Going from Natural to Relaxer -- anything I should know?

[Glitter]

I'm finally going to go from natural to relaxed hair. My hair has grown a great deal since being natural and finding this site (see fotki) but I love wearing my hair straight and I'm tired of struggling for 6 hours to straighten straighten it.

I'm going to self relax with ORS. Here's my question: Once I relax my hair, THEN WHAT? Can I still co-wash? What does relaxed hair look like after co-washing - is it curly?

In terms of products, I use a lot of cheapies in my natural hair. It looks like for relaxed hair, I'm going to have to shell out some cash for the designer lines, is this true? What's your ultimate relaxed hair tip?

Any advice for this change would be greatly appreciated. TIA.

 

[seraphinelle]

Hey,

I recently embarked onto the relaxed side.. I do co-washes every other day, only because my hair thrives on moisture relaxer or no relaxer.

There are some really good previous threads about this same thing.

I went the texlax route.. or at least attempted to. That way I was inbetween. Had the straightness, and then the volume and thickness.

I also used ORS no-lye. And honestly... I hated it.

But good luck!!

 

[seraphinelle]

Oh yeah, my ultimate tip is MOISTURE.. but that's just for me.. especially with nolye

 

[Glitter]

Seraphinelle, thanks for your response. I tried a search but I guess I was using the wrong search words -- any good threads you can point me to?

Also, you said you hated using ORS. Can I ask why?

I was thinking of going texlaxas well. I still have to make my mind up as how straight I want my hair in the end...I think if I texlaxed, I would probably want it 80-90% straight. *off to stalk your fotki*

Hey,

I recently embarked onto the relaxed side.. I do co-washes every other day, only because my hair thrives on moisture relaxer or no relaxer.

There are some really good previous threads about this same thing.

I went the texlax route.. or at least attempted to. That way I was inbetween. Had the straightness, and then the volume and thickness.

I also used ORS no-lye. And honestly... I hated it.

But good luck!!

 

[lana]

I also went from natural to texlaxed. Try looking up "texlax" to find those other threads. I use Mizani and I loved it. I went about 60% straight and now I don't spend 3 hours doing my hair anymore and it's not breaking as much from the straightening (blow dryer and flat iron).

Also before it took about 30-45 minutes to blow dry and now it takes two minutes with less heat. It's amazing. I plan to texlax about 2 times a year.

 

[Country gal]

Latiah switched to tex lax. Her hair looks really great. She can still have the fullness and coils like a natural but have straight hair like a permie.

 

[seraphinelle]

I'm about 80% texlaxed... I think, I wanted less, but my hair apparantly takes to a relaxer real quick.

ORS was just too drying for my hair, granted I don't have much to compare it to, because I hadn't used a relaxer in about 4 years. Well properly at least. I actually have a picture of my hair in its worse state.. EVER.

Try doing a texlax search, I'll post a couple for you.

 

[ladylibra]

i was textlaxed but didn't know what that term meant until i joined hair boards. when i started transitioning to natural i started conditioner washing and i think i dramatically improved the condition of my chemically processed hair. (i wasn't very nice to my hair back in the day... erplexed ) i don't know what percentage it was... i'd guess 60%... i don't know how that works. but it wasn't too hard to straighten, and it stayed straight (unlike my natural hair now). also co-washing made it curl up more each day i did it and i had shrinkage, but not nearly as much as i do with natural hair.

i have a few pics in my Fotki in my transitioning album if that helps...

 

[CAPlush]

I'm finally going to go from natural to relaxed hair. My hair has grown a great deal since being natural and finding this site (see fotki) but I love wearing my hair straight and I'm tired of struggling for 6 hours to straighten straighten it.

I'm going to self relax with ORS. Here's my question: Once I relax my hair, THEN WHAT? Can I still co-wash? What does relaxed hair look like after co-washing - is it curly?

In terms of products, I use a lot of cheapies in my natural hair. It looks like for relaxed hair, I'm going to have to shell out some cash for the designer lines, is this true? What's your ultimate relaxed hair tip?

Any advice for this change would be greatly appreciated. TIA.

No!!! Most ORS products from the relaxer line you are going to use are excellent. Since you like that line and trust enough to use their relaxer, start there. You will need the Hair Mayo for a protein treatment, and the Replenishing pak for moisture. You can also experiment with their shampoos and moisturizers.

The most important thing is that you are likely going to need to incorporate some protein into your regimen to keep your hair strong as being the main difference between caring for natural hair and relaxed hair. Otherwise, the same rules apply.

 

[seraphinelle]

A successful Texlaxer
http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showthread.php?t=116058&highlight=texlax

Different ways to Texlax
http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showthread.php?t=119200&highlight=texlax

 

[Glitter]

Such good advice!!! Thank you ladies!

I will post results when I relax (which will hopefully be this weekend)