but feel free to say so if you know
Once you place a relaxer on your hair, you permanently alter the texture of your hair so no, relaxers don't wear off or break down after time. Once your roots are a different texture than the relaxed hair, that means you have 'new growth' or new natural hair that has not been altered by chemicals.
I'm confused I always thought when you needed a relaxer its just the chemicals breaking down and getting old but I see some ladies saying it means your hair is growing how is that? I dont need any scientific explanation
Judging by your question it seems that you think hair does not continue to grow even after chemical straightening. The short answer is yes, it does.
You are only supposed to relax your virgin hair that grows out of your head, so whenever you need a touch up, it means that the hair has grown out enough (usually an inch or so) for you to require the new growth to be relaxed.
Since hair grows about a 1/2 inch a month, that's why most women go for a touch up every 6 to 8 weeks or so.
The easiest way to see an example of this is to look at women who dye their hair a really different shade from their natural color (say, from black to blonde). They have to go get their color touched up because of very visible black roots growing out of their heads, not because the blonde color reverted to black. It's the same way with relaxers.
Hope that example helped illustrate the process for you.
Judging by your question it seems that you think hair does not continue to grow even after chemical straightening. The short answer is yes, it does.
You are only supposed to relax your virgin hair that grows out of your head, so whenever you need a touch up, it means that the hair has grown out enough (usually an inch or so) for you to require the new growth to be relaxed.
Since hair grows about a 1/2 inch a month, that's why most women go for a touch up every 6 to 8 weeks or so.
The easiest way to see an example of this is to look at women who dye their hair a really different shade from their natural color (say, from black to blonde). They have to go get their color touched up because of very visible black roots growing out of their heads, not because the blonde color reverted to black. It's the same way with relaxers.
Hope that example helped illustrate the process for you.
The term 'sweat my perm out' is generally made by people who don't know any better.
Relaxing is an irreversible chemical process. It is impossible to sweat it out and become natural again. If that were the case, I know a lot of transitioning ladies who would appreciate it.
As one poster mentioned, a lot of ladies who relax follow it up with heat straightening which makes the hair appear straighter post relaxer. However, if these same ladies were to let their hair air dry, they would see that their hair retains some of it's texture. So for those claiming that they 'sweat their perm out', that is what they are seeing. The relaxer did not magically go away. The structure of their hair is still altered.
As for naturals, heat straightening is not permanent like a relaxer. Therefore, for many ladies contact with humidity or water will result in their going back to it's curly state.
You cannot compare a process which permanently results in straighter hair with that of a process that temporarily results in straighter hair. It's like comparing apples and oranges.
erplexed
