Hello ladies, how are you? Good I hope. I’ve been a little behind on blog posts and my emails, due to life being really busy and some network issues. Thanks for sticking around.
As promised, in this blog post I will explain what texlaxing is and the pros and cons of texlaxing. This is going to be a two part post.
I never explained why I have blog posts in two parts. If a blog post goes over a thousand words I decide to split it into parts. I know that the longer a post the less inclined people are to read it. So I try to keep the posts short(ish) and sweet. So let’s get to it.
WHAT IS TEXLAXING
Texlaxing simply means deliberately under processing your hair when getting it relaxed. Ladies who texlax their hair don’t allow it to become completely straight during the relaxing process.
Texlaxing is often confused with texturizing. A texturizer is designed to loosen the curl pattern of our hair, it is not designed to straighten it. Relaxers (used for texlaxing) on the other hand are designed to straighten our hair.
BENEFITS OF TEXLAXING
1)HEALTHIER HAIR
Now what I am about to say might not be what some ladies want to hear but I would like to keep it honest with you. Natural hair that is well taken care of is healthier than relaxed hair. Texlaxed hair that is well taken care of is healthier than relaxed hair. Relaxed hair can still be healthy if it is well taken care of. As I have mentioned on many blog posts, relaxers and chemical hair dyes work by destroying some of our hair fibres internal protein bonds.
The further away we stray from our hairs natural texture and colour the more damage we cause. So basically the straighter we allow our hair to become during relaxing, the more damage is done to our hair fibres to achieve that straightness. As an example a lady who lets her hair become 75% straight will have healthier hair than one who lets her hair become 100% straight (if both of them are on a hair journey that is).
2) BETTER ELASTICITY :LESS BREAKAGE
Because a bit of the natural texture is left in texlaxed hair and it has suffered less internal and external damage, texlaxed hair tends to retain more of its natural elasticity and bounce. The more elasticity our hair has the better it is at resisting breakage.
3) THICKER HAIR
This is the MAIN reason why I switched to texlaxing. I like how thick it made my hair look.
Because texlaxed hair has some curl/kink left in the hair, it looks thicker than it would if the hair was allowed to become completely straightened.
4) BETTER MOISTURE RETENTION
Hair fibres with good protein bond retain moisture better than hair with little or no protein bonds. Ladies with texlaxed hair have not broken all the protein bonds in their hair and therefore retain moisture better. Remember hair that is well moisturised faces less risk on breakage.
CONS OF TEXLAXING
1) UNEVEN TEXTURES
A very common problem ladies with texlaxed hair face is uneven textures. This simply means that some areas of your hair may be straighter than other areas and some parts may retain more of your natural curls. Please see the circled area of picture 1 in the collage above.
This inconsistency in textures occurs due to many reasons, for example, some parts of our hair fibres may have tighter curls than parts so this unevenness continues with our texlaxed hair.
Another reason is that the texlaxed texture we achieve in one relaxing session may be different from what we achieve the next time we relax. It takes a few sessions of texlaxing to learn how to achieve the degree of straightness that you want and then you have to recreate it every time you relax so that you have an even texlaxed texture.
The uneven texture actually isn’t that obvious when your hair is dry, personally I don’t think it looks too bad. Unfortunately however, some ladies might find it a bit difficult to manage the different textures in their hair and suffer some breakage as a result of it. Imagine a lady who is transitioning to texlaxed hair and is on a stretch, she will have her natural new growth, her texlaxed hair and her relaxed ends. It is certainly a bit of a challenge to keep three textures happy however I assure you it can be done but it is a little time consuming.
Please read the following blog posts as they contain tips that help manage uneven textures: hair care in sections and the art of stretching part 2.
2) POTENTIAL FRIZZ
The look of texlaxed hair isn’t to every ones liking. I personally love the look of texlaxed hair. To me it looks like natural hair that has been blow dried. However some ladies are not so keen on this look and prefer poker straight silky looking hair and that is alright too.
