Relaxed with Phyto...so where should I start?

[Arcadian]

So last night I finally used the box of phyto sitting on my computer being a paperweight.

All in all it wasn't bad.

The likes:

• The relaxer didn't stink
• It didn't make my hair bone straight
• My hair and scalp weren't dry as the sahara afterwards
• My hair didn't feel too delicate to handle (a biggie)

The dislikes:

• when my time was coming due I noticed I was getting red around the edges (had to rinse early)
• The 10 washes I had to do to get the bubbles to turn white (this took me a LOOONG time..like 30 minutes!)

I think I turned red around the edges because I used their oil and not what I would noramlly use to base my scalp and edges(my bad) though I didn't irritate me anywhere else. I started at the top of my head because thats where the hair is much thicker, I did the back/nape 10 minutes before I needed to wash That may not sound like a lot but the texture is really different in the back so it needs a lot less time (i've always done it this way.


After the relaxer was all washed out, my hair felt soft.You could see it wasn't bone straight, it was still wavy which is just fine with me. I'd rather have wavy than limp and lifeless hair.

I then put the Clear Gloss in. I don't know if anyone here has used the Wella brand before. It seemed ok. Didn't smell horrible, and went in quite nicely. Only bad thing is that they tell you to use a 1:2 ratio. The gloss is in a 2 oz bottle, the activating lotion is in a 8 oz bottle. Says to use it on towel dried hair. Good thing I had some measuring beakers around. I did 20 minutes without heat right after the relaxer, rinsed and followed up with a mix of porosity control and the conditioner in the phyto box (I figured it couldn't hurt) I'm glad that at least with this one you can use without heat.

All in all I did like it. My hair felt very nice (but it was almost 12 midnight when I finished) I wrapped my head and went to sleep.

This morning I got up, and thought it looked quite nice. My hair is a medium brown, the gloss really brought it out more. Looks like I colored my hair. My hair isn't totally ba-bling (yet) but it was shinier and didn't tangle at all.

This morning after my shower and all, I used a squirt of carefree curl gold and a tiny bit of mango butter and gave it a brush with my D4...oh wow, my hair really Did start blinging then! Its also really soft (the boyfriend loves it though he misses my natural hair), but it has body. its not stiff feeling at all, and its not just laying there doing nothing. It stayed like that the rest of the day.

So even though this may be it as far as relaxers for me, (because really its MORE work than my natural hair!) The results were really good. I'm more than satisfied with them but anything that I have to use 10 shampooings to wash out of my head...well thats a signal I need to stop.

Anyway if anyone out there is contemplating phyto, I'd say go for it.

-A

 

[relaxedhair]

Hi Arcadian! You know what I used phyto before I even knew the hype around here! I thought I'd get a posh kit to self relax my hair. However my sis was slow applying it and it had to come off early, so I never saw the true results. About neutralizing, I've seen it reccomended that you leave the neutralizer on for 5mins, rinse, reapply and leave for 3 mins. I bet that if you were to do a third shampoo it would come up white, because you have allowed the acidic shampoo to stay in contact and completely neutralize the relaxer. Maybe this will cut the time.

 

[Arcadian]

Hi Arcadian! You know what I used phyto before I even knew the hype around here! I thought I'd get a posh kit to self relax my hair. However my sis was slow applying it and it had to come off early, so I never saw the true results. About neutralizing, I've seen it reccomended that you leave the neutralizer on for 5mins, rinse, reapply and leave for 3 mins. I bet that if you were to do a third shampoo it would come up white, because you have allowed the acidic shampoo to stay in contact and completely neutralize the relaxer. Maybe this will cut the time.

I put a timer on it, 5 minutes for the first one 3 minutes each additional later. still was pink. By the time I passed lather number 6 though I was not happy. This is part of the reason why I didn't finish until midnight 3 1/2 hours to do hair? lawd.....)


My boyfriend told me I was seeing stuff (Ok so maybe I was...lol) But the lather still looked pink, and I examined it under three different light sources just to make sure. (though in two of those light sources the suds looked white )

Usually 4 shampoos does it for me, I'm pretty good at rinsing well. But I must have kept missing a spot or something. It just didn't seem like it wanted to come off without a fight!

I did the relaxer myself. I did great in the front, the back was the hard part (but luckily I protected really well and the back never needs long as far as processing either)

Maybe you can try it again? Versus what you get in the salon, I think its really worth it (plus the additional peace of mind.)

-A

 

[relaxedhair]

Aww okay.... I thought that would help. Back to the drawing board. I might consider trying Phyto again but I think I'm switching to lye now. Good luck neutralizing next time I don't know what's up with that. Maybe you could try another neutralizing shampoo.