One popular styling option for African American women is to relax hair. Some women choose to have their hair relaxed by a professional hair stylist. Because regular visits to a hair stylist can be expensive or inconvenient, many women use hair relaxers at home to straighten their hair.
Before using hair relaxing products for the first time, you should give it some serious thought. You cannot un-relax African American hair. If you decide later that you preferred your natural kinky curl, you will have to cut off your relaxed hair and wait the year or two that it takes to grow out your natural hair again.
When applied properly, relaxers won't do serious damage to your hair. However, improper application or application of hair relaxers on someone with a sensitive scalp can have a devastating outcome. If you have a sensitive scalp or previous problems with excessive hair breakage or loss, you should consider keeping your hair in a natural style.Hair Relaxing Supplies
If your hair and scalp are healthy, you'll need some supplies before you relax your hair:
Before You Get Started
At least a week before you relax your hair, you need to remove braids, extensions and any other style that puts stress on your hair. Relaxing your hair too soon after removing these styles can cause hot spots, which might lead to the results coming out uneven. This could even cause breakage a few months down the line.
A week before you apply a hair relaxing cream to your hair, you should use a deep conditioning hair treatment to get your hair in the best condition possible.
Choose the Right Hair Relaxing Product
Sodium hydroxide-based relaxers are recommended for very kinky and coarse hair. This is a stronger product and should be applied with extra care. Ammonium thioglycolate or no-lye relaxers are commonly sold as at-home hair relaxer kits. While they can still damage the scalp, they are generally mild. The downside of using this product is that you may not get your hair straight enough. Professional stylists rarely use no-lye relaxers. Ammonium thioglycolate relaxers are a newer version of no-lye relaxers. They are less harsh than the sodium hydroxide relaxers and are recommended for hair that is moderately kinky. Never mix these types of relaxers. If you start using one, you must continue to use it.
The Process of Relaxing Your Hair
Apply a base product like petroleum jelly to your hairline and other sensitive areas of your scalp. This will keep the products from irritating sensitive skin. Do not overapply the base product, though, as you will prevent the relaxer from straightening your hair. Part your hair into sections, being careful not to straighten the scalp. Four sections should be sufficient unless the hair is extra thick. If so, you will want to part the hair into six sections.
Apply the product to the hair, starting with the thickest part of your hair and working toward the thinner sections, where skin is more sensitive. In other words, start at the center of your hair and work your way out toward the edges. You will need to work quickly so that one part of your hair does not end up straighter than other parts. When relaxing virgin African American hair (hair that has not been previously relaxed), it is best to apply the product to the hair first, and then go back and apply the product to the roots. Be careful not to apply relaxing creme directly to the scalp. This can cause chemical burns and hair loss.
According to the instructions on the creme relaxer kit, allow the product to sit on your hair. This typically takes 15 to 20 minutes. Test the hair for straightness by running a wide-tooth comb through the hair and seeing if it curls or remains straight.
The next step will depend on which chemical you used to relax your hair. If you used a sodium hydroxide-based product, you need to rinse your hair with cool water for five minutes. If you used an ammonium thioglycolate-based product, you do not need to rinse your hair. Instead, you will shampoo your hair according to the product's instructions.
Condition your hair with the product recommended for use with your relaxer. If you used a creme relaxing kit, the conditioner will come with it. Then, dry and style your freshly relaxed hair.
Hair Relaxing Tips
If you have thick hair with many strands, purchase two hair relaxing kits to ensure you have enough product to apply to your hair.
If you have or want long hair, do not make your hair super straight, as it removes elasticity and will cause eventual breakage.
Cautions
Never straighten your hair after applying hair color. You should always wait 10 days or longer after coloring your hair before applying a relaxer.
When touching up your roots, it is wise to use the same hair relaxing cream product that you used when you relaxed your hair. Using a product with a different chemical formulation could damage your hair. Also avoid overlapping the relaxer onto previously relaxed hair. Apply it to new growth only so that you do not over process the parts of your hair that are already straight.
Be thorough when washing relaxer from your hair. Wash your hair as many times as possible to make sure there are no straightening chemicals left in the hair.
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