The past couple years have been such a journey for me. Whoever said that we are supposed to have it all figured out by age 30 lied... yup that was a flat out lie!! I've always known that I wanted some kind of digital presence, I've always known that I wanted to be an entrepreneur but I've never quite got it to click. Over the past years that I have been absent from this blog I've gone from working a fulltime 8-4, to creating my own hair product line, opening an online retail store, having several part time jobs, whew I am getting tired just writing this lol. Then came 2020..... the year covid hit. There was a lot of silence, stillness and healing in 2020. I needed a time out. I needed to stop. If I am being totally honest 2020 rocked me in ways that I still cannot quite put into words. Maybe one day, far far into the future looking back I could explain. At present I sit here in June 2021, still trying to catch my footing, not wanting to go back to the mundane activit...
Hey just coming at you with a short post on how I texturize my hair to get minimal breakage and damage. I was asked about my texlaxing process so below is a quick step by step tutorial of my touch up.
Step 1: Separate hair in quarters. Take a good look at your new growth and determine where the line of demarcation is (where your relaxed hair meets your natural hair). Coat your already processed hair with vaseline and/or baby oil.
Step 2: Add conditioner or oils to the relaxer to dilute the strength. This slows down the processing of the hair and allows you time for application if you move slowly like me lol.
Step 3: I apply my relaxer with my hands (using gloves ofcourse).. smoothing as I go along. I do not comb through
Step 4: I leave the relaxer in for about 10 minutes
Step 5: I rinse out the relaxer with warm water and use Neutralizing Shampoo TWICE
Step 6: Deep Condition with a heavy to medium Protein Conditioner.
This is basically my touch-up process. I use alota grease, oils and conditioner to ensure that my ahir is well protected and that my relaxer is not too strong. Hope this was useful to someone, texturizing is really not difficult as all.
N.B: Processing time is very important in not over processing your hair. The first time you texturize you should collect shed hair and practice the process on the hair so that you can figure out what length of time would give you your desired curl pattern. I know already from my experience that 10-15 mins with my diluted relaxer would give me the curl I want.
Hope this was useful... feel free to hit me up with your questions.
Ren
Step 1: Separate hair in quarters. Take a good look at your new growth and determine where the line of demarcation is (where your relaxed hair meets your natural hair). Coat your already processed hair with vaseline and/or baby oil.
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| Products |
 |
| New growth |
 |
| Separate in quarters |
Step 2: Add conditioner or oils to the relaxer to dilute the strength. This slows down the processing of the hair and allows you time for application if you move slowly like me lol.
 |
| About 50/50 regular relaxer and conditioner |
Step 3: I apply my relaxer with my hands (using gloves ofcourse).. smoothing as I go along. I do not comb through
Step 4: I leave the relaxer in for about 10 minutes
 |
| Dont worry if the relaxer gets on already processed hair as its slathered with vaseline and baby oil |
Step 5: I rinse out the relaxer with warm water and use Neutralizing Shampoo TWICE
Step 6: Deep Condition with a heavy to medium Protein Conditioner.
Results:
This is basically my touch-up process. I use alota grease, oils and conditioner to ensure that my ahir is well protected and that my relaxer is not too strong. Hope this was useful to someone, texturizing is really not difficult as all.
N.B: Processing time is very important in not over processing your hair. The first time you texturize you should collect shed hair and practice the process on the hair so that you can figure out what length of time would give you your desired curl pattern. I know already from my experience that 10-15 mins with my diluted relaxer would give me the curl I want.
Hope this was useful... feel free to hit me up with your questions.
Ren
Did you wait till you became fully natural before you started texlaxing? Or did you transition from bone straight relaxed hair to texlaxed?
ReplyDeleteI currently have 3 textures on my hair and about 75% of it is texlaxed. Now i'm contemplating just starting afresh with natural hair then texlaxing from there if i want to
xo Stephanie
@ stephanie... Hi I transitioned to natural then texlaxed.. The only reason I did this is because at that point in time I didnt really know anything about health hair care... My relaxed hair started to break so I grew it out then big chopped... then I couldnt deal with my natural hair so I texturized.
ReplyDeleteIt may be a bit easier transitioning to texlax and cutting the relaxed ends off gradually so that you can keep your length... I felt really awkward when my hair was short...
Good luck to you with whatever decision you make!!
HHJ Ren
Is texturizing the same as relaxing? .. Im new to this and my natural hair is sooooo thick and unmanagable. I dont want to get a perm becuz I like the curl pattern. Would a texturizer be a better alternative to manage it better?
ReplyDeleteHi Shalayah,
DeleteIt is the same chemical used to relax, the difference is the processing time and the strength of the chemical (I mix my relaxer with conditioner to dilute it). When you put the chemical on, the hair goes through different stages. I rinse the chemical out before that hair gets too straight.
Collect the shed hair from you detangling sessions, make little bunches using black rubber bands and experiment to see what your hair would look like texturised and how long it would take to reach the desired curl pattern.
hey ren, i have shoulder length 4b hair. it was easy to manipulate when it was short and i schooled in scotland but since moving back to Nigeria and starting work, I hardly have time to do my hair, and the humidity prevents my staple hair styles from lasting long. So its always a tangled mess at the end of the week. I've been seriously considering texturizing for easier manageability, but all i see online are horror stories. yours is the first happy story I've come across. What hair type do you have, what brand of texturizer do you advice i use and how often do you texturize your hair?? sorry for the 100 questions.. just really curious and excited. I may do it this weekend. Also I plan to do it myself because i don't trust the salons around.