Ladies with texlaxed hair can easily achieved the poker straight look by blow drying, roller setting or flat ironing their hair.
I must say that texlaxed hair that isn’t well moisturised can look frizzy. Ladies who texlaxed shouldn’t skip moisturising and sealing their hair.
3) THINNER LOOKING ENDS
As I mentioned above, ladies who texlax their hair tend to have fuller looking hair than what it would be if they relaxed bone straight. When ladies are transitioning from relaxed to texlaxed, their previously relaxed hair usually looks thinner than the texlaxed parts. It takes a while to get used to this. Over the years you can gradually trim of the relaxed bits.
The difference in textures is more apparent when your hair is wet.
A second reason for thinner looking ends that I have just discovered is for ladies like myself have finished the transition and are fully texlaxed. As I mentioned above we have uneven textures and some parts of our hair ends up being straighter than we intended ( this usually occurs when we are still new to texlaxing). As our hair grows and gets trimmed those straighter thinner looking parts eventually become the ends of our hair. Currently I think the ends my hair is hair that was accidentally relaxed bone straight and now looks thin in comparison to the rest of my hair. This can be seen in picture 2 of the collage above (My hair had been cross wrapped the night before and that’s why my ends are bent in the picture).
4) SHRINKAGE
This is my favourite con about texlaxed hair. By retaining some of our curls/kinks we also retain some attributes of natural hair. Natural ladies hair shrinks and so does that of texlaxed ladies. Obviously the degree of shrinkage is not as dramatic as natural haired ladies
The more curl/kink you leave in your hair the more it is going to shrink. My hair shrinks from waist length to between BSL and MBL especially on wash days. As the week goes by it stretches out bit by bit. I am used to the yoyo effect my hair has. Personally, I really don’t mind, as a matter of fact I kinda like it. It keeps things interesting.
As an example, picture 3 and 4 of the collage above were taken on the same day yet the length of my hair is quite different.
If you think you might want to transition to texlaxed, please know that you are not going to see your true length everyday unless you blow dry, roller set or flat iron. As you know using heat too often should be avoided, so if you want see your full length more regularly you may be better of relaxing bone straight and having a solid hair care regimen.
Well that is it for this post. I hope you don’t think the cons outweigh the benefits of texlaxing.
In part two I will talk about methods of texlaxing, how I transitioned to texlaxed and my current methods for texlaxing my hair.
I hope you’ve found this blog post to be a worthwhile and will come back soon for part two.
Before I sign off, I want to say a genuine thank you to all the lovely people I’ve met recently who tell me they love Hairducation. I have also received some emails from ladies telling me to keep up with the good work. I just want to say thank you and that your kind words do really keep me motivated. Blogging takes more time than I thought it would but the support I’ve gotten from you all makes it more than worthwhile.
Happy hair journey ladies and happy Palm Sunday.
x
Lade
Learn | Change | Grow
Hmmm. I’d say this post was done for me :D. It answers many of my texlaxing questions. I like the versatility of texlaxed hair also. Many great natural & relaxed hair styles can be created with it and i’m sure its easier to cope with than natural hair for relative newbies like me at least. Talk about getting the best of both worlds. Thanks ‘Lade! The collage is so interesting. Check out the diva! Lade, pls stop calling your hair waist length, the length check shirt can’t even check anything any longer cos you’re way past the lines and if your hair was flat ironed or roller set i bet it would go past the hem of the shirt. That’s tailbone length jare :P.
Author
Hello Tolu!!!
Thank you for the comment and compliments. Glad this post answered some of questions. Stay tuned for part two. For me, its certainly is the best of both worlds.
Lol at the waist length comment. Trust me its best I stick with it for my own good because I intend to trim of a few inches soon as part of my scheme to thicken up my edges.
But yes if I were to claim my current (temporary) length it would be tail bone.
Very educative post lade, good job. i also agree with Tolu, your hair is way past waist length o!
