Can you guess what’s different?…Texlaxed! HAIR UPDATE #2

Heyy all, as I had posted about a week ago, I was loving my natural hair, but I was a bit bored and wanted more versatility. I decided to texlax my hair.

Texlaxing gives similar results to texturisers and in my opinion, I had more control over how relaxed my hair would be. To texlax, one usually adds conditioner or oil to their relaxer or leaves in the relaxer for under the recommended time, to intensionally under process the hair. Texlaxing is supposed to keep some of the texture of your natural hair, while allowing you to wear it straight, curly or wavy. So insted of relaxing bone straight where hair may be subject to overprocessing, this method allows the hair to be uncoiled more safely as the relaxer works slower to process the hair.
One can choose how straight their hair would be depending on the time you leave it in and how diluted the relaxer is.

I chose to use the Organic Root Stimulator regular relaxer kit because ulovemegz from YouTube always uses this kit to relax and I love the results she gets on her hair. It was $16.99 for the regular which would have been way cheaper had I found in the beauty supply store, sadly they only had Super.


Also this kit comes with a lot of additional products, a few I was actually hoping to try out at some point. So I was very happy that it came in the kit. They were adequate sample sizes as well, so I was extremely pleased.

The next thing that I got was some cheap conditioner, because I really wasnt about to waste some good bucks on a conditioner that’s gonna get used up so quickly hahah. I love the VO5 conditioners, my favourite line is actually the Tea Therapy ones, they seem to work great for my hair given the price. So I picked up one of those to mix into the relaxer base. It was only $4.50 🙂

For added assurance that texlaxing would turn out the way I wanted, I researched some oils and how people use them in texlaxing. Most use Olive Oil, but that never seems to do much for my hair, save for drying it out. I hate the smell of it too, I’d rather cook with it haha. So I checked out some coconut oil which I happen to love the smell of and it’s not too thick either, which is very good for even everyday styling. I got a bottle at the pharmacy for about $6.50.

Finally, I bought some extra gloves from the pharmacy so both my sister and I would have a pair. I know how terrible it is to have mishaps with chemicals, your nails and hands may never be the same, so I definitely wanted to avoid that.

I mixed about 5 parts of the conditioner with one part coconut oil and mixd the concoction until it stopped separating. I didn’t measure exactly, just eyeballed it, but a good portion of conditioner, maybe 5-7 tablespoons. Then I added about 70% of the activator solution to the relaxer base and used the entire mixture of the conditioner and oil. Finally after stirring well I applied it to my hair from root to tip, back to front. The hair at the back of my hair always seemed to be more resistant, so despite the instructions saying from front to back I did the opposite haha. I left it in for about 7 minutes, omitting the application time. It did take longer to start processing because it was virgin hair, also as the relaxer was diluted.

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As for the results, I loved them! While my hair was rinsed out my hair and shampooed my sister kept saying it looks so nice and wavy, I could’t wait to see for myself! And it was exactly that, I was so happy that I chose to texlax instead of just relax my hair.

I didn’t even get burned, which in my opinion is AMAZING! I’ve heard tons of horror stories of how bad relaxer burns and I’ve always kept away from it because of that. I did take some precautions with regards to burning. I washed my hair early in the week, since I knew I wanted to process Sunday. Also I avoided scratching my hair, I wore a satin bonnet, sectioned off my hair the day prior to the texlax and finally my sister based my scalp and hair line really well.

My hair is just as thick as it was natural but it feels weightless and more manageable. It now blows in the wind, I completely missed that feeling. My hair still looks natural and now I can fully rock a wash and go, which I’m stoked about. Before my hair would just clump together and get tangled so easily. Twistouts would be so tiresome I didn’t even bother with them. But now it holds a twist-out well and moisture also! It’s just sooo awesome ^___^. I can’t wait to try out more styles on my hair. This week I’m wearing it flat ironed. But more details on that later.

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If you’d like more information on this processing technique,  you can check out this blog which I owe the credit to for their comprehensive post on texlaxing. Thanks Zan & Rob! You do not know how much this has helped me.

Until next post…

XOXO

Being Natural for 1 year: Thoughts and Bridges to cross

Hey everyone, I haven’t alked about my hair in some time. Actually, I barely keep track of the progress. So I have no idea the speed of my hair growth, my hair texture (4a, b, c, …z), I barely even have a regimen, but my hair has been doing well and looking healthy.

