I think I may have been underprocessed...suggestions?? (LONG)

[blackbarbie]

Hi Ladies,
I need some help here, but want to make sure I am asking the right question. I got a no-lye relaxer 3 weeks ago at the dominican salon. This was my first time getting a no-lye relaxer and my roots still have a wave pattern to them. Is it possible that the relaxer didn't take all the way? ( I had stretched for 5 months so I had a lot of new growth.) When she rollerset me and my hair was really straight and silky.

Fast forward to the following week when I tried to do a rollerset. My skills in rollersetting are not that good anyway and I had actually gotten my rollerset down to 40 minutes tops. For the past 2 weeks that I have been rollersetting, it has been taking me about an hour and 15 minutes. My hair curls up when it gets wet anyway, but my roots and a little further down my hair shaft are still a little wavy, even after the relaxer. At first I thought I just wasn't pulling the roller tight enough, but I am recalling that I NEVER had to flat iron my roots when I rollerset unless its about the 15th week post relaxer (and I still don't flat iron them; i just don't rollerset). This week and last week, I have had to flat iron my roots, which is another problem b/c I am not good with heat appliances and it took me about an hour and a half just to flat iron the roots on my hair!

O.K. and while i was at it, I took a stab at clipping my ends (I'll post pics later).....I think I clipped too much off but I am not worried b/c I would rather I do it and be mad at myself than someone else............

So my question is what recourse do I have if the relaxer didn't take all the way? (I mean as in is there anything special that I need to be watching out for with my hair, etc.) The next relaxer will definitely be a lye relaxer, so will the stylist have to go back over the part that may not have taken all the way? And if so, won't it make it weaker and will it eventually break?

Sorry so long, but I am panicking here because I can't see myself having to flat iron my roots each time I rollerset until my next relaxer......For one, I will probably have burned my hair out and the other is that it takes way too much time for me.....(I probably normally get a flat iron in my hair no more than twice a year and here I am have had one in my hair already twice in one month.

Sorry so long but thanks in advance for any replies....

BB

 

[shunta]

Sounds like you are underprocessed, my dear. Why did you switch relaxers by the way? Well, you can always wait it out and do a corrective later, but just not too soon, though.

 

[blackbarbie]

Sounds like you are underprocessed, my dear. Why did you switch relaxers by the way? Well, you can always wait it out and do a corrective later, but just not too soon, though.

My brother is my regular stylist and I had made an appointment for a relaxer, but then called him the next day to tell him I couldn't make it.....By the time I called back an hour later, he told me he didn't have any more slots, which that's understandable, but the part that pissed me off was that his last appt. was at 2pm on that saturday and he didn't offer to work me in........I went to the Dom. Salon (out of spite) to get my relaxer and they did tell me that they used no-lye but I didn't think it would be that much of a big deal.

Can I wait until 8 or 10 weeks? What exactly does a corrective entail? When I go back then, will I be telling my brother (yes i am going back to him this time) that i need a corrective or will he just be able to tell? Lord knows I don't want to have to tell him that I fugged up by going somewhere else out of spite!

 

[shunta]

My brother is my regular stylist and I had made an appointment for a relaxer, but then called him the next day to tell him I couldn't make it.....By the time I called back an hour later, he told me he didn't have any more slots, which that's understandable, but the part that pissed me off was that his last appt. was at 2pm on that saturday and he didn't offer to work me in........I went to the Dom. Salon (out of spite) to get my relaxer and they did tell me that they used no-lye but I didn't think it would be that much of a big deal.

Can I wait until 8 or 10 weeks? What exactly does a corrective entail? When I go back then, will I be telling my brother (yes i am going back to him this time) that i need a corrective or will he just be able to tell? Lord knows I don't want to have to tell him that I fugged up by going somewhere else out of spite!

Absolutely to the bolded part. The longer you can wait, the better. A corrective involves relaxing the part that was underprocessed again. If you decide to do it, only leave the relaxer on the underprocessed part for a few minutes-maybe 5.

 

[Mystic]

Hi Ladies,

So my question is what recourse do I have if the relaxer didn't take all the way? (I mean as in is there anything special that I need to be watching out for with my hair, etc.) The next relaxer will definitely be a lye relaxer, so will the stylist have to go back over the part that may not have taken all the way? And if so, won't it make it weaker and will it eventually break?

Hi BB..., you do not have to go over the no-lye underprocessed part when you relax next with lye. I have been using a no-lye relaxer for a little over a year and I tried elucence lye yesterday. The hair dresser only touched up the new growth but I was amazed at how the lye was able to smooth out my underprocessed no-lye ends even though the relaxer only touched the NG. I even used a protective barrier on my ends but still, my ends are no longer underprocessed after my touch up ***weird***

If you decide to wait until your next relaxer, try to be very careful when you comb the hair. Having the NG underprocessed while the ends are straight can cause problems when you comb and you might tear your hair when detangling so be extra careful. You do not have to use your flat iron often either, try the rubberband/ponytail rollerset technique. The rubber band will help to get your NG straight. Hope this helps.

 

[blackbarbie]

Thanks ladies for the responses.....My brother will be doing it next time and I was wondering if he will be able to see the problem without me having to go all into detail and explain it to him. (although I will if I have to, just want to save myself the embarrasment - me going somewhere else out of spite and getting done in ; I will tell him it was a no-lye relaxer though)

I will try Lonei's rubberband rollerset too. I have seen it demonstrated and have wanted to try; I guess I will have no choice now b/c I love my hair bone straight and I will wear my hair in a wash and go bun before I end up flat ironing my roots every week.

Since the longer the better, I will probably go for a 16 week stretch if my hair can take it. I am just going to have to be extra careful about breakage I suppose......

Thanks again!

 

[SweetCaramel1]

i have a similar problem. i'm going to try to correct it with the next relaxer. i'll apply the relaxer as usual and smooth. when i get to the last 5 minutes, i'll go back to smooth the relaxer down over the underprocessed relaxed strands. i think a few minutes will cover it since it's already processed.

i've read that some have applied hair bands to know where to end the relaxer but i'm not sure if i'll go that route

 

[Nanyanika]

I waited 5 weeks to get a corrective relaxer, after my no-lye touch up went wrong. My hair turned out fine with Silk elements lye regular. you should be okay

 

[PinkPebbles]

I recently switched from a no-lye to a lye relaxer and I noticed a big difference in 2 - 4 weeks post.

Like you BlackBarbie in 2 to 4 weeks post it felt like my hair was under-processed when using a no-lye relaxer.