I think Elucence is the one...

[UmSumayyah]

I have been planning to do my own retouch for awhile now. I was planning to do the front half of my head first and then, if I managed not to get it wet while neutralizing the front, the back half second.
Anyway, even though I worked out yesterday I decided I couldn't wait anymore and had to at least do a test with my new Elucence relaxer.
I relaxed about a 1.5 inch x 1.5 inch section of hair. Can I just say that I FINALLY found a lye relaxer that gives me the results that African Pride used to.

Shiny, slightly wavy hair.
That lock looks slightly crazy because there is about 2 inches of underprocessed hair between the Elucence and the African Pride hair, but when I do my hair tomorrow I plan on doing a corrective relaxer on the old hair for 5 minutes or so, hopefully that will fix the problem on the rest of my head.
Big ups to Pebbles for for her recs and tips, and whoever it was who turned Pebbles on to Elucence in the first place!
This was the LAST lye relaxer I was going to try before giving up and going back to African Pride.
I plan on giving you all the update tomorrow!

 

[pebbles]

Hey Umsumayyah,

Congratulations, I'm so happy to hear it worked for you!

I love Elucence!

 

[Cindy70]

yay UmSumayyah!

It's great that you finally found a lye relaxer that you like.

 

[Allandra]

I'm glad it worked for you.

 

[Tonya]

How long do u leave it on? I ahve the gentle and I put it on my hair...(not for long) and nothing happened...it was liek conditioner. How long do u leave it on

 

[UmSumayyah]

Well, I put in on the lock of hair and let it sit for about 5-7 minutes (because I figured when I actually do half my head, the first section will sit for that long while I apply the creme to the rest of the hair). Then I took a (SEAMLESS!) rattail comb and used the back to smooth mostly, and then combed it thru a few times. I did that for a couple of minutes, let it sit for a few more minutes and rinsed.
I used the "regular" strength, and left it on a total of 15 minutes.
My hair is 4A, regular-to-coarse texture. More regular, I think.
If you have the gentle maybe you want to leave it on at least 20 minutes? I know some people here can leave a relaxer on for 30minutes and get good results.

 

[godzooki]

Congrats UmSumayyah! Geez, I wish I could do my own touch ups! Big chicken here!

 

[Tonya]

I think I have 4a hair....or 3c one....when I used lye perms I usually left them on for like 10 mintes is this why I was not getting straight maybe?

 

[UmSumayyah]

Okay, update.
I did the front half last night and the back half this morning. Elucence definitely works well for me, I just need to work on my technique.

Hopefully its just a matter of time until I'm an old pro at this.
I love the color indicator neutralizing shampoo (smells like grapefruit) and the extended moisture repair treatment. It left my hair feeling strong and soft.
Oh yeah! and my hair grew too! It is quite uneven, but the lower layers of it are now laying a bit on my shoulders! Long live LHCF!

edit: note to Tonya, I left it in for 20min on the front half and about 23 min on the back half. There is a patch of underprocessed hair at the crown so I think I will start with that section next time and leave it in for 25 minutes. HTH

 

[KitaWita]

That's great to hear! Will you be able to post some pics?

 

[Country gal]

Great, Can't wait to see your hair tonight. I love Elucence products. I have not tried the relaxer.