Affirm Fiberguard Lye: The Good The Bad and The Ugly!

[Kurlee]

My niece wants to texturize her hair with this (mild version) and I was wondering for those who use it:

• what are the pros?
• what are the cons?
• do you experience breakage or shedding or dryness?
• does it thin out your hair?

Gimme the lowdown on this relaxer, the good bad and the ugly as well as suggestions!!!

 

[NeeSee]

bump bump.

 

[Kurlee]

BUMP! I know some of ya'll use this!

 

[ravenmerlita]

I use this to texturize. I've been using it for a couple of years, 2-3 times per year. My hair is in much better condition than it ever was with other chemical processes I tried (dye, other relaxers).

I don't experience breakage, dryness or thinning that are related to the relaxer. My hair and skin have always been very dry. Also my hair is fine with a little thinning on top. But its was this way when I was natural too, so it's not the relaxer.

I think that the products that are to be used with the relaxer or great, especially the Sustenance Fortifying Treatment. This is the treatment you use after rinsing the relaxer but before neutralizing. Great stuff.

For what I want for my hair, the relaxer works perfectly.

 

[Kurlee]

Thanks for responding! Ur hair looks thick and healthy. My niece has very thick hair and its curly (4a). she wants to loosen it up for easier styling but wants to keep her hair health in tact and not lose too much of her curl pattern. Her mom isn't into hair health (bone straight hair, which she weaves and hair has been chin length for years and very thin due to damage) so my niece is looking to me to guide her.

 

[Mizani_Mrs]

Maybe you should look up 'silkeners' on this board. and also adding a protein too the hair, so that the relaxer wont do too much 'straightening'. good luck!

 

[Kurlee]

BUMPING! There has to be more than one member who uses this! Even bone straight texlaxed ladies! Help
a sista out!

 

[thiccknlong]

BUMPING! There has to be more than one member who uses this! Even bone straight texlaxed ladies! Help
a sista out!

Oh i use affirm fiberguard. I dont know if it's lye or not. my stylist use the big tub, normal.

Mine is texlaxed. my hair is alot thicker. alot healthier. And, after a big chop, my hair recovered quicker with this relaxer than any other i've ever used.

My stylist was like boy did your hair get long and thicken up quickly !

Right now, I'm between BSL and Mid back. I really think I'm mid back.

 

[ALWAYZL8]

My stylist also uses Affirm Fiberguard on my hair, too. I have not had as much breakage since he's been using it. My last stylist used Affirm...not sure if it was Fiberguard and I always had really thick hair. After Hurricane Katrina I went through a stylist search and ended up using other brands. I had so much breakage and thinning. I found my new guy and he used Affirm FG and it is healthier. It is a plus for preventing/slowing breakage IMO. As far as CONS, maybe switching brands after using it for years was not a good idea. That is the only thing I can think of.

 

[SouthernTease]

I won't even get a relaxer unless it's a Fiberguard relaxer.
It's the Rolls Royce of relaxers.
I could be biased though ;o)

 

[Kurlee]

Thanks for your replies ladies! This seems like the best relaxer for her purpose so far. I read some older threads and some people complained of sever breakeage and shedding. I hope that is not the case.

 

[Imani]

Bumping this thread for more info/reviews on Affirm Fiberguard Lye

I just recently used Affirm Original Formula Lye (mild) and wrote good reviews on it. But now, four weeks later my hair is super dry

so now, i'm going to this beautician and she seems to think that Affirm Fiberguard will work better on my hair and that the original formula Affirm is too strong/harsh for me.

I should have known better. i've used affirm in the past and its always shiny and good looking at first, and then the dryness slowly creeps up, and then the breakage.

So is the fiberguard really any different? I almost feel like i should just let affirm go altogether, but i can't really find many salons that use anything else (like the salon professional vitale, which i seemed to be having some success with. but moved to a new city and can't find anyone).

 

[Lady Esquire]

For my last two relaxers, I switched back to Affirm Fiberguard from Mizani. The first relaxer, I applied silk amino acids directly to my hair. I mixed into the relaxer itself: hydrolyzed wheat protein, jojoba oil, and avocado oil. The second relaxer I added cholesterol and wheat protein to the relaxer. I think I had better results the second time around because I put less proteins in, and I concentrated on porosity control, and levelled out my pH balance.

After I rinsed out the Fiberguard relaxer, I applied Affirm Positive Link Conditioner and let it sit for a while. Rinsed. Then neutralized.

Both times, I had underprocessed sections, but that has to do with my application skill, and not so much the relaxer. Fiberguard does not burn, and is kind to the scalp. I did not feel any heat, not until towards the very last minutes of the process.

For my 4b, coarse hair, so far Affirm keeps my behaving. It relaxes but not bone straight, so I still have some body to my hair.

