Relaxer Results...

At 23 week's post relaxer, I had a little bit of hope that I could go even beyond the 6 month mark. But the knots and tangles were getting a bit much for me. I probably should have put in a protective style, but I was lazy to do so. So the relaxer had to come out.

My relaxer routine was not much different from the last relaxer session I had. The only thing I did differently this time was to detangle my hair with Mane 'n Tail Detangler on the same day as I relaxed my hair. I did this because my hair was shedding a lot more than usual, and relaxing my hair the day after detangling it would cause more problems. The only downside to this, is that my scalp got sensitive to the relaxer much sooner than usual. I guess the pulling and manipulating the hair a lot before applying the relaxer caused this.

Here is the rest of the routine:
0.) Detangled in 4 sections with a (little) bit of water and Mane 'n Tail Detangler
1.) Applied Vaseline to my scalp (twice) 
2.) Applied Roux Porosity Control Conditioner to the length to the previously relaxed hair and sealed with Vaseline
3.) This time I did not twist my hair into 1-inch sections. Last time, I found it difficult to keep my hair in the sections as they would unravel easily. I used my rat tail comb to do the sectioning and it worked pretty well.
4.) Mixed my relaxer (Mizani Butter Blends Regular Strength) with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of conditioner
5.) Using the half-and-half method, I relaxed my left side first. It took me about 9 minutes to apply the relaxer, and another 5 minutes to go over the sections again and smooth. I did not smooth rigorously this time, as I wanted to keep more texture than I did last time. I smoothed once!
6.) I left the relaxer on for another 2 minutes before proceeding to wash it out. Total application+smoothing+waiting time was 16 minutes.
7.) I rinsed the relaxer out with luke warm water. 

8.) Applied my Elasta QP stop-action shampoo, which is now finished :-(.
9.) I lathered about 5 times, and the last time I left the shampoo in for about 5 minutes. 
10.) Rinsed one final time, and was satisfied that the relaxer was completely out as the lather was white. 
11.) Proceeded on to the next section and repeated steps 4-9
12.) At this point, my worst nightmare happened. We had a power cut and I was still rinsing out the relaxer from my hair. Luckily I had warmed some water and used it (sparingly) to do the last few rinses. I just had to trust that my hair was good to go, as I couldn't see whether the lather had whitened up completely!
13.) Applied ApHogee 2-minute reconstructor and left it in my hair for about 5 minutes.
14.) Rinsed it out and applied another conditioner that works very well on my hair in the first few weeks of a relaxer stretch: ORS Replenishing Conditioner
15.) Sat under my hooded dryer for 30 minutes, and then rinsed the conditioner out
16.) I was too tired to wait for my hair to dry, so I tied my hair with a t-shirt and went to bed.
17.) The next morning I applied a light leave-in: Creme of Nature 2-in-1 leave-in conditioner, ApHogee Green Tea & Keratin Restructurizer, and sealed with OGX Anti-Breakage Serum. I was very light-handed since I had planned to do a flexi rod set later on.

My hair has become so much thicker in just 1 year of my healthy hair journey. The texlaxing technique has definitely contributed to this progress. I think I have now found the sweet spot when it comes to the amount of time that I should leave the relaxer in my hair, and the extent to which I should smooth. Hopefully, I will be consistent going forward.

I did not do a length check this time. I will not be doing length-checks as often as I did last year. I want to limit the amount of direct heat that I apply to my hair this year. 

I decided to do a flexi-rod set, using Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie as m I used a different technique than usual (Something New!), which is what made the curls elongated as opposed to the tighter curls I usually get from a flexi rod set. I will share this technique in a different post.

Hope you had a productive wash day!