I hope you have had a lovely Christmas ladies.
There comes a time when you just say to yourself “ okay that’s it, I am done”. That was me 2 weeks ago when I decided to end my stretch at 16 weeks!!!! So as a surprise I have a relaxer update for you….it was a surprise for me too. I wasn’t supposed to texlax until early January.
WHY I ENDED MY STRETCH EARLY
Some of you may recall that my hair was under processed after my last texlax in August. At first it seemed okay but a few weeks down the line I literally still had a mini afro. My new growth wasn’t texlaxed …it was blown out very slightly.
As even more time went by, I realised that I could not tell the difference between my blown out hair and my new growth. I considered doing a corrective relaxer but felt that I would be able to cope because I had many years experience of managing different textures. I decided that I would stretch for 18 to 20 weeks.
At 16 weeks post, I had a wash day and was panicking at the thought of the time and arm strain it would take to sort my hair out. I said to myself “ Lade, what the heck are you doing”. It suddenly dawned on me that I had been ignoring my own advice. I always champion reviewing your hair and tweaking your regimen if necessary and there I was ignoring the fact that I had 4 months of new growth and 5 months worth of blown out hair…that is 9 months of almost natural hair added to 20 inches of texlaxed hair. It was TOO MUCH for me. So I knew….it was time.
Happy my ponytail is thicker than my neck. I trimmed off an inch and half after taking these pictures.
WHAT WENT RIGHT ON THIS TEXLAX
I am back to my happy place……texlaxed hair.
I am no longer juggling three different textures. I am very happy with my overall results and the state of my hair. I am glad I was able to stretch for as long as I did because my hair is certainly a lot thicker feels healthy. I am actually happy with my ends now bearing in mind that I have trimmed 1.5 inches off after taking these pictures.
My hair is a little longer even though I know it doesn’t show in the pictures. I am way past waist length but don’t think I am tailbone length. After my trim, when I pull my hair forward it touches my belly button and I would say it is currently lower back length ( i.e. it touches the end of my back). I intend to keep it at this length. I intend to trim off 1.5 to 2 inches every time I texlax in the future……lush and even thicker ends here I come)
WHAT WENT WRONG ON THIS TEXLAX
The only thing that went wrong was that some of my new growth ended up becoming relaxed instead of texlaxed. I would say 30 to 40% seems relaxed in my opinion. Relaxed hair is great but because I am texlaxed it is important for me to try to achieve the similar results when I texlax so that I have a even textured hair. I knew exactly what caused some part of my new growth to become relaxed…I deviated from my usual routine in three ways
- I usually cover my new growth with olive oil when I texlax to prevent it from become too straight. Well because my decision to texlax was sudden, I didn’t have enough olive oil at home to cover my new growth and hair so I used coconut oil instead. Coconut oil is lighter/thinner than olive oil so the relaxer was able to access my hair and straighten it quicker than normal. I should have realised this but didn’t until after relaxing.
- I used an ENTIRE jar of relaxer….normally I use two thirds of a jar but because I had a serious amount of new growth I had it use the entire jar. It was surreal…and heavy. The relaxer felt heavy when it was in my hair and the weight of relaxers contribute to their straightening effect. The more and heavier the relaxer is on our hair, the straighter our hair is likely to become. This wasn’t my fault…I really needed the whole jar. Going forward I will texlax at 20 weeks so I wount need a whole jar of relaxer.
- The biggest cause however for the partial relaxed hair is that I left the relaxer in my hair for 3 more minutes than usual. Normally it takes 15 minutes to apply relaxer to my new growth and then I wait 5 minutes max before washing out the relaxer. On this texlax however because I was scared my hair would come out underprocessed again and because of all the new growth I decided to wait an extra 3 minutes. This normally wouldn’t have been a big deal but because of points 1 and 2 above I ended up with partially relaxed hair.
I am probably making a big deal of nothing because the next day I was consulting with a client at the salon and a lady who is natural asked how long I had been natural for……so it really can’t be that bad.
So I have learnt a lot of lessons with this texlax session and I am already looking forward to the next one…just to make sure I don’t make the same mistakes again.
Has anyone relaxed, texlaxed or big chopped their hair recently? How did it go? Have you made mistakes with your regimen recently and what did you learn from it?
I have done the pictorial I promised however I cant get the database I use to create collages to work at the moment so the next blog post will be an educative one. It ‘s about why a lot of ladies hair seems to stop growing at shoulder length and how to move past this length.
Come back soon ladies.
X
Lade
Learn | Change | Grow
Hi,
Hope you had a lovely Xmas too! 🙂
I just discovered your blog thanks to IG! And OMG I’m im love with your hair!
I’m thinking about texlaxing, but not sure I don’t need a corrective relaxer instead as I noticed part of my hair looks like I’m transitioning (probsbly bc I stretched my relaxer longer than I usually do)… Wondering if texlaxing will fix it or if I should relax but mix the relaxer with a conditionner?
Hello lade, thank you for the helpful response. I bought the elasta qp shampoo for relaxed hair, elasta qp intense fortifying hair conditioning treatment, ors olive oil hair masque And elasta qp olive oil and mango butter h2 leave in conditioner, I’m ready to start off with them and hopefully see some improvement. I wanted to ask, is it advisable for me to mix baking soda with my shampoo as a chelator? Is it safe for relaxed hair? I want to know your opinion before using it. I noticed the shampoo has one sulphate so I would dilute with water, some coconut and olive oil.
