Jadore_tay
New Member
i just wanted to clarify my understanding...can a relaxer revert?
can a relaxer revert?
- Thread starter Jadore_tay
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Jadore_tay
New Member
thank you. i had to ask because i relaxed my hair bone straight 2 weeks ago and either it grew or my perm reverted and i do not think my hair grew that fast, personallyI think most will tell you no and they aren't supposed to but they always did on me (to some degree). My curls always came back which is a lot of the reason I transitioned to natural...I figured what's the pointerplexed.
MonPetite
New Member
NO.
NEVER.
Once you chemically alter hair it cannot change back.
Now you may not have processed it enough to compeltely kill the curls and after a couple of weeks to get over the shock of processing and it gets some moisture and protein from the products you use it begins to curl, but not the way it use to. I think this is often mistaken for "reversion".
But no, it is a chemical interaction on the molecular level. Once you relax, you're relaxed...even if its not to your satisfaction. Or you manage to "shock" your hair into seeming straight, even though it's really just underprocessed and needs some time to recoup and let what little texture is left "come back".
Not trying to sound militant, BTW, but I got my left bum cheek handed to me over this once. I've seen this topic get heated in the past.
NEVER.
Once you chemically alter hair it cannot change back.
Now you may not have processed it enough to compeltely kill the curls and after a couple of weeks to get over the shock of processing and it gets some moisture and protein from the products you use it begins to curl, but not the way it use to. I think this is often mistaken for "reversion".
But no, it is a chemical interaction on the molecular level. Once you relax, you're relaxed...even if its not to your satisfaction. Or you manage to "shock" your hair into seeming straight, even though it's really just underprocessed and needs some time to recoup and let what little texture is left "come back".
Not trying to sound militant, BTW, but I got my left bum cheek handed to me over this once. I've seen this topic get heated in the past.
Jadore_tay
New Member
o gosh i hope not. i knew it didnt revert but i just wanted to know if i was right....i hope it doesnt get heated
Christa438
Well-Known Member
I wondered about hair/relaxer reverting too. I just decided I wanted to go natural yesterday after I texlaxed 4 months of NG (just couldn't make up my mind before). My hair is still curly but not the tighter spiral-like curl that it had before. i co-washed this morning. I would like the curl pattern to return as much as possible if it can so that I wont have to hassle with the texture differences that much now that Im transitioning. I was wondering if I did a poo and let it sit for a couple of hours--maybe even used a plastic cap to let the shampoo soak in and get out most of the relaxer-- if that may help most of the curl return?
MonPetite
New Member
You can't "get out" relaxers.
It's already "out". That's what neutralizing did. Heavy protein treatments can make it seem like it's reverted some. But use with caution and good DC treatments to avoid brittle hair.
Again, relaxers are CHEMICAL. They physically alter the state of your hair at the molecular level. That can't be undone. In some cases metigated...but not undone.
nomoweavesfome
Well-Known Member
ok- here i am playing devil's advocate again... lookaheya... i don't care what terminology you wanna use... reversion or what. there are some hair that simply do no stick around straight although it may have gotten straight and I can attest to that. I'm not talking about seeming straight, I mean it was straight up straight. This has happened to me each and evry single time I use protein immediately after a relaxer. FOR MY HAIR now - I cannot use protein immediately after, it always has to be on the next was or my hair will NOT stay straight. Ever since I started doing this my hair remained straight.
Christa438
Well-Known Member
You can't "get out" relaxers.
It's already "out". That's what neutralizing did. Heavy protein treatments can make it seem like it's reverted some. But use with caution and good DC treatments to avoid brittle hair.
Again, relaxers are CHEMICAL. They physically alter the state of your hair at the molecular level. That can't be undone. In some cases metigated...but not undone.
LOL, Okay okay okay.
erplexed well I might go on and neutralize again since that got it "out" to see if it will get it out some more. Thanx 
! I will do the protein tomorrow and see if that works first because I had already neutralized and rinsed like three times.
