Relaxed Hair Thread

Has anyone been able to find a dupe for NTM leave in? I've wasted so much money trying to find one, without any luck. It is the only product that is allowing me to continue stretching past 6 months. Everything else I've tried leads to dryness and breakage, once I blow dry. Without NTM, I would have relaxed again in a heart beat.

I'm finishing up my last bottle, and I'm so desperate, I have seriously considered paying the outrageous price on Amazon, until I can find a replacement. :perplexed:
I've been saving up the last bits like a fiend. :lol:
 
secretdiamond said:
Has anyone been able to find a dupe for NTM leave in? I've wasted so much money trying to find one, without any luck. It is the only product that is allowing me to continue stretching past 6 months. Everything else I've tried leads to dryness and breakage, once I blow dry. Without NTM, I would have relaxed again in a heart beat.

I'm finishing up my last bottle, and I'm so desperate, I have seriously considered paying the outrageous price on Amazon, until I can find a replacement. :perplexed:
I've been saving up the last bits like a fiend. :lol:
Click to expand...

Have you tried this Sally's knockoff?

Texture ID Triple Moisture Cream Conditioner | Conditioner | Textured Hair | Sally Beauty

Texture ID Triple Moisture Cream Conditioner is a rich and creamy formula hydrates thirsty curls while providing superior slip for ultimate detangling and improved manageability.
www.sallybeauty.com www.sallybeauty.com

Texture ID Triple Moisture Cream Conditioner 33.8 oz | Sally Beauty

Triple Moisture Cream Conditioner 33.8 oz by Texture ID at Sally Beauty. Rich and creamy formula hydrates thirsty curls while providing superior slip for ultimate detangling and improved manageability.
www.sallybeauty.com www.sallybeauty.com
 
MzSwift said:
Have you tried this Sally's knockoff?

Texture ID Triple Moisture Cream Conditioner | Conditioner | Textured Hair | Sally Beauty

Texture ID Triple Moisture Cream Conditioner is a rich and creamy formula hydrates thirsty curls while providing superior slip for ultimate detangling and improved manageability.
www.sallybeauty.com www.sallybeauty.com

Texture ID Triple Moisture Cream Conditioner 33.8 oz | Sally Beauty

Triple Moisture Cream Conditioner 33.8 oz by Texture ID at Sally Beauty. Rich and creamy formula hydrates thirsty curls while providing superior slip for ultimate detangling and improved manageability.
www.sallybeauty.com www.sallybeauty.com
Click to expand...
Sally has a knockoff?!
OMG, thank you!
 
OK, I might be behind on this but did anyone else know that Africa's Best sells a texlax system??:shocked:
It happened to come up in my Amazon suggestions and I thought I'd take a look at it.

Africa's Best Originals Honey and Castor Tex-Lax Hair Texture Softening System​


Amazon product ASIN B083FWCCL6
And here's one of the reviewer's before and after (thank you for sharing, sis):

Before
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After
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She still has a lot of texture. She left hers on for 8 minutes and didn't smooth with a comb.

Reading the reviews, the ladies are saying that they leave it on 5-8 minutes, which is what I do too to achieve a kinkier texture. So anyone could pretty much do that with an undiluted relaxer. But I'm sure it's nice to have directions to follow instead of guessing. Also, the lack of or minimal smoothing might be an additional key. So less time and less/no smoothing.
 
Now that I've been using this Loreal Elvive 8 sec water wonder on the tails of my cornrows and on the bottom half of my braids. I like it just as much as the more expensive Moremo. My ends feels smoother and it smells great - more perfumey than I'm used to, probably bc I tend to stick to natural mixes in my regimen.

1675003284801.png

I mixed up my scalp oil and hair oil yesterday. I'm planning to mix up my Shikakai cleanser today - gonna go back to adding Neem powder to it. I don't otherwise use it and from my journaling, I see that I used it in all of my past mixes.

Still on the vitamins. I dunno if MSM is changing my new growth bc I stay braided up but transitioning between styles has been pretty easy lately.

