What I Did...

Greatcurls · 06-17-2012, 02:18 PM

Actually, it was a relaxer being used as a texturizer.

In a nutshell, a co-worker, whose hair is natural shrinks at least up to 75% of its length, was ready to relax her shoulder length hair that same evening because of the shrinkage. After much discussion, I convinced her to get a texturizer and that I could apply it.

Before I did, I read the section in Lonnice Bonner's book, Good Hair, to make sure I did it correctly. I bought a relaxer and placed it on her hair. I talked to her while we waited, for about 20 minutes altogether (from applying-7 minutes to waiting). I think her hair may be low-porosity.

After shampooing and DC, her hair looked less frizzy and her curls (4b-4c--I still think it's curly!) were elongated. But, it still looked the same. A leave-in styling cream was placed on it, and after it was dry, her hair looked natural with elongation (wash-n-go).

Hopefully, as her hair grows the weight will lengthen her hair. It's interesting though: her hair grows quickly at slightly more than 1/2 inch per month and shrinks about 75-85% of its length. My hair grows slowly (less than 1/2 inch/month) and shrinks about 50% of its length.

I felt funny about doing it. But I looked at it as a transition because once she understood about hair length and the weight of the hair as it gets longer, she seemed to accept her natural hair. Perhaps she's on the road to being truly natural.

What are your thoughts?