Hi Lade,
I am glade to have found your website. I am trying to decide on transitioning from relaxed hair to possible locks. I have had relaxers for over 30 years and have noticed for the last 4 years that a section of my hair has fallen out and will not grow inspite of what I do. I know now that my beautician was relaxing my hair too soon, every 4 weeks. Although she had my hair looking healthy, that spot just wouldn’t grow and she kept telling me it was my nerves.
Anyway, I will be following your website as I began my hair journey. Thanks for all the information on growing hair. Your hair is beautiful and have me rethinking locking. I may just try texlaxing instead.
complements of the season dear!
I texlaxed my hair recently too… jst like you i think i got some parts straighter than some. I’m jst hoping my hair reverts as it does. I know the culprit though…i changed my relaxer and it seems the time of application and smoothing needs to be adjusted with this new relaxer.
Hey Lade,
you have been a great inspiration to my hair jorney… right now im 4 months into my hair jorney and my hair is almost past bra length.. I am loving it soo much.. right now I stretch my texlaxing days to 16 weeks and im planning on stretching more… great results… thicker and better…. no heat no stress.. protective styling… great hair…
thank you soo much….
odii
Thanks.Very informative. But I had worse issues during my texlax. just started my hair journey last year may and decided to texlax myself for the first time in October. My hair came out very underprocessed because I was too careful not to make any mistakes. So after 9 weeks I was losing alot of hair from new growth and the underprocessed hair because it was as if I didn’t relax at all. This time around I decided to go to a salon. I gave the lady strict instructions which she tried adhering to but then I came out with relaxed hair because just like you, I was afraid and stayed a bit longer. The problem now is, the difference between both textures is so different, I dont know what to do. When I comb my roots go easily then the comb get stuck because of the underprocessed hair. Is there a remedy because it’s difficult to handle.
Hi Lade,
I really would like to know how to care for my new growth between stretches, I am doing okay with the relaxed parts (huge decrease in shedding etc.) but my new growth is becoming a problem, it’s always so dry. Could you please recommend any hair products that would help? I have type 4b & 4c hair. Also, do you comb your new growth between stretches or do you just moisturize and seal and leave it alone? Sorry for the long comment x_x
Thanks in advance! 🙂
Author
Hello Island Girl (love the name)
I have written a blog post about stretching. Please refer to it for advice and product tips for stretching.
Hope you find it helpful.
Lade
Thanks Lade 😀
Hello lade, happy new year! So I finally threw I’m the towel and decided to texlax today, it’s the first time I’m texlaxing and my hair looks and feel fuller, please can you suggest steps that I can use to avoid shedding, my hair was a bit tangled and I had some knots too so I lost some hair which was something I didn’t want. What steps can I take to ensure a better knot and tangle free texlax next time? Thank you.
Author
Hello Zainab
Please refer to posts I have written about how to reduce shedding. It is best to ensure your hair is detangled prior to relaxing. also ensure the salon staff do not tangle your hair during the neutralising and conditioning process.
For more info please read my posts on relaxing and texlaxing.
Good luck with your next texlax
x
Lade
Hello again Lade,
I had a “problem” similar to your last texlax.
I texlaxed after stretching for 20 weeks, and the new growth ended up being more “Texed” that “laxed”, mainly looked like a blow out. Eventough, my previously texlaxed hair tends more towards relaxed. The underprocessed hair happened with 15 minutes total for both application and smoothening. So i have two different textures, but it’s not giving me so much problem…..for now, at least. I’m hoping I’ll be able to manage. I’m presently 3 weeks post, and hoping to stretch for 20 weeks *keeps fingers crossed*. Though I might give in and texlax earlier, it all depends on how my hair chooses to behave. Any tips on managing these two textures, and possibly a third texture since I’ll be having new growth soon as well?
When you said “corrective relaxing”, did you mean reapplying relaxer to previously (and recently too) processed hair? Wouldn’t that cause hair damage?
Awaiting your usually informative reply.
Author
Hello Ruqayya
the best tools for dealing with multiple textures is having a lot of patience, moisturising and sealing regularly to prevent breakage and avoid unnecessary styling and manipulating your hair.
By corrective relaxing, the relaxer is to be applied to the under-processed part of your hair after waiting for at least 6 to 8 weeks.
hope that helps
x
Lade
PS: You might wanna update your “current hair stat” too. It’s since February last year or so. : )
Author
lol…thanks did so a while ago
is it safe to mix oil with the relaxer to get hair texlaxed?
Hi Lade,
I just saw your hair site now and it is impressive that you are able to keep this long hair.
My question is which relaxer do you use, could you tell me the name and if it is a box ( you have to mix the relaxer and activator from the box) or jar relaxer. do you add anything to the relaxer to dilute it or you use the relaxer undiluted. I already see that you leave it in your hair for a total of 20minutes.
Thanks
Sharon
Author
Hello Sharon
Thank you very much 🙂
I use Organic Roots stimulator(No-Base) relaxer in normal strength. It comes in a green jar and is a lye relaxer…I texlax my hair so weaken the relaxer by applying 2 teaspoons of olive oil in about half the jar.
The whole process from application to waiting time takes me (with my sisters help) 20 minutes MAX.
Hope that helps
X
Lade