Wash it or get wet and it goes back to normal

Ok how can something 'permanantly' straighten hair? It can't! If it works at all it will last a few days possible a week or two if you are lucky. My friend has gone on for years about the colour and curliness of her her. It is lovely. People sometimes just want to go with the fashions but honestly curls will come back in summer.

Claude wrote: OK I wouldn't suggest permanently straightening your hair. It is done with by using a chemical relaxer which breaks the disulfide bonds in the hair. If left on the hair too long the disulfide bonds will dissolve destroying and permanently damaging the hair.....you could even have breakage at or near the scalp and chemical burns if you are not a professional hairstylist. DO NOT ATTEMPT IT YOURSELF!   The asian straightening method is just as damaging to the hair if not done properly.   When you wash the hair the salt & hydrogen bonds are broken down and reformed this is why your hair goes from straight to curly. Those bonds break down with water and heat and reform to your original wave pattern. They account for 2/3's of your hair's overall strength also. The disulfide bonds which are the bonds that get chemically altered by perms or relaxers are the other bonds that give the hair the other 1/3 of it's strength.   It's ok to flat iron your hair to make it straight but make sure you are putting a protectant spray or leave-in conditioner in your hair to protect the hair strands from drying out as you run a flat iron thru the hair. Flat irons get as hot as 450* degrees many of them. So caring for your hair by using a nice moisturizing shampoo and a leave in protector such as Chi 44 Iron Guard....   or CHI's Silk Infusion....I highly recommend this leave in conditioner...it's excellent....   Professional products do make a difference....take it from me a HairStylist with years of experience.   Also for curly hair you should be using a diffuser to dry your hair or let your hair air dry with some product in it to help avoid the frizzies. Also if your interested in learning to style and cut curly hair to make it work for you you should check into OUIDAD and read her story about curly hair and stylists who can do the cut.   G'luck

Anyway I can contact you off of here? MSN, Aim, yahoo messenger or what?

it is not a sterotype and in no way did i mean for it to come off that way,  hair relaxing is apart of african culture. it was discovered in the 19th century when African-Americans realized that washing and combing hair with a lye soap helped to straighten it.  i'm not sure on this but i remember reading that it started off as a way for escaped slaves to look more european so they wouldn't be caught. some have other ways of styling without the use of relaxers---cornrows, twists, and dreadlocks. but yeah if u want more information u should do research on black hair care.

anyways to relax ur hair urself, u first shampoo ur hair to clarify it. then u apply the relaxing solution to ur hair to break down the protien bonds that make ur hair curly. u leave it on for the time it says too. then u rinse for a few minutes and then apply the next solution that is called a neutralizer which hardens the hair to stay in its newly straightened form. then u apply a leave in conditioner to your hair. if ur hair is really culry don't expect it to be that much straighter. and if ur hair is blonde the chemicals will lighten it some most likely. good luck with ur hair

I fought with my curly hair for a long time and i recently had my aunt japanese straighten it... it was pin straight like i thought i wanted-- but really i don't like it.. i mean don't get me wrong it worked great but it will really get it straight and it doesn't look natural its like sticks, especially my bangs. and i still flat iron it but only now i do it to put a little curl into it lol i guess the grass is always greener on the other side. but if u r wanting super straight hair just forget about using relaxers unless u mind it being wavy but if u are wanting super straight hair u will never get it with a relaxer... well u might but it's not going to look good. for caucasian hair (which is what i'm assuming u are since if u were black u would probably know about straightening hair)  relaxers kinda do calm the curl down but its not going to go away completely like the boxes usually show. and if u over process it, ur risking having a burned scalp, loss of hair, and even a change of hair color. relaxers have caused me nothing but heart ache lol, hey how curly is ur hair anyway? if its really curly like say carrot top or napolean dynomite then i'd say go for it-- just don't have super high expectations.

Your curliness or waviness is genetic. The only way to "permanently" change the texture of your hair is to use chemicals to break down the bonds in your hair. I say "permanently" because it oftentimes lasts weeks or months before you have to have a straightening treatment redone.

Edited by AnaisSatin - June 05 2006 at 12:49am