Back to bun baggying under my satin scarf at night and throughout the day if I don't go anywhere ( and sometimes even if I do :look:). Keeping my hair covered at home helps to keep my hands out of it. Would be fantastic if I could retain well this year.
 
alundra said:
I didn't notice that they got rid of one of my favourite conditioners (Aveda Dry Remedy) and the shop I buy my giant Aveda from stopped carrying the largest (1L). Other shops still seem to be carrying the large size so that's OK but ugh.
Click to expand...
Isn't that the worst?! This is one of the reasons I started mixing up my own products bc of companies changing formulas and discontinuing products. smh
 
alundra said:
I didn't notice that they got rid of one of my favourite conditioners (Aveda Dry Remedy) and the shop I buy my giant Aveda from stopped carrying the largest (1L). Other shops still seem to be carrying the large size so that's OK but ugh.
Click to expand...

Aveda (Deep) Nutriplenish is far superior to the Dry Remedy imo and I loved the latter. It is expensive though, so I try and get it when it's on discount.
 
Okay, I’m freaking out a bit. Relaxed on Sunday. I left the relaxer on a bit longer than it should have. 20-ish instead of 15, because even with the twists, I was moving too slow. And then I think my sister was over smoothing… so my roots are straighter than I had hoped for. I don’t think it’s over processed, but this isn’t what I wanted. I have not had completely straight hair since my pre-LHCF days, so I’m feeling like this is a disaster.

These are some pictures of my air dried hair, so you can see the texture difference. I’m going to do an Olaplex treatment tomorrow and then flat iron, cause I’m going out of town on Thurs. But I’m going to do an Aphogee 2 step treatment when I get back next week.

I need some of you to weigh in on this. Does any one of you still relax your hair straight or bone straight? Is this the beginning of the end for my hair??
:cry4:


62AEAF0A-AC3C-47CC-B631-CDFC1AFC2B3B.jpeg
F55E5DD6-51AF-43E1-BDCF-17C5F04C0B42.jpeg
 
Theresamonet said:
Okay, I’m freaking out a bit. Relaxed on Sunday. I left the relaxer on a bit longer than it should have. 20-ish instead of 15, because even with the twists, I was moving too slow. And then I think my sister was over smoothing… so my roots are straighter than I had hoped for. I don’t think it’s over processed, but this isn’t what I wanted. I have not had completely straight hair since my pre-LHCF days, so I’m feeling like this is a disaster.

These are some pictures of my air dried hair, so you can see the texture difference. I’m going to do an Olaplex treatment tomorrow and then flat iron, cause I’m going out of town on Thurs. But I’m going to do an Aphogee 2 step treatment when I get back next week.

I need some of you to weigh in on this. Does any one of you still relax your hair straight or bone straight? Is this the beginning of the end for my hair??
:cry4:


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View attachment 486709
Click to expand...


Your hair looks absolutely perfect to me. Yes the roots are evidently a lot straighter than the mid lengths but this happens quite regularly to a lot of us I think. Just continue on with your post relaxer strengthening and conditioning treatments; pay keen attention to the line of demarcation. You'll be fine!
 
@Theresamonet I agree with @LushLox Your Hair looks :love:. The aftercare (Post Relaxer) is most important.

I'm back in the Salon and no matter how many times I say "new growth only" my hair is always a lot straighter than I would like. So, I have to "overthink" my aftercare plan to combat any damage that might occur because stylist, at least mine, wanna take you boneskrait.

I guess that's why I lean hard into Olaplex, Curlsmith to try to stay on top of her foolishness as well as weekly protein treatments or reconstructors.

OAN/IMO: Underprocessed can be just as bad as Overprocessing. There is definitely a fine line.
 
@Theresamonet

Yay, I've been waiting for your update!!! Looks like your touch up turned out well! I think your hair looks fabulous and I LOVE how dark it is!! :love:

Just like the ladies said, it's totally normal for the touch up to be straight. Mine were always that way too. And I found that over time, the hair relaxes and crinkles a bit as it ages and is exposed to my conditioning and the environment.

Important stuff:

-IME it is IMPOSSIBLE to get the same exact results each time you relax, even with the same processes. So please don't put that pressure on yourself. You CAN get it very similar, though.
Sorry, I've seen ladies cut off their hair bc the textures are different along the strands and my heart breaks bc even as a natural, many of us don't have the same texture/pattern along the same strand or throughout our whole head.

-Did you keep notes? If not, jot down whatever you can remember about your process now. It will be easier to tweak your process in the future with those notes. Also, you'll get faster each time you do it, so that may help to cut down on application time.

