FINALLY Texturized by accident... now what?

[cafe_au_lait]

Okay ladies, sorry this is so long, but PLEASE to the end and HELP ME --

OK, so I have FINALLY achieved the hair texture of my heart's desires... and believe you me, it has been one LONG battle

So here's the problem -- I sort of did it by accident, and now I don't know how to replicate it for my touch ups!

Basically, I have VERY kinky, VERY fine hair that stylist tend to overprocess very easily -- looks can be deceiving, and since I was first relaxed at 9 I SURELY didn't know my hair enough to tell them otherwise.

So I went natural in 2003 and finally got sick of the ponytail puff and decided to tecturize. I mixed Elasta QP MILD LYE relaxer half and half with Joico K-Pac protein conditioner, a little shea butter, and castor oil, and combed/smoothed it into my hair for 7 minutes total. A few curls sprouted, but basically, I GOT NUTTIN

A month later, I used the same mix, this time for 15-20 minutes, doing more combing than smoothing. It was a curlier, but not enough to straighten easily OR to really stretch my curls, and it basically seemed to revert after another month.

So OK, on to the FALL BACKWARDS INTO SUCCESS part -- I was now sick of trying and convinced that my hair just was not able to texturize. So I bought a CREME OF NATURE REGULAR NO-LYE BOX PERM from CVS, mixed it with ONE heaping tablespoon of shea butter and applied it, and combed it through with a fine toothed comb (NO SMOOTHING WHATSOEVER) until it was completely straight. Then I let it sit, all for a total of about 20-25 minutes, and washed it out in the shower, feeling a little remorseful at how thin and straight my hair felt for the first time in two years of not being fully relaxed...

BUT LO AND BEHOLD, when I got out of the shower and looked in the mirror, I could IMMEDIATELY see my hair curling back up, into what became big, 3b like culrls.

Guys, styling has been HEAVENLY -- I just co-wash and air dry into a curly pony or a curly floppy fro -- effortless style everyday, and NEVER in my life have I been THAT GIRL with the fly hair. But now I don't know WHAT RELAXER to use to do my new growth, and I am not sure even a strand test will give me a good guage because I won't really be able to comb the locks with similar force that I cut out to do the test... so, should I:

1. Use mild, either Elasta QP or other LYE brand, and mix less conditioner/a little shea butter rather than my previous half and half mix?
2. Use a regular LYE perm mixed with a little shea butter?
3. Use the creme of nature that worked the first time, despite the fact that it is NO LYE and noticably a little more drying that the LYE?

Thankyou SO MUCH for reading to the end of this -- your expert advice is appreciated, before I have to go back to looking like Ceily again!!!

 

[zora]

I had the SAME exact experience as you did. I was like 'F' it, let me just get a regular relaxer' and when I wet my hair, I was surprised at how well it came out.

Unfortunately, I have been able to replicate and my hair looks a fuzzy mess now. I think Den1 is a great resource. As she would probably suggest you might want to do a strand test after stretching out your new growth for maybe 6 months or longer.

 

[Aquamarine]

Pros...I had a similar path with similar results. I was all natural for a while, then I tried to texturize for easier maintanence about a month ago. After about 3 or 4 attempts with both mild lye (Cream of Nature) and no lye relaxers (Soft and Beautiful and Dark and Lovey) mixed with oils and conditioners, I gave up on the last try. That last try was meant to be a straight relaxer, but it turned out really curly after I let it air dry. That was exactly the look that I was going for!

Cons...my hair is breaking when I wash it now. While I shampoo, I can see bits of broken off hairs all over on my hands and I didn't have that while I was natural. It must be due to overprocessing within such a short time. I thought that I wasn't damaging it by using the mildest relaxers with conditioners and olive oil, but I guess that even the mildest relaxers can be pretty strong when used the wrong way. Sometimes, it seemed that I had almost equal amounts of conditioner and relaxer lol. It could also be due to the fact that I used mild lye, then switched to no lye. Perhaps the two aren't interchangable. (duh!) I should have stopped after my first texturizing attempt with the Cream of Nature mild lye. That left my naps soft, but when I looked in the mirror, I still had a fro. The other drawback for me is that since my hair grows pretty fast, my newgrowth is coming back in causing even more breakage.

For now, I CAN wash and wear a natural 'looking' 3c puff if I let it air dry, but my hair definatly lost a lot of strength and elasticity. . I miss my twist outs too, because since my hair is basically 'staight' now, It won't hold a twist. Plus it's not long enough anyway right now.

In my case, I'm going to have to choose my hair's health and transition back to to my natural 4a/b. I'm still obviously in the process of learning to love the hair that grows out of my scalp. I love it for a while, but then I get tired of it after a while

That's just my story

 

[cafe_au_lait]

Thanks for your replies ladies... I may be no closer to an answer, but at least I know I'm not alone!

Best of luck to you ladies, and myself, for getting our hair back on track. Hopefully, someone with some clear-cut instructions will post to get us out of this mess -- if not, then I will at least update you guys on my trial and error tests if anything works. I am thinking that, somehow, it might be necessary to complete my steps EXACTLY AS I DID THE FIRST TIME -- that is mild lye elasta qp mixed half and half with conditioners and oils one month for 15-20 minutes (to combine the relaxing times of my previous two trials), and then the regular combed-through NO LYE creme of nature with just a dab of shea butter a month later. I A DETERMINED to do whatever it takes to keep this texture, cause I DO NOT have the patience to transition back to natural again -- no sir, not me!

 

[cafe_au_lait]

Also, to Aquamarine,

The week after I got my curly look, I noticed my hair shedding much more than it did while I was natural/very mildly texturized, even though I waited a month between each of my three relaxer applications (and also mixed it half-and-half with conditioner the first two times). BUT, once I stopped using heat COMPLETELY (except for an occasional hood dryer), started co-washing with pantene pro-v intensive repair treatment at least 4 days per week, and even stopped combing my hair (since it is straight when wet and pretty fine, the shower head seems to comb it out for me ) THE BREAKAGE HAS SINCE STOPPED COMPLETELY.

I think a relaxer application is a lot like color -- once you color your hair, it seems more fragile for the first few weeks after you color, but if taken care of/kept moisturized and proteined and not fussed with much else, it seems to settle back into some of its strength after a few weeks of TLC. So even though a relaxer is permanent, I don't think your damage has to be if you moisturize/protein it up and find an everyday style where you can just LET IT BE for a while. As for the Pantene conditioner, I wasn't reccomending it so much as I was saying to find a conditioner(s) with moisture AND protein (but not TOO MUCH on an everyday basis) that YOUR HAIR LIKES and use it often!

BEST OF LUCK with nipping the breakage -- and not you hair -- in the bud!

 

[Lucia]

bumping up

up

 

[hopeful]

Good luck cafe_au_lait! I hope you get more responses!

 

[cafe_au_lait]

Thanks for the well wishes! I hope I do, too, or else I guess I will just stick with the NO NYE Creme of Nature Regular box perm and hope for the best... dryness and all

 

[cafe_au_lait]

Okay now, SOMEBODY help a sista out before it's time to relax again!!!

PLEASE???????