Last weekend was an action-packed weekend. I relaxed my hair, acted as groomsmen wrangler, and attended a beautiful wedding. (s/o to the newly minted Mr. and Mrs. Gray) Let’s recap the relaxing, shall we? 🙂
I have been self relaxing for a little over a year now and I have used a few different products. I started with Affirm Fiberguard Sensitive Scalp. That worked well, but I could not obtain it easily, so I tried Mizani Butter Blend Sensitve Scalp. The Mizani product worked well and was very mild. Even as an amateur self relaxer who takes longer to apply the product than an experienced person, it still gave me plenty of time to apply, smooth lightly and rinse without burns or discomfort.
I used a new relaxer…bad decision. I was 8 weeks post, I decided to forgo the 10 week goal for my special occasion. The decision to try something different was made out of the desire to find something cheaper and that I did not have to go out of my way to get. There is only one store in my area that sells my usual relaxer and I only go to that area to purchase said relaxer. So at the Sally’s nearest where I live, I purchased Motions Mild Relaxer.
My prep started the week before when I did a hard protein treatment with ApHogee 2 step protein treatment. I followed the package directions and then deep conditioned. I air dry after this so I can bun it over the next week. I don’t do braid outs the week before a relaxer because my roots tend to tangle and that leads to a whole mess of manipulation and a generally unpleasant relaxer experience.
The day of the relaxer I based my scalp with petroleum jelly and coated my strands with oil (my oil of choice is olive oil) to prevent further processing of my already relaxed hair by runoff from washing and to protect my ends. I pre-section my hair to save myself time during the application of the relaxer. Even with it being the mildest strength offered, it still processed my hair straighter and started be uncomfortable within the usual amount of time I process my hair. Luckily, I was done with the application and light smoothing, so I was able to wash it out before I got any chemical burns. I did not experience any more loss than usual.
After the relaxer was out, I DC’d and applied my leave-ins per usual and then went on to blow dry and curl. I had this grand dream of having these Hollywood Waves but I totally need more practice to get the technique right to make this style a reality. All was not lost though, because I did love how bouncy and full of body my hair was after styling.
The moral of this story is that I escaped a much less than perfect product trial without a setback (Thank goodness!). My desire for something new me led astray and I will be going back to my usual. The other thing I learned is that even with less than perfect technique, some wonderful things can still happen. You’ve gotta see and accept the beauty in all your tries, successes, and failures.
So how was your weekend? How did you wear your hair? Try anything new?