Author
Thank you Modupe.
Technically it is but I seem to be hooked on my waist length tag. I guess that’s just my happy length.
Happy hair journey
x
Lade
I love this. Can i have your personal emai address please?
Hi Lade i really love your blog, am planning on starting my hair journey very soon. I will like to know how often can i texlax my hair and where do you get your hair products from?
Author
Hello namesake
Thank you very much. Texlaxing should be done as often as relaxing, ie not less than every 8 weeks. Please read my posts on relaxing for more detailed information on this.
I buy my hair products from supermarkets and hair and beauty shops, eg, Ebaeno, Cassabella hair and beuty at the Palms shopping mall or the new branch in Ikota shopping complex, Stylez also in ikota, Spar in Lekki, basically everywhere and anywhere.
Hope that helps
x
Lade
I feel like texlaxed hair is the to
ughest texture to deal with! It drives me crazy…i’m on a long term stretch and the texlaxed hair in between my super thick new growth and my straight ends is just too frustrating. That hair almost got me crying during my last wash! LOL…knots, tangles…but the thing is despite all these cons, I don’t think I could trade the volume and thickness that comes with it for anything! Btw Lade, I totally agree with Tolu, how dare you claim waist length?????!! Aren’t u even past tailbone length??!!!Stop it o! xoxo!
Ah! Damilola pls don’t scare me, I just started texlaxing at my last touch up a couple of weeks ago. So far so good since the new growth isn’t much yet. Hmmm. I guess keeping the new growth really moisturized will help much. Sorry about your last wash day. During my last 19 week stretch, washing in braids was a lifesaver. Saw it somewhere on this blog. Try it, you’ll be glad you did.
Author
Hello Damilola
its a shame your last day was a pain. Like Tolu has suggested, washing in braids is a life saver. The blog post about it is in the side bar under popular posts.
It may take a little while getting used to washing in braids but when you get the hang of it you’ll be so glad. As an extra tip you can put those little kids hair bands on the ends to stop the braids from unravelling during the process ( don’t use the mini elastic bands cos they tend to snag)
Lol on my length denial.
Happy hair journey.
x
Lade
Hi, I just discovered this blog today and i haven’t been able to stop reading, I realized I’ve not been helping my hair growth at all, but hairducation is really enlightening me. I’m really interested in texlaxing how long do u leave in the relaxer?, for someone like me who gets the tingling sensation that leads to pain almost immediately the relaxer touches my hair i want to know the time limit. I also want you to recommend a good relaxer for me i use doctor miracle, should i continue with it? I have loads of questions to ask you about your hair products and how to use proteins and moisturisers. I live in Abuja do u know where I can get good hair products, coconut oil, tea tree oil, shae butter etc. I also heard sulfate based shampoo isn’t good for relaxed hair is it true? Okay I’m going to stop now but I’ll be back. Thanks so much for this blog. You’re a hair saver. Nemerem.
Hi Nemerem,
I get my hair product fix at http://www.hairsage.com and shipping fee is affordable. You might want to give them a try as they guide you through the process.
Author
Hello Nemerem
If Hairducation is helping with your hair, I am happy.
The methods and techniques for texlaxing will be up soon. To answer your question I leave the relaxing on my hair for 5 minutes max. please note that everyones hair is different.
I am concerned that your scalp starts to burn very soon after the relaxer is applied. Please read the blog posts on relaxing which are on the side bar ( under Popular Posts). these should help guide you on the do’s and donts of relaxing.
It may be possible that your scalp is extremely sensitive to relaxers or perhaps you simply haven’t prepared your hair and scalp for the process.
The posts abut relaxing will also help you decide which type of relaxers may be best for your scalp.
The ladies below have suggested places you can find hair products. The answers to your other questions can be found in various blog posts ive written. So please come back and read when you have the time to.
