Trying A New Stylist For My First Relaxer Touch-up Of The Year

Here it is. My first relaxer touch-up post in 2015. Once again I'm on a quest to find a stylist. Since I've moved to another state, I need to find someone in whose hands I will trust my hair. For this touch up I decided to try a stylist that was recommended to me by my stylist in North Carolina. She doesn't know this stylist personally but has heard good things about her.

Before I get into how the day of my touch-up went I'm going to quickly walk you through how I prepped my hair.

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My relaxer prep

The week prior to my scheduled touch-up I wanted to clarify my hair to get rid of all product buildup and give the relaxer as fresh a palette as possible so it wouldn't underprocess my hair. To clarify  I used the Shea Moisture African Black Soap Deep Cleansing Shampoo.

After shampooing I deep conditioned my hair to add some moisture back to it and then went through the rest of my wash day routine. 

Throughout the week I avoided irritating my scalp by scratching it and doing unnecessary combing. Then a couple of days before my appointment I made sure my 16 weeks of new growth and the rest of my hair were fully detangled.

On the morning of the appointment, I based my scalp with petroleum-based hair grease and put coconut oil on my relaxed strands to help protect them against relaxer runoff. Now I was ready to go to the salon!

The relaxer touch-up

I arrived at my appointment about 15 minutes early. I wanted to make sure I allowed enough time to get there if traffic was a little heavy and find a parking spot. When I arrived, the stylist had one person in her chair and one at the bowl. She said she'd be with me in a few minutes which turned into 30.

I was a little ticked because I'd made an afternoon appointment with the hope it wouldn't be that busy and I could get in and out in a couple of hours. If I wasn't having pictures taken the following week I would have just said forget it and walked out.

While I was waiting the stylist asked what I was going to have done, I told her a relaxer touch-up. She asked how long since I'd had my last touch-up. I told her it had been 16 weeks. Her response was "16 weeks?!!" in a tone of disbelief. This was my first red flag that she wasn't a supporter of relaxer stretching. Other red flags came during the appointment when she kept saying things about why I shouldn't go so long between touch-ups.

While that was annoying, the rest of the appointment wasn't terrible. Here's a rundown of what I liked and didn't like during the appointment:

Liked

• She used the Design Essentials relaxer. I've had this relaxer brand used on my hair before and saw good results
• She took extra care to make sure the relaxer was rinsed out. She washed my hair three times
• She used heat protectant before flat ironing
• She only used a small tooth comb when necessary
• She trimmed my split ends

Related read: How To Avoid Heat Damage When Drying Your Hair 

Didn't like

• She didn't ask me anything about my hair, scalp, or the products I use before getting starting
• She didn't use a deep conditioner
• She didn't use a heat protectant before blowdrying my hair
• She ran the flat iron over my hair multiple times

Outside of the things that I didn't like, I thought my hair looked good afterward. Will I go back? Probably not.

What was your most recent salon visit like?