Underprocessed?

[Blackpearl1993]

Hi ladies,

I have some questions that may seem silly, but this has never happened to me before.

I have had relaxed hair for years. I always burn easily even when I don't scrath my scalp before a touch up. Several months ago on LHCF I found the tip of putting a small amount of castor oil on my scalp, but not the new growth before a touch up. Since I've been doing this, I no longer burn. I got a tough up on October 30th, and had applied small amounts of castor oil to my scalp the two evenings prior to the touch up. My new growth was EXTREMELY thick and was just over an inch. I get a touch up every 8-9 weeks.

The touch up went well enough. However, I now have new growth and it is again quite thick, although not quite as thick as it was before the touch up. Does this mean my hair was underprocessed? This has never happened before. My hairdresser and I are on the same page about healthy hair and we do not go for the bone straight look, but this seems different. We do roller sets and I am very gentle with my hair. It doesn't look bad or anything, but I have to be REAL careful with combing right now because of the new growth (even if I comb with my fingers). I use a water based moisturizer and I also use wild growth oil.

Should I wait until my normal 8-9 weeks to get another touch up? I don't want to overprocess either. My hairdresser has been asking if I have been taking any vitamins or supplements because the new growth has been crazy in the last few months.

Thoughts???

 

[changedname]

It looks like you may have been underprocessed, as your last touch up was really not that long ago. How long dd you leave the relaxer on for during your last touch up? Did the stylist smooth it through? My hair did this at my last touch up - it was smooth when I left the salon but once I washed it it was curly again!

You really have two options, either you can get a corrective touch up or just leave it until your next touch up. The corrective shouldn't leave you overproccessed as long as it's a corrective not another relaxer - in that it doesn't need to be left on for as long as you would with a normal touch up, just for the time it needs until it gets straight. So for example, if the relaxer is usually on for 20 mins and during your last touch up it was only left on for 15 mins, it'll only need 5 mins to correct it. I didn't bother with the corrective after my last touch up-I just blow dried my new growth straight every so often to reduce the tension between the new growth and the straight hair and made sure that my moisture/protein balance was on point to prevent breakage. I did get some breakage towards the end but I stopped it with a treatment of Aphogee two step.

 

[shunemite]

It might be underprocessed. I like the way Dr. Ali Sayed explained it: you need to break down 30% of the cysteine bonds in the hair in order to fully straighten it. If you only straighten break than 30% of the bonds, soon after the relaxer, the hair will "revert". I actually base my scalp with Softsheen, which is like vaseline, so it's thicker than castor oil. I leave the relaxer on for about 5 more minutes extra than recommended because I based the scalp.

 

[Blackpearl1993]

Thank you for the advice. I wasn't even sure my post had appeared, as I couldn't find it after I started this thread. I think I may just blow dry the new growth to avoid too much tension between the new growth and the relaxed ends as suggested. My next touch up is Dec 23rd, so I guess I'd better just wait it out. BTW, I had never heard of a corrective touchup, so thanks again! I learn something valuable and new on LHCF every day!