Under Processed Ends? Advice Needed...

[kadej]

Hi ladies - I relaxed yesterday (virgin relaxer) with Vitale Life & Body (which I loved btw) and decided to air dry (scarf method) to reduce heat usage because I'm planning to flat iron. *Small* issue though - I woke up this morning to dry,textured, slightly crunchy (?) ends.

My mom and I were very careful with the relaxer application when it came to my ends (we applied a bit of oil to the last 2+ inches of my hair and didn't smooth much there). As a result, I think my ends may be under processed. I was thinking of cowashing my ends in the sink then blowdrying them before flat ironing to infuse a bit of moisture back into them and reduce the amount of heat I would need to apply with the flat iron.

What do you guys think? And would you do a *corrective* on your ends, or leave them as is and keep it pushing? I'm leaning towards skipping the corrective.

TIA!

 

[pookaloo83]

I tried skipping the corrective but couldn't. It was just such a tangly mess. I did a corrective about 10 wks later. It's much better than it was before. It can still be a liitle more poofy thna the rest of my hair, but it's nothing a flat iron can't help. Plus I bun alot so it doesn't really matter.

 

[kadej]

I tried skipping the corrective but couldn't. It was just such a tangly mess. I did a corrective about 10 wks later. It's much better than it was before. It can still be a liitle more poofy thna the rest of my hair, but it's nothing a flat iron can't help. Plus I bun alot so it doesn't really matter.

Thanks pookaloo - when you did your corrective, did you smooth the ends? Do you remember how long you left the relaxer on your ends? I just don't want to fry and damage them.

 

[hillytmj]

I also battle with underprocessed ends. The main challenge is that they are extra dry and can get tangly. They also need a lot more moisture than the rest of my hair. I finally tried a corrective back in July. My grandmother basically smoothed the relaxer over the ends, but she didn't comb it through. The relaxer may have touched my ends for 3 minutes max. This helped a bit, but my ends still get puffy and tangled when I rollerset.

I think the key to the corrective is to comb the relaxer through, but I'm too scared to do it again at this point. I just relaxed my new growth last week, so when I did my rollerset afterwards, I put castor oil grease on my ends to help smooth them and that helped. When I took the rollers out, the ends were still a little frizzy, so I sectiond my ends, smoothed the grease on the ends and kept smoothing them over and over with my hands. While I was doing this, I was also holding my handheld blow dryer over the area on low heat. The "smoothing" action was gentler than using a comb attachment or flat iron (I'm on a "no direct-heat" reggie). My underprocessed ends have been smooth and tangle free for a week now which is a world record for me.

What hasn't worked for the underprocessed ends? Loading them up with setting lotion or smoothing lotion like Chi Straight Gaurd. The bone straight hair lays down well with these products but the ends just get hard, crunchy and almost wiry looking. So now I will continue putting setting lotion/smoothing lotion primarily at the top of my hair and will focus on setting my ends with moisturizing products (along with my new blow dryer method).

 

[kadej]

I also battle with underprocessed ends. The main challenge is that they are extra dry and can get tangly. They also need a lot more moisture than the rest of my hair. I finally tried a corrective back in July. My grandmother basically smoothed the relaxer over the ends, but she didn't comb it through. The relaxer may have touched my ends for 3 minutes max. This helped a bit, but my ends still get puffy and tangled when I rollerset.

I think the key to the corrective is to comb the relaxer through, but I'm too scared to do it again at this point. I just relaxed my new growth last week, so when I did my rollerset afterwards, I put castor oil grease on my ends to help smooth them and that helped. When I took the rollers out, the ends were still a little frizzy, so I sectiond my ends, smoothed the grease on the ends and kept smoothing them over and over with my hands. While I was doing this, I was also holding my handheld blow dryer over the area on low heat. The "smoothing" action was gentler than using a comb attachment or flat iron (I'm on a "no direct-heat" reggie). My underprocessed ends have been smooth and tangle free for a week now which is a world record for me.

What hasn't worked for the underprocessed ends? Loading them up with setting lotion or smoothing lotion like Chi Straight Gaurd. The bone straight hair lays down well with these products but the ends just get hard, crunchy and almost wiry looking. So now I will continue putting setting lotion/smoothing lotion primarily at the top of my hair and will focus on setting my ends with moisturizing products (along with my new blow dryer method).

Thank you! Hmmm... I may need to try a corrective after all...