 

[Imani]

For my last two relaxers, I switched back to Affirm Fiberguard from Mizani. The first relaxer, I applied silk amino acids directly to my hair. I mixed into the relaxer itself: hydrolyzed wheat protein, jojoba oil, and avocado oil. The second relaxer I added cholesterol and wheat protein to the relaxer. I think I had better results the second time around because I put less proteins in, and I concentrated on porosity control, and levelled out my pH balance.

After I rinsed out the Fiberguard relaxer, I applied Affirm Positive Link Conditioner and let it sit for a while. Rinsed. Then neutralized.

Both times, I had underprocessed sections, but that has to do with my application skill, and not so much the relaxer. Fiberguard does not burn, and is kind to the scalp. I did not feel any heat, not until towards the very last minutes of the process.

For my 4b, coarse hair, so far Affirm keeps my behaving. It relaxes but not bone straight, so I still have some body to my hair.

thanks for the info!! i have 4b hair as well. From reading the description on affirm website, it says that it has "strengthening polymers". i'm not quite sure what polymers are, but when i see the word strengthening that usually means a product is protein based, which is not what my hair needs. My hair is very porous and dries out easily, and will quickly react negatively to too much protein. when i used phyto which is protein based, it dried my hair out really bad and no amount of conditioning could get it back to being moisturized and having proper elasticity.

 

[charmtreese]

My stylist uses Affirm Fiberguard, and my hair stays moisturized and soft.

 

[Imani]

My stylist uses Affirm Fiberguard, and my hair stays moisturized and soft.

Do you use the lye version? what strength? what is ur hair texture like, is it porous/dry? is is resistant?

sorry for all the questions!! just trying to get more info on this relaxer.

 

[Esq.2B]

Bumping...I want to hear more. I'm considering switching to this relaxer.

 

[sherann]

I have fine 4b hair. The Fiberguard did thicken my hair initially but my hair was constantly dry. This led to breakage. Later as I looked at all the products I realized that its a protein/polymer rich line. So if you have hair like mine where too much protein is an issue then Fiberguard is not for you. I am currently using Mizani Butterblend and I love, love it.

 

[Nayeli]

deleted* misread thread

 

[againstallodds]

because i'm considering switching from MBB to Affirm Fiberguard

 

[seemegrow]

I've always liked this line. My hair likes protein though. My hair never burns and it's not bone straight. If you can't find a stylist to do it you can order it through amazon at a reasonable price just remember to get all the products that go with the relaxer. If you don't have them it won't work as it's supposed to.

 

[jenaccess]

I love Fiberguard. Around 10 years ago my hair was in the best shape ever due to useing Fibergard for 3 to 4 years. Then I wanted my hair bone straight relaxed it with Vitale and my hair became hard and brittle and kept breaking. So now I am back using Fiberguard and it has been over a year now and I am happy. I have about 6 inches of hair that was previously relaxed with Vitale relaxer that I am thinking about cutting off.

 

[ToyToy]

I used Affirm Fibreguard for 6 years before I went natural. It was the only relaxer that got my hair bone-straight. I used to use no-lye prior to using Affirm, and my hair always looked like it wasn't even relaxed, so using Affirm was a whole new experience. I did experience thinning towards the end though, but I don't know whether this was due to the fact that I bleached my hair (highlighting nightmare), then put a permanent dye over it and then relaxed all in the space of two weeks .

 

[Kurlee]

i use the maintenance products and they are gooood.

 

[againstallodds]

I've always liked this line. My hair likes protein though. My hair never burns and it's not bone straight. If you can't find a stylist to do it you can order it through amazon at a reasonable price just remember to get all the products that go with the relaxer. If you don't have them it won't work as it's supposed to.

Thank you for the bolded - I wasn't sure if all the products were needed.

 

[Mikila]

My niece wants to texturize her hair with this (mild version) and I was wondering for those who use it:

• what are the pros?
• what are the cons?
• do you experience breakage or shedding or dryness?
• does it thin out your hair?

Gimme the lowdown on this relaxer, the good bad and the ugly as well as suggestions!!!

I've been using Affirm Fiberguard Mild for 4 years now, first to texturize my hair and now to texlax it.

The main pro:
- It relaxes the hair slowly so you're at a lower risk of overprocessing your hair. This is particularly advantageous to those of us that want to retain a lot of texture

The main con:
- Like any other relaxer, it still has the potential to burn you so make sure you base your scalp sufficiently with vaseline

Once I greatly improved my neutralizing regimen, I stopped experiencing breakage with Affirm. Prior to that, the breakage I dealt with was due to improper neutralizing - not the fault of Affirm.

If you overly smooth your hair after applying the Affirm, it can overprocess it and thin it out. However, this is a matter of technique and once I found the right technique for me, I did not experience any thinning out.