Before the textlax:
First go-round (still too tight):
And after much contemplation, trepidation, the desire to feel my scalp, and risking fully relaxed hair for the perfect curl, I did it again, about 4 hours later (combed the condish through):
Hang time:
I'm actually very happy I did this. I know I can't do it again until January, and I'm fine with that. This fix will last me until then. I may even stretch longer than January. Some of my fellow BHMers suggested that I not even follow the schedule I made up. That I should just go on at least an inch of new growth, so as to not overprocess. I know I'm getting more than 1/2" of new growth a month, thanks to the Mega-Tek. I'm a fast grower. I'm not worried about that. I'm just impatient. I have hang time now. When I swing my head, my hair moves. Shrinkage is a bitch, the devil incarnate. I don't want straight hair, I want less shrinkage. That's why I textlax. If I can hold on, and not succumb to the creamy crack again, I will have shoulder length hair by December 2010. I ran out of Mega-Tek, so a BHM hair friend is sending me her extra bottle. I have to get more GNC NoursishHair vitamins. The new thing is henna, and that's going to take a lot of research before I take the leap. I love my BHM hair friends.
For the corrective session, I did the back first. I sat on the sink, in the bathroom, close to the mirror, and parted my hair ear to ear. I put EVOO on the front part to keep it from over processing. I made vertical parts in the back section. I combed the hair to either side of each part and sort of combed the cream about a half inch in. After all the vertical parts were done, then I made horizontal parts just to make sure I got everything. It seemed like when I did it earlier today, and it dried, the back middle was still puffy, and the roots didn't take. I didn't leave it on the back long enough. After all the back was done, I went over the front, making vertical parts from the sides up to the top of my head. My sides were puffy also. It all seems more uniform now. It was a huge risk to textlax twice in one session, but sometimes, no risk, no glory. I followed up with the Nexxus Humectress and a little Mane N Tail. No length pictures until next week.