-How may twists did you do? Do you think you could cut down the number of twists to help you decrease your application time?
Your hair is definitely long enough to part down the center and then make long, horizontal parts = 1 twist on each side. You can then make those parts thicker and thicker each time until you find the parting that gives you the results you want with the least amount of application time. Less twists will give you a faster application time and then you can focus on smoothing technique (or no smoothing) to give you the texture you want.
 
@LushLox @IDareT'sHair @MzSwift

:heart:

Thank ya’ll so much for your replies. I’m feeling a lot better about my hair, hearing from you that everything looks fine. I guess in my mind, straight hair automatically equals over processed hair. Having the extra texture is like my safety net. I’m going to have to be extra careful next time not to overlap.

I will admit that I’m enjoying the silkiness of the texture I got this time… Just don’t want my hair to break off.

Mzswift - I think I had 16 twists. 4 in each quad. But the problem I had was trying to apply the relaxer in the mirror. My hand-eye-mirror coordination was so off, and I could not tell how far down my new growth went. Thank goodness my sister was able to step in and help. I’m probably just going to have her do it next time. And I think if we stick to the 15 minutes, it will be close to what I’m looking for.
 
It's been 4 months since my virgin relaxer. While my hair is much softer now, it still feels very thin. That's in comparison to my previous texlaxed hair. I rested my strands from April to October, when I cut and combed out my locs so I'm fairly certain that it's not strand stress or anything. I think it was the relaxer. It's stronger than my usual relaxer and I kept it in longer than my usual 8 minutes so my hair is much straighter than I'm accustomed to. I've transitioned from bonelaxed to texlaxed before so I think I can do it again. And this time, I don't plan to cut off these bonelaxed ends.

I've got about 12 more weeks to go in this stretch and then I'll relax with the relaxer diluted with EVOO. I might even add some condish. I don't really wear it out all that much, I keep it in braids but they are looking so puny. Fortunately, I have more than enough DIY projects to do around the house to keep my mind off of my hair so I'll just establish a weekly wash and DC day and then M&S daily. Hopefully, it'll be ready to shine this time next year!
 
Relaxed at 12 weeks with Silk Elements Mild Lye (10-11 mins since my hair is fine). I relaxed/neutralized in 4 separate sections (annoying but I like the results). I’ll blowdry straight and trim in a couple weeks.

Liking the Silk Elements so far, no burns (I based well though), and hair feels strong. I’ll monitor for the reversion I’ve read about here.
 
Is there a hair therapist in the house? I love how long and thick my hair has gotten, it's the best it's ever looked relaxed, but the time I'm spending on it is getting out of control. I'm not able to air dry I have to blow it out, and the only way to control my hair after 7-8 weeks is to flatiron. I've gotten some breakage trying to lay my new growth down. I've been doing more headbands which helps, but still prefer the sleek look.

I've always done 10 weeks between relaxers and haven't had much problem up until now. Laying off the flatiron has made my hair longer and thicker, but also more textured. I now need a corrective..

I have been thinking about relaxing sooner around 8 weeks post, relaxing closer to bone straight, or just forget about trying to have long hair. When I was shoulder length it was so easy and I didn't have to do a whole lot. Now closing in to BSL, I'm about ready to just do a pixie and call it a day.

Is having long relaxed hair really worth it? I must be doing something wrong because it's not easy and I'm struggling lately. I live an active lifestyle so going natural is just not an option. I tried for many years, but went back to relaxing around 2014. I'm just tired of my hair right now...
 
Fashionista922 said:
Is there a hair therapist in the house? I love how long and thick my hair has gotten, it's the best it's ever looked relaxed, but the time I'm spending on it is getting out of control. I'm not able to air dry I have to blow it out, and the only way to control my hair after 7-8 weeks is to flatiron. I've gotten some breakage trying to lay my new growth down. I've been doing more headbands which helps, but still prefer the sleek look.

I've always done 10 weeks between relaxers and haven't had much problem up until now. Laying off the flatiron has made my hair longer and thicker, but also more textured. I now need a corrective..

I have been thinking about relaxing sooner around 8 weeks post, relaxing closer to bone straight, or just forget about trying to have long hair. When I was shoulder length it was so easy and I didn't have to do a whole lot. Now closing in to BSL, I'm about ready to just do a pixie and call it a day.

