Over the last 11 weeks, I've used a blow dryer and flat iron on my hair three times. This being my last wash day before relaxer day I needed to straighten and detangle my roots. And I typically flat iron in preparation for relaxer day, but I decided to try something different to limit heat. I was going to just roller set it, but thought a silk wrap might be a good way to get my roots as straight as possible with indirect heat. The last time I tried a silk wrap was back in 2012 and I don't remember how well it straightened my roots. But I reasoned my way into believing that this would come out great and I decided to give it a try.
The Process.
I skipped my typical pre-poo this week and detangled my hair with while spraying each section with water.
I shampooed with GVP Tea Tree Oil Shampoo and deep conditioned for 30 minutes with no heat using Aubrey Organics GPB Conditioner. This is a protein deep conditioner and will serve as my protein treatment for this relaxer prep wash day. At the last minute, I decided to skip the moisturizing DC that I typically follow up with because the protein DC is mild to moderate strength. I think my hair can handle that on its own. Plus using it alone will give me a chance to see how I really feel about this DC.
After rinsing the conditioner, I detangled again and applied my leave-ins. I used GVP The Conditioner (my go-to leave-in conditioner when using heat) and CHI Silk Infusion, which I've never used for a roller set but was interested to see how it would turn out. The CHI is a serum that always gives me smooth and silky results plus it's a heat protectant. Then I roller set my hair and sat under the hooded dryer. My drying time was officially 2 hours and 15 minutes but that's because I took several breaks throughout. About an hour of that time was actually spent under the hooded dryer.
Once my hair was completely dry, I removed the rollers applied Proclaim Spray On Glosser as my oil and wrapped my hair. Applying the saran wrap was a struggle but I eventually got it on there (You'll see a snippet of that in the video, lol). I went back under the hooded dryer for 10 more minutes, took down my wrapped hair and was left with the hair you'll see below.
I made a video of the entire process this time for you guys to watch, if you're interested.
My Final Thoughts.
The process was pretty labor intensive (especially since I was trying to record simultaneously), but I really like the results. Between the combination of hair products used and the roller set/wrap situation, it turned out great. I almost wanted to stop after the roller set, but knew that I needed to keep going because my new growth was not as stretched out as I wanted it to be. In the end the silk wrap accomplished exactly what I expect from a relaxer prep wash day. Today's wash day left me with clarified hair and scalp, strengthened hair that still has elasticity to it, straight hair free from shed hairs and stretched new growth that's easy to comb through. Plus I got the bonus of soft, silky, bouncy and voluminous hair. All in all Saturday was a good day.
I also wanted to point out that I'm keeping up with my
30 Days of Ceramides Challenge. You'll notice that I used Aubrey Organics GPB Conditioner and Proclaim Spray On Glosser -- both of which contain ceramides (wheat germ oil). As always, I used ceramides products and my hair came out soft and smooth. Love that stuff.
Labels: Ceramides, Challenge, Relaxed Hair, Roller Setting, Videos
