Relaxers no longer take

[Songbirdb]

Okay, every since I've been stretching my relaxers, now when I do them, they no longer take. My curls and waves are still presents, yet I do nothing different. The only thing I've done differently is try a different relaxer (Affirm Lye and ORS Lye). I'm left with hair thats not straight, it still has the new growth curl but now its more dry and brittle. So now I have to nurse it back to the state it was at before the relaxer. I really don't know what to do at this point. I wanted to avoid professionals but I guess I'm gonna have to before I end up bald.

 

[wheezy807]

Did you find out if your hair was porous or not? I think that has something to do with the relaxer no longer taking, too.

 

[Songbirdb]

actually, someone told me it might not be porus enough because my hair doesn't sink at all when placed in a bowl of water.

 

[dreysonsmommy2011]

try this(porosity control)

 

[SelfStyled]

bumpin for you, I have the same problem and desperately DO NOT want to go back to the hair dresser.

 

[Songbirdb]

Yeah selfstyled, I agree because they think they know everything. All they ever want to do is cut cut cut... and even out the hair (when people on this forum know most hair doesn't grow even). It drives me insane and I'm just not ready to risk getting into it with a stylist and they mess up my hair on purpose...hmmm, also its very expensive. $65 for a relax and style as opposed to $8 for a creme relaxer.

 

[poookie]

try this(porosity control)

how do you use it? i have a bottle, and it says to add it 30 seconds before applying a chemical service.

won't that mess up my relaxer?


and to the OP: have you been adding anything to your relaxers? when i started adding oil to mine, my hair got wavy instead of straight

 

[hairmaster]

Okay, every since I've been stretching my relaxers, now when I do them, they no longer take. My curls and waves are still presents, yet I do nothing different. The only thing I've done differently is try a different relaxer (Affirm Lye and ORS Lye). I'm left with hair thats not straight, it still has the new growth curl but now its more dry and brittle. So now I have to nurse it back to the state it was at before the relaxer. I really don't know what to do at this point. I wanted to avoid professionals but I guess I'm gonna have to before I end up bald.

Where are you getting your relaxers from? Some of that stuff at the Korean supply store is old or not the realthing.

 

[newflowers]

Before joining and learning so much more about the relaxer process and hair care, I did not do as many things to my hair, including stretching relaxers. Now I find that when I stretch my relaxer (not nearly as long as many other ladies, but longer than I ever have), and use silk and castor oil to coat my hair, I need a slightly longer processing time; I also switched from Phtyo Index I to Index II. I'm not over the recommended time, but cannot cut short the time any longer.

Maybe if you write out your entire relaxing process including what products are on your hair, any additions you may have to the relaxer (are you adding proteins and/or oils), you will be able to better see what exactly you need to change.

I also use Porosity Control, but not right before, the last wash before and during the process - makes a huge positive difference.

 

[DDTexlaxed]

It could be the lye. I could leave a lye relaxer on my hair an hour and still be texlaxed. My hair was a lot more healthy when I used it, but it irked the hell out of me.

 

[Songbirdb]

It could be the lye. I could leave a lye relaxer on my hair an hour and still be texlaxed. My hair was a lot more healthy when I used it, but it irked the hell out of me.

Wow, I didn't know this. I did always use no lye before, but after finding out on the fourm that no lye is bad, I switched to lye.... so this is my 1st time using lye (and it burns like hell!). Thats crazy, I thought it would work faster! Boy was I wrong.

I get my perms from the BSS. I used the ORS Lye which is a fairly new product. I thought it took a while before that stuff expired, Hairmaster.

 

[hairmaster]

I don't trust BSS that are not "professionals only.'' No-Lye relaxers leave a coating on your hair that could be part of the problem.

 

[tiffers]

I just read one of Sistaslicks wonderful articles last night about this. She said that one (no lye or lye) isn't better than the other, it just depends on what you want. No lye gets hair straighter because it's gentler on the scalp, so you can let it fully proceess without burning. Lye tends to leave people underprocessed because while it works faster, it's hard on the scalp and starts to burn quicker, so you can't leave it on as long as you need to. HTH!!!

 

[Ballerina_Bun]

There are some medications known to effect things like this. Not that this is the care with you, but you might want to look at any new or different medications your have started.

Good Luck!

 

[tiffers]

I also forgot to add that if you're going for bone straight, you should clarify 3-5 days before the relaxer and keep poduct usage to a minimum to keep excess build up from getting in the way of the relaxer processing. HTH!

 

[Songbirdb]

I just read one of Sistaslicks wonderful articles last night about this. She said that one (no lye or lye) isn't better than the other, it just depends on what you want. No lye gets hair straighter because it's gentler on the scalp, so you can let it fully proceess without burning. Lye tends to leave people underprocessed because while it works faster, it's hard on the scalp and starts to burn quicker, so you can't leave it on as long as you need to. HTH!!!

ohhhhhhhhhh! I'm glad you added this! I guess if I do decide to relax again I'm going back to no lye. Thanks ladies for all your help.

 

[DDTexlaxed]

Oh, I read on the board that if you use ORS aloe shampoo, it will remove the calcium deposits that no lye leaves on your hair. That would now give you the moisture back in your hair. I hope I remembered this right.

 

[It~Can~Grow]

Humm..don't know about this because I received my first relaxer after my first stretch EVER anyway, it was Mizani BB med/reg.

Now, I've relaxed before and used lye/no lye and I've gotten relaxers from the shop (don't know what she used because it was always mixed in a container and I never saw the product) and both always came out straight no wave pattern what-so-ever.

Today's results...after a 14 week stretch...wavy at the roots.

I'm inclined to believe that we're using the same amount of application and processing time as before, BUT what's different is the time it takes to get through your hair.

I won't do another 14 week stretch for some time because it was just to tanglely and matted in some sections from lo mani.

I have learned how to detangle and comb properly so I will have to figure out some way to semi keep my roots untangled.

I left the product on for my usual start to finish 20 minutes, but I didn't account for the time to finger through each section

Soooo I did learn that stretching is good because I could definitely see where the new growth was and it's good because you do get a wee bit on the already processed hair so the more ng the better, buuutt it defeats the purpose of growth if your loosing bits because you've got knots that you have to pull/cut out.

Moral of the story for me was stretching creates underprocessed areas ONLY because you can't work it as quickly.

I wont bother this thread with my 1st qtr relaxer photos, I post in Bootcamp 2008, plus DH's out so I cant get back photos now anyway.

Will post in siggy later.

Thanks for letting me vent

 

[gymfreak336]

actually, someone told me it might not be porus enough because my hair doesn't sink at all when placed in a bowl of water.

Hey Songbird!

If your hair still isn't very porous at all or has low porosity, using porosity control conditioner isn't going to do much for you. That is for when you have high porosity or overly porous hair, you suffer from the opposite

 

[daniemoy]

I had this same problem with my last relaxer after a 12 week stretch. This time I used Henna (w/yogurt) right after my relaxer followed by a moisture deep condition and my hair came out wonderful. No tangled mess and fully moisturized and strong. I think the henna post relaxer helped loosen the curl.