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Cassandra1975
New Member
I was thinking about this the other day. My BF, before he started going bald, had naturally curly hair, which he got from his mom. His daughter inherited her hair from him. Both his daughter and his mom - who relax their hair - can put mousse on their hair and it will curl up. His mom used to be a hairdresser, so I'm pretty sure she knows how to put a relaxer on, so I wondered why her hair was curling up. I figured that maybe their relaxer did not take. If my hair curled like theirs does, I probably wouldn't relax anyway. 
poookie
Well-Known Member
the ONLY thing that will revert the effects of a relaxer is hardcore protein. relaxers strip the hair of the proteins that give each strand its curl, and when you use a hard protein soon after applying a relaxer, some of the curl will come back.
it happened to me, i did a hardcore protein 3 days after my relaxer, and my hair completely reverted.
but if you wait a few weeks to do a hardcore protein, it won't have an effect on your curl pattern.
other than that, moisture / humidity / washing too much can't revert the effects of a relaxer.
it happened to me, i did a hardcore protein 3 days after my relaxer, and my hair completely reverted.
but if you wait a few weeks to do a hardcore protein, it won't have an effect on your curl pattern.
other than that, moisture / humidity / washing too much can't revert the effects of a relaxer.
nodisrespect
New Member
@ some of these repliesTRUFAX:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curly_hair
I wonder where this whole "molecular bond, permanent, irreversible" perspective is coming from. Relaxers weaken protein bonds in the hair. If you restores those bonds... you're gonna get the curl back. If your protein bonds are not broken... you're gonna keep the curls. It's a form of measured damage, not some profound change in hair structure.
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ButterflyBeauty
New Member
I am not a beautician , however when the hair has been over processed it will reject the chemical process. So too much relaxing or more than your hair type can take will casue the relaxer not to straighten as intended.
poookie
Well-Known Member
not true at all. but i see you're a newbie, so you're forgiven
hair that has been overprocessed will continue to be processed, until all the protein bonds in the hair have been destroyed, and the hair will disentegrate, or dissolve.
vegasQT
New Member
OT: Do any of you ladies have hair that is resistant to pressing/hot combing/flat ironing? My hair won't hold a press for NOTHING on this earth. My friends say it is because I have "curly sue" hair. That doesn't make since to me because I know white girls that flat iron their hair. And my hair has more kink than theirs. Anyway...back to regular programming.
MonPetite
New Member
TRUFAX:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curly_hair
I wonder where this whole "molecular bond, permanent, irreversible" perspective is coming from. Relaxers weaken protein bonds in the hair. If you restores those bonds... you're gonna get the curl back. If your protein bonds are not broken... you're gonna keep the curls. It's a form of measured damage, not some profound change in hair structure.
That article doesn't address relaxed hair -chemically altered hair. That...and its wikipedia. Hair that is thermally straightened will return with a bit of moisture. If getting hair wet was all it took to "force the hair back into its original structure" what would be the point of relaxing?
Relaxers break bonds to the point where they can't be restored, otherwise we'd never have relaxer-related breakage. You can restore enough bonds so your hair doesn't break off or dissolve but you won't truly have your hair back to its totally virgin state. Granted, you may get it close enough where honestly it doesn't matter to you. But you can relax hair to the point where it will never even "appear" to be virgin again.
It does cause a profound change in hair structure...or it wouldn't straighten. Any time you make straight hair curly or curly hair straight you're messing with bons that determine its structure thermally or chemically. The issue is how temporary the change is. Thermally alterin of the hair can have effects as lasting as a relaxer.
That's why heat damage alone can cause natural hair, sans chemicals, like my own, to not curl properly once moisture is introduced. Protein treatments can return some of the curl back (at times to the point of meshing with the rest of the hair, yes), but as many natural can tell you (and relaxed heads) sometimes...its just got to be grown out or cut.
More interestingly, these questions show how truly inexact something as potentionally dangerous as relaxing is. I wish someone would invent a relaxer that was perfect....I'd sooooo get one.
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Jadore_tay
New Member
ok so now I know why it was curly I used nexxus. Emergencee 3days after my relaxer as well
nodisrespect
New Member
Ok this... is a message board. The opinions here are more valid, I suppose? There is an article readily available on relaxers if one is so inclined to find one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relaxers
I posted that to illustrate if hair is going curly after certain conditions have been met, the original structure of the hair has obviously not been compromised (i.e., relaxer didn't "take" and thats why the curls return).
For most of us, the damage to the protein bonds does reach a point where it cannot be restored by artificial treatments. But that does not mean that for some people, like the OP and Pokahontas, their hair either a.) is so resilient it does not get damaged by relaxers or b.) returns to its normal state after awhile. For SOME people hair will never "appear" to be virgin again, but for some it will. Why are my ends natural again when I have been getting a relaxer since I was 14 years old? Just because evidence on relaxers say it damages the protein bonds, it cannot be inferred that these bonds absolutely CAN'T be repaired, despite what may be the popular opinion that claims otherwise.
