The Retouch That Shouldn't Happen Today
A 34-year-old client arrives for a relaxer retouch. Her last relaxer was 7 weeks ago; new growth measures about 1.5 cm at the crown and 2.5 cm at the nape. Four weeks ago her mid-lengths and ends were highlighted to level 9 over previously relaxed hair. She mentions she shampooed this morning and scratched her scalp, and you can see redness and two small scabs at the nape and above the left ear. Her only other chemical history is a henna-based "natural" color applied five months ago. She says she "always burns a little" at the nape, and she wants the retouch plus smoothing over the highlighted area so the texture looks uniform.
1. Do you proceed with the relaxer today? Justify your decision using every relevant detail in the setup.
Read the worked answer
No - do not proceed today.
- Open or irritated skin: the two scabs and general redness are breaks in the skin. Sodium hydroxide (lye) and ammonium thioglycolate (no-lye/thio) relaxers are strongly alkaline (lye near pH 12–13) and will cause a chemical burn, not just stinging, on broken skin. This alone is a contraindication.
- Same-day shampoo: shampooing strips sebum from the scalp, which normally acts as a partial barrier, and scratching has already compromised the surface. The two together raise irritation risk further, so she must wait 48–72 hours after her last shampoo and must not scratch.
- Henna history: "natural" henna products are frequently compound hennas cut with metallic salts. Metallic salts can react with relaxer, producing heat, smoking, discoloration, and severe breakage. Five months is long, but it is not an automatic green light - a strand test is required before any relaxer goes on this hair.
- Highlighted lengths: level 9 lightened hair over relaxed hair has already lost disulfide bonds and has a raised cuticle. There is no safe way to add relaxer there, and the request to "smooth the highlighted area" must be refused.
Plan: reschedule in 3–7 days, pre-book a patch test and a strand test, instruct no shampooing or scalp scratching for 72 hours, and plan to base the scalp and keep product strictly on new growth when you do proceed.
2. Assuming the strand test passes and she returns next week, describe how you would apply and process the relaxer, and explain the reasoning behind each choice.
Read the worked answer
- Base the scalp along the hairline, nape, and around the ears with protective cream - these are the areas most likely to burn.
- Section into four quadrants and apply with a brush to the new growth only, holding the hair taut so the product does not creep onto previously relaxed or lightened hair. Stop roughly 3 mm from the scalp line at the hairline and nape, where skin is thinnest.
- Sequence by resistance and sensitivity. Start where the hair is most resistant (mid-back/crown) and finish at the nape and hairline, which are warmer and more sensitive and therefore process faster. Check the nape first even though it was applied last.
- Do not smooth through to the ends. Smoothing is done with the back of the comb on the new growth only; pulling relaxer down the shaft overlaps onto previously processed and lightened hair and causes mid-shaft breakage and overlapping.
- Time and observe. Follow the manufacturer's maximum processing time and remove product from the nape/hairline early if the test strand showed faster processing.
- Rinse thoroughly, blot, then neutralize. Use the neutralizing shampoo for the full lather time, repeating until the lather stays white/indicator colour and the pH is restored, then follow with a low-pH conditioner.
Reasoning: the goal is to process only the virgin new growth, protect the most vulnerable skin, and stop the alkaline reaction completely so residual relaxer does not continue to break bonds after rinsing.
3. The client insists on a "quick smoothing" of the highlighted mid-lengths and ends with the same relaxer, arguing that the previous stylist did it. How do you respond, and what do you offer instead?
Read the worked answer
Refuse the service and explain the mechanism in client-friendly terms.
- Why it is unsafe: relaxer works by breaking disulfide bonds in the cortex. Lightening also breaks disulfide bonds and swells the cuticle, so level 9 hair already has far fewer bonds holding it together. A second bond-breaking step on the same fibre typically produces mushy wet hair, mid-shaft breakage and "melted" ends - sometimes days later, after the client has left and paid.
- Why the previous stylist's version is not evidence it's safe: overlap damage is cumulative and often shows up after the second or third application, so "it worked last time" doesn't predict this time.
Offer instead:
- A conditioning/acidifying treatment and a smoothing shampoo-and-conditioner service, or a light gloss/toner to even tone without lifting.
- A trim of the most compromised ends (they cannot be repaired once broken).
- If she wants less texture in the lengths, a blowout or a temporary smoothing service appropriate for lightened hair, with an honest explanation of longevity.
Set the expectation in writing on the client record that the relaxer was applied to new growth only and that overlapping was declined for cause.