Help ! Relaxer Resistant Type 4 Hair

Psi77

Member
Does any one know if Dark & Lovely make a Lye (sodium hydroxide) relaxer ? I remember back in the day, this is the one that was used on me, and my hair always came out straight. Now I have VERY relaxer resistant hair and most brands I have used just make me very underprocessed and give me a soft afro. I know it is not the technique I use as I have tried several of the effective and safe techinques kindly posted by members here. My sister and I are having the same problem !!

The brands I have used are :
Phyto Index I & II - resulted in too much calcium build up and a soft afro
Motions Lye Super - left on for maximum time, still a soft afro
Hawaiian Silky Lye Mild - soft afro
Beautiful Beginings Course - soft afro
Soft & Beautiful Botanicals Texurizer - Calcuim build up, no texture change.

I wear braids most of the time and relax every 6 months, but my hair is so thick I need something to make it manageable. I also tried blow drying and flat ironing my hair, but this did not make much of a difference. I have 4z African hair, both parents West African (Nigeria & Ghana). This hair of mine has broken several combes ! Even the African wooden afro combes we call 'Oyeyah' (sp?)

I would be grateful for any lye relaxer suggestions as I lose progress with no-lye relaxers. I really need your help girls ! TIA.
 

Reinventing21

Spreading my wings
Hi there! I don't know if it's because you have 4z hair as you say. I have had the same problem with 4a formerly 4a/3c. When I was younger the store boxed relaxers worked. Now nothing. So I then tried Mizani no lye. Better results but not the results from my past. I even had it done by a professional with Mizani. The results were better than mine, but not by much. I kept using it though hoping that the next time would be the one. Plus I didn't want to waste the purchase. Anyhoo, I then thought about what the only stylist who ever did my hair extremely well. She had used Dudley and I knew she prefered lye. In fact she used to say that even the no-lye ones lied and had some lye. SOOOOOOO, I just purchased Dudley. I won't use it till June tho.

Maybe you could try to use a professional quality lye relaxer. HTH
 

Mizz Diamonds

Well-Known Member
My hair didn't really take to relaxer back then the only one that did for me was Profectiv No lye relaxer so try that or the lye one.
 

ceebee3

New Member
My cousin has very coarse type 4 tightly coiled hair. She also had problems and felt her hair was resistant. She used Mizani regular which she liked and now uses Affirm and she likes that better.

Maybe you could try one of those.
 

Spring

New Member
Hi. I know you said you left the relaxer on for the maximum, but how many minutes was that and have you ever tried to time it based on your visual observation rather than the time suggested on the box?
 

imaccami

New Member
What do you mean by soft fro? Your hair won't hang? My hair looks the same relaxed as it does natural, the only difference is that it's easier to comb, dries faster, is easier and quicker to straighten, and doesn't revert when I straighten it. Only a flat iron makes my hair straight.

I'll try to come back to this thread to post a pic of my blow dried hair to show how big it is.

I use Elasta qp regular, you can try super. I also like Dudley's, you can try that in super. Maybe those will work for you.

Just be sure that you have realistic expectations of what a relaxer can do, the last thing you want is to be overprocessed. My hair was a lot different when I was younger too, I didn't even need a relaxer to get my hair straight like it is in my siggy. Now there's no way to get my hair that straight without a relaxer.

Good luck :)
 

ms.blue

Well-Known Member
My sister has coarse resistant 4 something african hair and she uses organic root stimulator olive oil relaxer but I think she uses the no-lye formula. It get her hair straight until the first wash then it becomes wavyish where she just flatirons it straight.
 

Psi77

Member
Hi there! I don't know if it's because you have 4z hair as you say. I have had the same problem with 4a formerly 4a/3c. When I was younger the store boxed relaxers worked. Now nothing. So I then tried Mizani no lye. Better results but not the results from my past. I even had it done by a professional with Mizani. The results were better than mine, but not by much. I kept using it though hoping that the next time would be the one. Plus I didn't want to waste the purchase. Anyhoo, I then thought about what the only stylist who ever did my hair extremely well. She had used Dudley and I knew she prefered lye. In fact she used to say that even the no-lye ones lied and had some lye. SOOOOOOO, I just purchased Dudley. I won't use it till June tho.

Maybe you could try to use a professional quality lye relaxer. HTH


Thank you Reyna21, I am thinking about using professional ones such as Affirm Lye and Mizani Lye
 

Psi77

Member
My hair didn't really take to relaxer back then the only one that did for me was Profectiv No lye relaxer so try that or the lye one.

Thanks, I'll add this to my list of must trys. Mind you it will take me a few years to get through them all if I am relaxing every 6 months !
 

luvn_life

New Member
I used to use ORS relaxer with Olive Oil and I had to go up to Super. My hair started to become relaxer resistant also, which is why I had to from regular to super. I really liked that relaxer.
 