Good luck
x
Lade
Looking at your hair , i cant really tell if I have thick relaxed hair, or accidentally texlaxed hair… My hair is extremely frizzy and suffers from shrinkage , not too much but something… I also have different curl patterns on my hair… wow all this time … thubking that I have relaxed hair xD
Author
Hello Adanna
Sometimes its hard to tell. If your hair is really frizzy, ensure you moisturise and seal often and deep condition often. Then re-assess your hair in a few weeks to see whether it looks and feels more or texlaxed. Hopefully you’ll be able to judge better then.
x
Lade
hello Lade, your hair is gorgeous…..i’m Nigerian and seeing your progress pics made me start my hair journey. you are such an inspiration. Thank u so much. I started my healthy hair journey 6months ago and i am now at armpit length(from shoulder length). I have always been texlaxed and i cant trade the health and thickness of my hair for anything else…..texlaxed hair is fun!
hello, could you please tell me how long you leave in the relaxer for texlaxing. Thanks.
Author
Hello Judith
Thank you very much.
I really do appreciate all the kind words I get on Hairducation. I learned from others and feel its only fair for me to help their ladies with their hair journey. Your kind of comment motivates me to continue putting in time on Hairducation.
Texlaxed hair is soooooo awesome. Keep enjoying yours.
Happy hair journey
x
Lade
I started my journey last wk, immediately after I was introduced 2 d blog. I ve even printed tips out. Following the routine religiously. Doing same 4 my 10months old daughter too. The deep conditioning is AMAZING! My hair has neva felt dis soft. LUV IT!
Author
Hello Jaida
Congratulations on starting your journey to healthier hair. Deep condition is the best. I pleased you notice a difference in how your hair feels.
I am pleased you are taking care of your little girls hair too. But please note that her regimen should be different from yours. Her regimen should be as simple as possible. For example she is too young for deep conditioning but you can use a moisturising rinse out conditioner for her hair. She wount need protein products just yet. so basically you should tweek her hair care to make it as simple as possible.
I probably should do a blog post on this soon.
Happy hair journey
x
Lade
@ Nemerem: I am so dere wif u, I live in Jos but go2abj 2 get stuff I can’t get hia in Jos. Was in abj @ d weekend, went2d major stores in town but cud not find d oils and some other products. But I got sum products from Perfect trust tho. Was quite frustrating
Hi Lade,
THANK YOU, THANK YOU & THANK YOU again! I’ve been researching about Texlaxing and you answered most of my questions with this post! I can’t wait for Part 2. I’ve always been the one that would sit with relaxer in my hair for 45 minutes so that it would “relax well”. lol. My way of testing if i had a “good” relaxer session was to see if I could comb through my hair with that blue tail-comb. If I could then i had a great session 😀 Little did i know i was killing my hair.
Anyway, I had my first texlaxer about 2 months ago. I used Dr Miracles relaxer without adding any oil to the conditioner to reduce the potency. I was pushing the stylist to finish up quickly so my hair wouldn’t be bone straight. I think she did a good job at the end of the day, but I didn’t really see the difference till this past washday at 8weeks. After washing my hair, I could CLEARLY see my thick new growth, thick texlaxed hair, then the long bone straight hair! Mehn, you need to put the fact that the hair tangles easily as a big CON! This was my worst wash-day ever!
Will try to prepoo next time and detangle thoroughly before getting in the shower to wash.
Anyway, thanks again for this post. And i’m eagerly waiting for Part 2 to learn exactly how you do it.
Cheers (sorry for the long post).
Oh Lade! We are feverishly awaiting part 2. I keep refreshing several times a day!
Hey! I really like your website, Very helpful! My hair is relaxed and I’m kind of on a hair journey. Still debating if I want tio go natural or continue getting relaxers.
I have a question about your hair. Do you let it airdry all the time or do you blow dry it? Also, what kind of regular conditioners do you use, like the ones you can rinse out after 5 minutes?
