaxing. You've gotta add protein back into your strands. Some ladies do a mid-step protein before neutralizing or a protein after neutralizing. Typically, slathering on a protein/moisture mix is good even if you have it leave it on overnight. Then you can just rinse it out in the shower the next day, apply your leave in and bun until you're ready to deal with your hair.
Sounds like you may have overdiluted the relaxer. Do you remember how much oil you added? It's one of the reasons I stopped diluting bc I didn't like the results as much. Instead, I add the products that I would dilute with directly to my hair right before relaxing. So I slather oil and conditioner on my virgin hair and then relax it. I hope that makes sense.
I know exactly how tempting it is to do a corrective. But I think you should condition the heck out of your hair for a while first to see exactly what you're dealing with. Doing a corrective (redoing the relaxer) is such a gamble that really hasn't been to my hair's benefit the 2 times I've done it. Both times, I ended up w/straighter hair that I later had to cut off. I would say that maybe instead, you operate like SistawithRealHair. ACV rinse, DC with heat, apply your heat protectant and straighten your hair. Rock straightened hair for at least two weeks, no touchup heat. KISS. The benefit to having texlaxed your hair is that it should take to heat better and reversion shouldn't be as bad.
Similar threads