It has been 14 months since my last processing (texturiser) and I could be considered natural. I never thought once before this past year that I’d be natural or anything such, watching the occasional hair video. I liked my texturiser, it was versatile. I could wear my hair curly or straight and that was great for me.

I have different hair textures at the front and back of my head hahaha

Then I wanted to start over from scratch with the texturiser in 2010, see if with fresh roots I’d be able to get the curl I always wanted. It looked very nice for the first month and then my new growth started to set in. Amazingly enough I started to like the texture of it, and how well it blended in with the curly processed hair. Eventually as the weeks passed I thought lazily about going to my hairdresser to get it retouched. But I think at the time I was also thinking of finances for school and ended up not going.
I think my hair was texturised that day or the previous day

I thought my natural roots would plague me until I could get my hair done. But January 2011 came and I hadn’t had my texturiser yet, I was doing fine. Learning new techniques from natural hair gurus on YouTube, though truth be told I don’t like watching those videos as they can be so long winded. I found out about different hair textures and my girl friends and I would talk about it sometimes, because we all seemed to be watching similar gurus. Even more funny because our hair is all processed.

Anyway, we all picked up tips and tricks along the way on how to wash our hair, retaining moisture, styling for natural hair and even more than one texture of hair. Time was passing and my hair was doing well, I had relatively good grasp of my natural hair. However at the back of my mind I always thought how much I missed the look of flat ironed straight hair and the length as well as other styles I was able to do when my hair was processed.

Rocking my favourite easy style at the time, “pelt in 2 hair clips”

I love my natural hair, but as any natural or transitioner would know, it takes a lot of patience, experimentation and yet more patience. In Barbados, the climate frizzes my hair so bad and sometimes lots of the time I put into my hair is ruined, although I tried so many moisture products. Not only that, but my hair LOVES to drink moisture, so it has always been a struggle of mine to keep it hydrated.

Tried my hand at a twist out

Despite feeling down about the frizziness, sometimes my hair really does surprise me. It can be nice, shiny and healthy. Not like it wasn’t healthy before, but when my hair was natural as a child, it was always so stiff and dry. Currently I’m amazed by the spirals and curls I find daily and how much my hair like water.

Trying wash and go puffs

I always have an internal battle with myself about my hair. Should I continue this natural journey, go back to processing, wear a weave or braids? Many times I set points out in the year to assess my progress and find out if what path I would take. Novemeber was one of my latest decision points and the path I have chosen may be shocking for some, but to me it’s always been in my heart.

One full year since I cut my hair and despite shrinkage, I was able to twist it and wear itwithout looking like a nut

To me there are only so many braid- or twist-outs one can do. I’ve tried so many things, and I will say I’ve gotten better at some along the way. I’ve gained TONS more patience than I’ve had before with my hair, but it has gotten tedious. Heat-styling doesn’t agree with my natural hair, whether a blow dryer or a flat iron and I really miss big voluminous curl styles. My hair has some crazy shrinkage also which is another put off for me.

Recent style with twist-outs (back) and cold wave curlers (front)

I would like back some versatility, contemplated for a long time and have made a big decision. This time, I will be trying something new.

Length check: Front section- just past my lips
Length check: Back section – looks like neck length

You’ll all see soon. Enjoy the pictures until then 🙂

XOXO

First post! YAY!

Hiiii, I’m the Sour JellyBean, new to blogging, but I hope to share some of my experiences with others.


About me:


I’m female, 18  years old and I live in the beautiful island of BARBADOS!!  (wow this is really sounding robotic 😐 ..ah well ). I lovvvve Asian dramas and can be kind sarcastic lol. I recently watched Gourmet and Autumn’s Concerto.. they were awesome!! I may do a review on them later.


My Hopes for this blog:
So I may just be using this blog to talk about dramas, TV shows, fashion, make-up, photography, techie stuff haha… maybe I’ll just go off in a rant, but stay tuned, I’ll try to keep posting about new things every week or more than that :). Comment whenever you’d like about whatever you’d like and I’m open to any suggestions for the content of this blog and appreciate feedback and clarification when necessary.


Here’s a picture of a bit of Barbados’ beauty. Photo credit: Sour JellyBean

South-East Point of the Island (St. Philip)