Author
Hello Autumn
Thank you for your comment. I am glad you have found Hairducation helpful. I air dry majority of the time. If I do bblow dry it is usually on the cool air setting on the hand dryer. I don’t use instant conditioners but ive heard good things about Herbal Essence and Vo5 connditioners.
x
Lade
You are simply a life saver. I started doing my relaxer myself because stylists were ruining my efforts :(. Texlaxing is tricky because of the uneven textures, didn’t know it comes with shrinkage though because I never really noticed. I was quite shocked when I looked in the mirror while air drying and noticed my hair was shorter without a trim, wish I had thought of shrinkage earlier.
One more thing, been using a no lye but I really want to switch to a lye because of all the ‘talk on’ the bad effects of no lye but my scalp is sensitive and I dread relaxer burns. Will appreciate your advice. Thanks.
Thanks for your v. I have been relaxing my hair for eight years, but though many times I felt like growing it back unprocessed, I just can’t give up the actual length, too busy to manage two textuure nor do I want to big chop, the whole thing! I hardly wear braids, nor wigs, but some clips-in, once now and then, either for a thicker look/feel or to add a touch of color. I have never relaxed my hair boned straight though, as I like thick hair. How long do you leave the relaxer in? Do you run a comb through your hair to smooth it, while relaxing or simply aply, rest and rinse? You have just inspired to go texlaxed!
Hi Lade, will I follow the same process for short hair? My hair is falling out and shedding, I will say my nape and hair temple are gone, what can I do to restore my hair back? My hair is about 3 inches long now and all Natural.
Hi I want to texlax my hair using the dark n lovely curl softener, I don’t want completely curly hair but want to keep some texture in my hair. How long should I keep it in my hair to achieve a straighter look in my hair but with some texture not bone straight or too curly. Is it okay to add a few teaspoon of olive oil to the texturizer and then an essential oil (keracare) to the rest of my already processed hair, or would Vaseline be a better base. Will the olive oil be okay to use on my new growth (7 months). Never tried this way of processing always had the bone straight look but wanting some texture this time round whilst growing out the straighter ends.
Hello lade, started reading the material here a couple of days ago and I’ve been kinda shy to comment..but I honestly do feel like I’ve found exactly what I have been looking for. I haven’t been able to put my phone down since I started. You are doing a great job, well done..shared with a few friends already..well done.
Hello ☺ do you have too go natural first to texlaxed or you just texturize your new growth?
Hi
Please am going on a hair growth journey(i.e the inversion and olive oil method) and haven’t permed my hair for 6 months can i start the texlaxing method to get thinker and bouncy hair because my hair is thin and long
Thanks so much for the blog. I just started my healthy hair journey and I braid my hair a lot . am currently using hair booster and it’s kinda working h
aha. I would like to find out how long it took u you to grow that hair . Thank you .
Let me start by saying that I’m an African lady and I have the most coily natural hair you can imagine. I’ve been natural for a year and a few months. I have no desire to go back to relaxing my hair but at the same time, I hate how my natural hair gets tangled a lot, it breaks easily because of the extreme coils and it looks read dry and dull all the time – my natural hair really struggles to shine and retain moisture ( which is a problem I never had while my hair was relaxed). I really love the idea of texlaxing your hair and have it be a kind of combination of relaxed hair and natural hair. I really enjoyed this post and I’m seriously considering texlaxing. This post helped a lot. Thank you ????
Hello Lade,
Soooo glad I found your blog. I accidentally stumbled into Natural hair, due to badly burnt scalp (normal relaxer very wrooonnnggg hair stylist), so i stopped relaxers altogether. I was natural for 2 years, then decided to try something new, so I used relaxer for children and lo and behold, I ended up with texlaxed hair, lol. I’m loving it more. Will definitely be maintaining it. Your blog has inspired me.
Author
Awwwwwwww thank you so so much Johanna
I hope that your new texlaxed hair journey goes well and I am happy to hear Hairducation has helped.
x
Lade