I get a lot of inquiries from women who burn with every touch-up. I cannot emphasize enough, the importance of planning when your scalp is sensitive. If your scalp reacts adversely to chemical cream Relaxer, you must plan ahead, so that the scalp is calm before chemical application and therefore less likely to be traumatized by the relaxing agent. Accept your sensitivity, embrace it. Do not compare your situation with any other. Yes, your friend may be able to go swimming for an hour or two, visit her stylist on the way from the pool for a touch-up with super strength Relaxer, and NOT burn; truth is your friend is not you!

What do I mean by plan? First, with scalp so sensitive, you must not be tempted to ‘re-touch’ on a whim. You just MUST respect your scalp for it not to disrespect you. There are two possible scenarios you may be confronted with:

By the time you are 4 weeks after a touch-up, you have to start thinking about when the next touch-up will be. Remember NO whim! You can not afford to ignore the choices you make as far as hair styles are concerned; your style will determine how much your scalp will/may be agitated with chemical work. If you are wearing braids or weave-on for instance, remember that it is WRONG for you to have a touch-up on the same day you come out of your extensions. It is NOT an excuse that your undergrowth is too ‘gruesome’ to expose; you risk serious burns and breakage. You do a touch-up same day at your own peril.

So, putting in extensions at 4 weeks after ‘Re-touch’ means you intend to carry it for another 3 to 4 weeks. That means at 8 weeks, undergrowth will be massive and you may be tempted to ‘Re-touch’ it. In spite of that, there is ONLY one option: take out your extensions, do NOT comb or agitate the hair with a brush, and perform 2 different treatments immediately-

n The first treatment is two-pronged: Apply a soothing ‘Reconstructor’ to scalp and a detangling deep-penetrating conditioner to hair. Wrap hair in foil paper and cling-film; sit under a hot dryer for 20 minutes. Next, comb hair from scalp area using ONLY a wide-tooth comb to remove tangles. Rinse treatment out with cold water, cleanse with a moisturizing shampoo and do not towel-dry. Squeeze out excess water.

n The second treatment follows with application of angels studio SCALP CRÈME to the scalp area and a superior leave-in conditioner product to damp hair. If you do not have any of the above, you may use extra virgin olive oil. Proceed to style as usual.

These treatments will enable you carry your hair for another week or two, provided you do NOT attempt to force-comb the hair from the scalp. Concentrate all combing efforts on the hair itself so that your scalp is not overly agitated as your touch-up day approaches. Now, if you like your hair all sleek especially at the edges, it may prove to be a bit of a challenge for you to manage a hairline that desperately needs gloss. So, if you have to wear a wig for those transition days, just so you are not tempted to ‘Re-touch’, then that’s what it is going to have to be.

TYPICAL TIME-TABLE

Practically speaking though, follow this time-table to ensure your next touch-up is trauma-free. I will use dates so that you can understand.

n Decide what particular day/date you want to have the chemical application. Let’s choose Saturday May 22 as the day booked for application.

Your braids or weave-on needs to be taken out at least 7 to 14 days before the application day, depending on if you waited 4 or 8 weeks after your last chemical work before braiding/weaving. So in this case, take out extensions on May 8 or May 15.

n Over 6 to 8 weeks after touch-up before you braided or wove? Take out extensions on the 15th. Follow the combo-treatment above and wait at least 7 days before chemical work. You can safely do the straightening on the 7th or 8th day after combo-treatment. Do NOT force a comb through the hair in those 7 days because scalp will lose its calmness as nerve-ends will be awakened; do not agitate scalp in any way; comb only the top surface of the hair. On the evening of the 6th day, coat the scalp area generously with petroleum jelly; it will act as a buffer preventing the Relaxer from touching the scalp directly and immediately so hair can have enough time to straighten.

n About 4 weeks after touch-up before you braided or wove? Take out extensions on the 8th. Follow the combo-treatment above and wait 14 days before you do a touch-up. You may safely do the chemical application on the 14th day. You may not need to base the scalp with petroleum jelly because you have 14 days for scalp to calm down. If however, you normally dance when you burn, it may just be the best idea to still base your scalp, just in case!

APPLICATION DAY

Please do not swim at least 7 days before the day. That also means you MUST not swim on the day. Book your appointment in the morning so that there will be no dampness on the scalp, especially if your journey to the salon will not be in an air-conditioned car. Most importantly, when applying the Relaxing cream, do NOT comb hair or MASSAGE. It will only succeed in ‘waking’ your nerve-ends, itching and finally, scalds on the scalp. There is absolutely no reason to massage, except your cream is insufficient. If you use enough cream to coat the hair, it will straighten without pulling or tugging.

If you comb hair while applying, the teeth of the comb will ‘prick’ the scalp and cause that place to start to tingle. So please rely on the cream; use as much as you can so that hair is fully coated.

Finally, use only cold water. Hot or warm water will only aggravate the scalded areas. Do not forget that the neutralizing shampoo is most probably going to sting, especially when shampoo touches the scalded areas. Trust me, cold water will cool down the temperature of the scalp and head.

Thanks for reading; make it a great week!

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