Is having long relaxed hair really worth it? I must be doing something wrong because it's not easy and I'm struggling lately. I live an active lifestyle so going natural is just not an option. I tried for many years, but went back to relaxing around 2014. I'm just tired of my hair right now...
Click to expand...

Not a hair therapist but I love to brainstorm and help in any way I can! :)

Most of us who do long stretches use some sort of PS 90+% of the time after a certain point. Some ladies would rock their hair out for the first 4-8 weeks and then when it becomes too much, they then PS for the rest of the time until it's relax time again. Some give themselves a monthly heat pass for those special occasions (date night, ladies night, etc.).

@sunnieb just posted about ponytail rollersets and that seems like way to use less direct heat to stretch your new growth which would be less stress on your hair.

Bunning is an easy PS that ladies use where they don't comb their hair and simply use hands to smooth it back into a bun. Is a weekly wash, DC and blowout too much? If so, you can try a longer term PS such as cornrows and wigs (there are some cute u-wigs for a more natural look), cute crochet styles or twist/braid extensions to help you keep manipulation to a minimum. Also, if you wet bun, then you can still do a weekly wash and DC and skip the blowout altogether.
 
MzSwift said:
Not a hair therapist but I love to brainstorm and help in any way I can! :)

Most of us who do long stretches use some sort of PS 90+% of the time after a certain point. Some ladies would rock their hair out for the first 4-8 weeks and then when it becomes too much, they then PS for the rest of the time until it's relax time again. Some give themselves a monthly heat pass for those special occasions (date night, ladies night, etc.).

@sunnieb just posted about ponytail rollersets and that seems like way to use less direct heat to stretch your new growth which would be less stress on your hair.

Bunning is an easy PS that ladies use where they don't comb their hair and simply use hands to smooth it back into a bun. Is a weekly wash, DC and blowout too much? If so, you can try a longer term PS such as cornrows and wigs (there are some cute u-wigs for a more natural look), cute crochet styles or twist/braid extensions to help you keep manipulation to a minimum. Also, if you wet bun, then you can still do a weekly wash and DC and skip the blowout altogether.
Click to expand...
Thank you for all of the suggestions. I think it's time to invest in a u-part unit. The complication is that my hair color never matches any wig or weave hair. I would have to find someone to custom color dye it for me. With my line of work, I can't stray too far from my headshot photos for the time being. Later things could change depending on where I end up working.
But weeks 6-10 are just getting so overwhelming. I need 3-4 week break every cycle help me get past this mountain of hair.
 
Fashionista922 said:
Thank you for all of the suggestions. I think it's time to invest in a u-part unit. The complication is that my hair color never matches any wig or weave hair. I would have to find someone to custom color dye it for me. With my line of work, I can't stray too far from my headshot photos for the time being. Later things could change depending on where I end up working.
But weeks 6-10 are just getting so overwhelming. I need 3-4 week break every cycle help me get past this mountain of hair.
Click to expand...

Totally understand! And stretching is definitely NOT worth interfering with your work.:nono:

If,as you said, you've seen benefits from stretching and you want to continue, a wig (full, half or U-part) or weave would seem like the best options to keep you looking consistent. That way you can still grow out your hair while your outward hair appearance doesn't change.

I used this synthetic one to test out u-part wigs and it's definitely an inexpensive trial to see if a u-type wig would work for you before paying a stylist to install, color and cut. It definitely did not match my hair color but it was pretty natural looking even though my leave out was a bit too long for the wig. HTH! :)


Amazon product ASIN B01MDJWXH5

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1675718662640.png 1675718854522.png
 
MzSwift said:
Totally understand! And stretching is definitely NOT worth interfering with your work.:nono:

If,as you said, you've seen benefits from stretching and you want to continue, a wig (full, half or U-part) or weave would seem like the best options to keep you looking consistent. That way you can still grow out your hair while your outward hair appearance doesn't change.

I used this synthetic one to test out u-part wigs and it's definitely an inexpensive trial to see if a u-type wig would work for you before paying a stylist to install, color and cut. It definitely did not match my hair color but it was pretty natural looking even though my leave out was a bit too long for the wig. HTH! :)


Amazon product ASIN B01MDJWXH5

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Wow it looks great!!
 
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