Dear all

i read an article today that made me really scared . it was about a lady who lost her hair due to a relaxer , now she is bald forever . i am not here to talk bad against relaxers , i have quit them for my own good reasons . however my sisters and nieces are still using it , and they do it at home . i learned that there are many things that should be done or shouldnt be done prior to applying a relaxer , like not itching the scalp and stuff .

the reason i ask for such this is that in my country there is no single person who is licensed to apply a relaxer even at saloons . i might be the only one who really understands the needs of relaxed african hair back home. so i need your help ladies so i can warn my sisters and advice them so they dont end up like that poor lady .

any suggestions would help , this is really important .

Well there are many women who have relaxed hair and are not balding... just make sure that they read the directions and follow it correctly. Many people do not...they want their hair to be extremely straight so they keep it in too long and place it directly on the scalp (all the wrong things to do) plus more... then after following directions you still have to work on the hair such as moisturize and do it less than every 4 weeks...because the boxes say from 6-8 weeks which means 4 weeks is way too soon. YOu can only give them information, if they wish to follow it that is up to them.

thank you for your answer . i told them to try and stretch the periods between each application . also i told them about hte "dont itch your scalp thing" i never knew about it , i advice them not to keep it for long , my sister is crazy she keeps it very long assuming her hair would be more straight .

but my question is , a week before relaxing should they wash their hair with a clarifying shampoo to remove products build up ? after washing and maybe deep conditioning , is it to use their normal hair products like oils and moisturizers ?

Thanks ladies for the advice . i didnt know that it is possible to use oils and moisturizers prior relaxer application , the saloon where we used to get our touche up told us not to use anything , cuz the oils will prevent the relaxer from straightening the hair .

btw i know there are lots of women who didnt became bald , i used to relax my hair for 7 years . but i was scared that we might be doing something wrong , so i just wanted to warn my sisters .