By Leah Fletcher
You want a looser curl, but relaxing your hair is out because your natural hair would become too straight. You are seeking hair that looks a bit fuller. However, curly or wavy hairstyles aren’t what you want, so texturizers aren’t for you. Don’t worry because there is a process, which is something in-between and becoming quite popular, known as texlaxing.
The natural hair movement is the fastest growing segment of the Black Hair industry. Over the past decade, Black women began abandoned chemical products in factor of natural hair. The trend has given rise to alternatives to traditional hair maintainance like “texlax.”
One of the reasons some women resort to texlaxing is to make their tresses more manageable, particularly when the alternative is straightening with thermal tools, according to natural hair stylist Anika Moyer. “Although you can wear a wash-and-go with ease, texturizing is usually the process someone resorts to when they want to sport curls most of the time, Texlaxing, when done correctly, provides you with more body and fullness than a straight relaxer. Also, the reduced amount of time the chemicals stay on your hair, as well as the barrier created with oil or conditioner, diminishes your chances of damaging your hair,” Moyer said.
What is Texlaxing?
Telexing is a chemical process designed to slightly relax the curl in textured hair. Unlike a relaxer, texlaxers are not used to fully straighten the hair. Users often want a looser curl texture when wearing curly hairstyles or want to make a thermal straightening process easier. It’s typically left on for a longer length of time than a texturizer, hence the name which falls between the two processes.
Texlaxing vs. Relaxing
Relaxing the hair involves applying a cream to hair with texture or curl. Relaxers contain the strong chemicals of sodium hydroxide and guanidine hydroxide that penetrate the layers of the hair shaft to permanently break down the strongest bond in the hair. Texturizing leaves the curl pattern of the hair loose and straight. The hair cuticles are smoothed by combing through the chemical cream, which remains on the hair for a specified time to produce the desired results. Texturizing is defined as removing at least 60 percent of the hair’s natural curl pattern.
When texlaxing, you use the same chemicals, however, the process is slightly different. The time frame for texlaxing is usually completed in half the time of a relaxer. But, the time required for processing is based on the desired texture of the hair, with longer processing for straight hair and shorter processing for more textured hair. Some texlaxers choose to skip the “comb through”, for fear of over-straightening the hair. The real intent of texlaxing is to have manageable hair with less risk of damage or breakage.
What makes my hair natural?
So are you natural if you texlax? According to Moyer, natural hair is defined as wearing one’s hair in its natural state. “If you are using chemical products to relax your hair for texture and volume, you are still breaking down the natural bonds of your natural hair,” said Moyer. Even if you choose to do it to simply add volume to your hair, you are not considered natural. However, texlaxing does place you in a position where you have the best of both worlds because you can wear both natural and relaxed styles with ease.
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