Over-processing is the major cause of breakage in relaxed hair. And a lot of women have hair that has been damaged by relaxer misuse. We’re going to show you ways to prevent that.
We dealt with adopting good relaxer practices here and how long you should wait before you relax, here. But now we’re dealing with preventing over-processing while relaxing your hair. And also ways to minimize damage from relaxers. And if your relaxed hair is breaking, you might want to get a pen and paper to take notes. You might also need a glass of water to recover from the shock when you realise all the things your hair stylist has been doing wrong.
Ready? Let’s get right into it.
Protect the previously relaxed hair to prevent overlapping
Relaxers are permanent chemical treatments, so you shouldn’t keep relaxing already relaxed hair. Doing that would cause serious damage to the hair and most people are guilty of this. So to prevent over-processing, coat your previously relaxed hair with a thick layer of oil before you begin the relaxer application.
Don’t comb the hair while relaxing
After the relaxer application, do NOT comb your hair. Doing so pushes the chemicals deeper into the hair follicles, damaging it even further. If you’re concerned your hair will not relax, it actually will if it is smoothed properly (using fingers). Most Nigerian hair stylists don’t know this so you might have to insist.
(Photo: latoyajonesblog)
If your scalp begins to burn, wash off the relaxer
One of the greatest mysteries on earth is people who sit with their legs crossed, while their scalp is literally on fire! We get that you want to have perfectly relaxed hair but is an injured scalp worth it? As your scalp begins to sting, ask for the relaxer to be washed off IMMEDIATELY.
Some hair stylists even convince their clients to sit through the pain. *smh* Don’t listen to them. It’s better to have under-processed hair than a damaged scalp. Besides, your hair is not Jollof rice, it doesn’t need to burn to turn out fine.
Use a neutralizing shampoo
This is super important. Neutralizing shampoos are designed to halt the relaxer processing in it’s track. And you should not substitute with regular shampoos. This is because regular shampoos aren’t designed to remove relaxers from the hair. And even though the hair might look clean, there could be some residue from the relaxer left behind. This residue would keep on processing your hair long after you’ve left the salon. And this would cause over-processing, in no time you’ll find your relaxed hair breaking.
(Photo: Sallybeauty.com)
(Featured image: diversityhaircolortips.blogspot)