So at age 12, my client was ready for straight hair on a permanent basis. It was time for her first relaxer. I prepared for the virgin relaxer procedure. I draped her with a fabric chemical cape. I lined her shoulders with Glad Press N' Seal and connected it in the front like an additional drape.
I selected Affirm Normal and Affirm Mild as my relaxer systems mainly because they work without the burning. I used the Normal strength to go through the midshaft through the ends. I then went back to the roots and applied the Mild strength. Initially, I put a 2 inch guide of relaxer throughout the hair about an inch or inch and a half away from the scalp to allow me to go through a second pass to get from my relaxer guide down the mid-shaft and all the way through the ends. The roots and hairline were covered at my third pass through the hair. I completed the first and second passes within 20 minutes. The product was very heavy on the hair. I had to gently fight to get the hair parted to evenly distribute Mild relaxer to the remaining roots, but we successfully completed the full virgin relaxer application and smoothing within 35 minutes. The salon temperature was cool. The length was extremely long. Medium length hair will have taken less time.
In a separate article, I discussed lining my relaxer bowls to make less work for me to clean up.
We had shampooed, blow dried and french braided her hair three days prior to the virgin relaxer. The Press N'Seal wrap stayed in place to protect the cape from getting chemical all over it. I had to snap the picture quickly so I had a paper towel in my hand that accidently got into the picture above, but you can see how long the relaxed hair stretched to. I then unloosed the Press N'Seal drape in the front and gathered it up with her relaxer coated hair enclosed. I laid her hair bundle into the shampoo bowl then I gentled peeled the Press N'Seal wrap from out of the shampoo bowl and began a long, long rinse. I blotted dry and checked the whole head, cleared the shampoo bowl neck area and then rinsed some more. I did three shampoos with the final shampoo being towel blotted and completed with her seated upright. The towel blot before the final Affirm normalizing shampoo made a difference. The lather was completely white. The first two shampoos seemed to still yield some faint pink lather. It was definitely squeaky clean by the third shampoo. I conditioned and color bathed the hair under the dryer for about 15 minutes.
The roots were less straight than the midshaft, but straight enough and they can be easily taken care of at the next relaxer touch-up service. All of the hair was straight enough for me to roll with the gray magnetic rollers. Dryer time is about 1.5 hours.
I did go in and straighten the roots a little more with the marcel irons, and we did "trim" the hair. At age 12, she did not need a blunt cut.
Successful virgin relaxer service by Benita Blocker. My client received a "First Relaxer" certificate from me with my Applebaum logo.