Psi77

Member
Hi. I know you said you left the relaxer on for the maximum, but how many minutes was that and have you ever tried to time it based on your visual observation rather than the time suggested on the box?


Thank you Spring. Its interesting you say this as I decided to give the Motions Lye a second chance, initially it was 22 minutes for coarse resistant hair. ( I wanted my money's worth from a 4lb tub ! ) I relaxed a second time - 6 months apart as usual and left the relaxer in for increments of 1 minute checking for texture change and burning. I ended up leaving it for 40 mins with no texture change or burning. I gave up then and decided to research for a new relaxer. I have checked my calendar and my 7 months is up in June.
 

Psi77

Member
My sister has coarse resistant 4 something african hair and she uses organic root stimulator olive oil relaxer but I think she uses the no-lye formula. It get her hair straight until the first wash then it becomes wavyish where she just flatirons it straight.

Thanks, this is what my hair used be like, now it is not so. Does any one know if D & L make a Lye relaxer?
 

Psi77

Member
What do you mean by soft fro? Your hair won't hang? My hair looks the same relaxed as it does natural, the only difference is that it's easier to comb, dries faster, is easier and quicker to straighten, and doesn't revert when I straighten it. Only a flat iron makes my hair straight.

I'll try to come back to this thread to post a pic of my blow dried hair to show how big it is.

I use Elasta qp regular, you can try super. I also like Dudley's, you can try that in super. Maybe those will work for you.

Just be sure that you have realistic expectations of what a relaxer can do, the last thing you want is to be overprocessed. My hair was a lot different when I was younger too, I didn't even need a relaxer to get my hair straight like it is in my siggy. Now there's no way to get my hair that straight without a relaxer.

Good luck :)

imaccami that's very kind of you. Your suggestion has made me think that maybe I should try blow drying or flat ironing after a relaxer, never thought of this. Thanks.
 

Spring

New Member
Thank you Spring. Its interesting you say this as I decided to give the Motions Lye a second chance, initially it was 22 minutes for coarse resistant hair. ( I wanted my money's worth from a 4lb tub ! ) I relaxed a second time - 6 months apart as usual and left the relaxer in for increments of 1 minute checking for texture change and burning. I ended up leaving it for 40 mins with no texture change or burning. I gave up then and decided to research for a new relaxer. I have checked my calendar and my 7 months is up in June.

You would think 40 mins with lye would have relaxed virgin hair. I've heard of women using a mild lye relaxer to give themselves a longer application time, but after an hour, they only ended up with texlaxed results. :perplexed

Let's see... another idea I was thinking of is maybe saving your shed hair approx 2 weeks prior to your relaxer so you'll have a sufficient amount of newgrowth, and maybe test your relaxer on those hairs.
 

Angelicus

Well-Known Member
My hair is also relaxer resistant. I just deal with it. In fact, I kind of like the tex-lax. The relaxer I use now is Revlon Realistic Super. I add oil to it too so it really doesn't get it straight at all... just more managable.

Whatever you do, don't be like me and try to correct with a no-lye relaxer... all my hair in the back broke off :(
 

SelfStyled

Well-Known Member
To my knowledge DL does not make a lye relaxer.

I could have easily written this post....my hair has gotten more resistant over the years too.

I stuck with Affirm for 2 years because I did not want to relaxer hop, the result was underprocessed/texlaxed hair. I know that my hair is resistant, but still I felt that it could get a little straighter. My last relaxer was done with Mizani Reg and that worked better than Affirm. Did it get me bone straight? Nah- but I can wear an airdried pony or bun and not feel like I "have" to use heat.

Question for you....how long after the braids come out are you waiting to relax. I have heard that hair can sometimes be underprocessed right after braids. It is suggested to wait 2 weeks or so until you relax after braids.

Like Iamcammi- my relaxed hair probably would not "look" all that different from my natural hair(look at my avatar, lol).

Having dealt with this, here are my few cents: make sure the last wash before you relax is done with a clarifying poo. This is gonna sound controversial, but I skip protein at this wash, my hair is so tough to process to add more fortification with protein only makes it even harder to breakdown. For the area that is most resistant, start there 1st, that way the relaxer can process that section longer.
 

SelfStyled

Well-Known Member
My hair is also relaxer resistant. I just deal with it. In fact, I kind of like the tex-lax. The relaxer I use now is Revlon Realistic Super. I add oil to it too so it really doesn't get it straight at all... just more managable.

Whatever you do, don't be like me and try to correct with a no-lye relaxer... all my hair in the back broke off :(

I am with you- live with it, a corrective is not going to work on hair that really is resistant. I accept the fact that my hair will never be bone straight and I am okay with. Anky the SAME happened to me- I went to a professional for a corrective that was done with no lye, and my hair broke off. That was two years ago, and I said no more correctives for me ever.
 
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