ReplyDeleteHi Sopreye,
DeleteI believe my hair type is 4a and I don't use texturiser, I use relaxer diluted with conditioner or oils. I touch up my new growth probably about 2 twice a year. Since this is the first time you are doing it, I recommend that you collect your shed hair this week and practice on it. Dilute your relaxer and see how long it takes to achieve your desired curl pattern.. this would be the processing time to use on the day you are doing your hair. Also, on the day that you are processing, do about 12-16 medium size twist. Apply the diluted relaxer to the twist (do not untwist each section) with your hands or an applicator brush. Smooth with your hands ABSOLUTELY NO COMBING THROUGH.
This method should be easier since you are doing it for yourself.
Hope this helps and all the best with whatever you decide to do.
Hey Ren! Found you through LHCF. I love your results. Right now I am at armpit length and my styling time has increased a lot. I don't want to texturize now, but I can see it being an option once my hair gets waist length/hip length. The only thing is that my hair has so many textures. Your hair seems to have a pretty uniform texture. I see you're from Trinidad. Me too. :)
ReplyDeleteHi Minty,
DeleteSorry for taking so long to respond. Yes texturizing is a good option for me right now, with the climate here in Trinidad.
Hi Ren,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for making this info available to all of us. I was considering texturizing but now after seeing your results, 'Texlaxing' may just be a viable option for me. I have a few questions towards preparing and I appreciate all your steps
My hair is 4a/4b but very dense, course and 'wirey' especially when dry. It's almost armpit length.
1. I have my hair in a blown-out state right now. Can I apply the mixture whilst my hair is in this stretched state? it is still poofy & frizzy thanks to the NY humidity, my roots are already bunching up. It's been in this state for about 9 or 10 days now
2. Does my hair need to be washed a few days prior to the application? I use a lot of oils- jojoba, almond, grapeseed, castor, coconut etc and shea moisture milk etc nightly to lay my strands down for the next morning. so that if i wanted to do it this Friday then i would wash on say Tuesday?
3. Can you please advice on:
• what shampoo to use to wash out the relaxer,
• what conditioner you use and or
• deep conditioner, and
• what protein treatments you use?
Sorry for my long-winded questions but at this point, I'm realising the reasons why I have not been able to retain as much length after about 5 years is because I cut it so much especially when I decide to heat style which is probably abt 2-4 times a year. & I'm no longer happy because of the stress and time needed to take care of my hair. My hair is not heat trained at all and when i blowdry or flat iron, it is very straining on my strands because of how tight they are, and it has become a complete waste of money and time. It's very frustrating.
So, I really look fwd to your response. It was my B'day on Saturday, Dec 8. This would be the best B'day present ever.
Thank you.
Shirley
Hi Shirley,
DeleteHAPPY BDAY!!!
1&2. I read that your hair is very dense, I would definely section it into more than four sections maybe 10 or 12 so that you can apply to mixture evenly. No you do not need to wash your hair because the oil would just slow the process down and you would have more control to get your desired curl pattern. I have never tried it on blow dried hair and i'm a bit sceptical about it.. to be on the safe side, you can spray wet it a little the night before, separate it into the twist and sleep with the twist so that in the morning you can do the application.
3. I like motion neutralizing shampoo, I use suave to detangle then motions CPR (mixed with glycerine and coconut oil) to deep condition.
Hope this helps and best of luck to you with whatever you decide to do.
Ren
Hi Ren! Thank you very much for the B'day wish! And the very helpful info! I'm feel confident and excited! It's finals so this would be an exciting endeavor, change and b'day present. I love change and i'm so happy you've shared you're knowledge! I would like to send you photos if possible (Friday, Sat or Sun). Thx cheers!
ReplyDeleteHi Ren,
DeleteIt worked!!! I can pull my hair in a bun comfortably, no problem! One thing though, i hesitated to think this through because i was so nervous. Firstly, my hair was processed in two parts- front half and back half, thus when i applied the processor i decided to start with the front for wash reasons. Anyway, during the application, i allotted the first 5min to the left half of the front and the next 5 to the right section. This obviously gave my left more processing time than my right!!! hehe so my right is slightly poofier. This said, when processing my back half, i decided to leave proocessor on for a min or two longer, so my back is a lot more stretched than my front. lol but ALL SAID & DONE, my hair makes a very nice bun :D
Question: When do you think I should plan on doing a corrective process? 2 weeks? It was done on dec 14
I'm really thankful to you!
Hi
DeleteIm happy you are satisfied with your decision. Yes, 2 weeks is enough time before you do the corrective. Remember to deep condition sometime during the 2 week period.
Yes I have been and plan on using the aphogee 2 min reconstructor again. My hair felt soft when I used it on my second Co -wash. Thx again
ReplyDeleteHi Ren
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for your information, i have been on the fence about texturizing, relaxing, or texlaxing my natural hair. It's been natural for about 4 years, but i have cut it a few times, did a keratin treatment and dyed it, so it's not long like i want. It's probably 8-10" max, but it shrinks terribly and is super dry, my own fault of course since i don't always take care of it like i should. I am writing because I think a texlax is the way to go. I have had braids for nearly 6 months now (i rebraid as necessary) and I think the tex lax will work better for me as in keeping more moisture in the hair, keeping a curl patten, and giving me better twistouts braidouts, etc. I also plan to flat iron a few times a year, and want to be able to do this easier. I think bottom line my hair responds well to texturizers (i had 2x in my life and my hair was the healthiest at that time) and I think a texlax will help me keep moisture, get an easier to follow regime and get me to my goal of mid-waist/waistlength and longer hair. Thanks so much for your blog, and love your hair!!!
Dani
Great information, thansk for this.Its very informative and i am sure it will help many other people like the way it helps me. Thanks for the information.
ReplyDeleteReally awesome blog. Your blog is really useful for me. Thanks for sharing this informative blog. Keep update your blog.
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