You’ve grown your natural hair out and are considering straightening it. Then you must do proper research. While chemical hair relaxing products are improving, there is much to know before getting one.

Why? A chemical hair relaxer implies you use chemicals to straighten your hair. So, it helps to know how they work and if they can damage your hair, plus you must know the aftercare of the treatment.

Chemical Hair Relaxer: How Does it Work?

Chemical hair relaxers are a popular choice for curly or textured hair. The chemical treatment straightens coiled hair and allows you to try other styles.

Once your natural texture’s reshaped, you can style your hair into straight styles or a set curl pattern. You can find different relaxer products, which all work the same. A creamy chemical formula can be applied to your hair, breaking down your hydrogen (disulfide) bonds and reforming them into a straightened shape.

Hence, chemical treatment permanently alters hair structure, and aftercare is crucial, as your hair needs new care. When you have chemically altered hair, it needs protein and moisture support to help prevent breakage.

Types of Hair Relaxers

You can find several hair relaxers available, each categorized by the active ingredients that help break the chemical bonds in your hair. Here are the main types:

Sodium Hydroxide Relaxers: These are known as lye relaxers and are suitable for kinky, curly, or wavy hair.

Calcium Hydroxide Relaxers: If you have a sensitive scalp, use this hair relaxer on your wavy, kinky, or curly hair. However, a warning is that calcium hydroxide does dry out the hair and is more acidic when left on for too long.

Ammonium Thioglycolate Relaxers: Thio relaxers are best for wavy and curly hair.

Guanidine Carbonate Relaxers: No-lye relaxers are not as strong as your other products, but you must take care when using this straightener.

Another worthy note we have here at our hair wellness spa is that some hair types and curly patterns are delicate, and you may need to consider having a gentler process. If you have fine hair, we recommend a weaker solution to help release the curl pattern and straighten your hair permanently.

You should not overlap your chemicals if you have previously relaxed your hair, as this will help prevent breakage and frizz.

Will Chemical Hair Relaxing Damage The Health of My Hair?

When not done by a professional stylist, it can harm the health of your hair. The reason is that hair relaxers with strong chemicals could burn your skin.

For this reason, a stylist will use petroleum jelly or protective creams to help protect our hairline, nape of the neck, skin on the scalp, and the ears.

If you do it yourself, you can end up with severe burns needing medical attention, and it can lead to hair loss.

It can also damage your hair if the formula is harsh or you leave it on too long. So, when done at a hair and scalp spa, your stylist will work hard to help prevent breakage, and you will have to treat your hair with utmost care after a treatment.

For this reason, we still prefer providing our clients with keratin treatments and a Brazilian blowout.

Chemical Hair Relaxing Aftercare

Once you have had a chemical hair relaxer and the bonds in your strands are broken, your tresses will need special care. We recommend you:

• Wash, add deep conditioner, and wet set your hair at least once a week using sulfate-free shampoo to help preserve your natural oils.
• Also, apply essential oils like tea tree oil to your scalp to boost your scalp and hair health.
• Also, to prevent friction at night, sleep on a satin pillowcase or cover your hair with a satin scarf.
• When heat styling your hair, use heat protective sprays before the heat and invest in protein shampoos.
• Invest in a scalp detoxifying serum to ensure your scalp remains healthy.

Invest in a Professional Chemical Hair Relaxer Service

If you’re a non-professional, breaking the bonds in your hair shaft becomes difficult. You need a trained specialist even if you want to save money with the chemical hair relaxing at home.

You will get a professional consultation before you start. Your stylist might trim away your split ends, and the service only takes a couple of hours to conclude with some aftercare and styling tips.

Also, schedule your follow-up appointment to have a deep conditioning treatment done.

Wrap-Up: Should I Have My Hair Relaxed?

We recommend relaxing your hair if you have curly patterns that limit your style and want straight hair. Still, always consider the risks of chemical hair relaxing products.

Alternatively, you can check out some of our other hair retexturizing treatments. Schedule an appointment with one of our stylists for a hair consultation to find the best advice and treatment for your hair and needs.

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