I have seen nothing on this subject other than word of mouth, which I'm not inclined to put a lot of weight on. I would like to research this further on my own to see how far that statement stretches. This "profound change" you are talking about is DAMAGE. That's not the same thing as magically changing the internal structure of the hair. This is where that breakage comes from - you have DAMAGED your hair to get it straight. The relaxer itself is a form of damage. Hair that has been "thermally" altered and does not curl back is damaged - aka burnt to a damn crisp.
I think you are putting too much store in what "usually" happens when it should be a given at this point that most of the damage our hair incurs is because of inclusively poor treatment. I just am not one to go around spreading a theory like it's the gospel truth until I have read evidence that supports it (NOT word of mouth). I feel like the idea that relaxers permanently and irrevocably damage hair is an inference, and one that I'm personally not comfortable making since there are plenty examples that contradict it. I hope this didn't come off sounding unnecessarily attitudinal. I'm tired.
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MonPetite
New Member
Ok this... is a message board. The opinions here are more valid, I suppose?
Depends on how much research is behind them, or if they're made by stylists.
I posted that to illustrate if hair is going curly after certain conditions have been met, the original structure of the hair has obviously not been compromised (i.e., relaxer didn't "take" and thats why the curls return).
Makes sense, I was wondering what that was supposed to be getting at. LOL. In which case, I'd agree.
For most of us, the damage to the protein bonds does reach a point where it cannot be restored by artificial treatments. But that does not mean that for some people, like the OP and Pokahontas, their hair either a.) is so resilient it does not get damaged by relaxers or b.) returns to its normal state after awhile. For SOME people hair will never "appear" to be virgin again, but for some it will. Why are my ends natural again when I have been getting a relaxer since I was 14 years old? Just because evidence on relaxers say it damages the protein bonds, it cannot be inferred that these bonds absolutely CAN'T be repaired, despite what may be the popular opinion that claims otherwise.
I think we're both seeing the same thing oddly enough. In what you've discribed here, I would agree. But as you said -for MOST of us, that's not the case. That being, what I've been describing. Your points here, actually describe my hair to a "T"
It was "Repaired".
Which we've both said, albeit from opposite ends of the same curve, I do believe. Your point about hair being resilient comes in here. Strong hair won't weaken as much, therefore, if you can balance its loss in protein with its ability to withstand the relaxer...viola: true reversion.
Again, though, as you've said this isn't the case with "most" of us. My comments reflect the majority experience as you've noted. I think we have, in a round about way, identified a big difference between reversion ... and repair.
I have seen nothing on this subject other than word of mouth, which I'm not inclined to put a lot of weight on. I would like to research this further on my own to see how far that statement stretches.
Not a bad idea. I've read much on the issue of "reversion" not being a possibilty...however, much of what I've read hasn't made the distinction between reversion and repair that I think we have stumbled upon.
I think you are putting too much store in what "usually" happens when it should be a given at this point that most of the damage our hair incurs is because of inclusively poor treatment.
You're entitled to your opinon, though this isn't the case. As you have said, relaxers tend to break down hair to the point where reversion won't happen. As you note here, adding the daily abuse hair suffers from poor treatment is also a factor to be taken into account. I agree. I think this again goes back to "reversion" vs. "repair".
Everyone can "repair" their hair...though not everyone can repair it to the point where it will look natural again. I use to relax my hair bone straight. All the ApHOGGE two-step in the world wouldn't have given me the head of natural hair I have now.
But, I purposely broke my hair down to the point where that was the case...and...starting with strong hair prone to actually "revert" as you have described it (and I think accurately so), I also used heat. My hair still grew to long lengths. My hair is like carpet thread -thick and heavy.
It was strong enough to stand up to thermal and chemical straightening and not break off...but protein did NOT restore it to looking natural. Which is what "usually happens" (by this I mean the lack of reversion, when hair is broken down to this point, even in hair prone to true reversion as described by you).
However, when I was underprocessed...reversion! As, according to your ideas here, because my hair was strong enough to withstand an inmproperly applied relaxer. Adding protein to it balanced its bonds breaking via the relaxer and the majority of my natural texture returned. Again, because I relaxed bone straight it didn't all come back, but enough to leave me ticked at my stylist.
I just am not one to go around spreading a theory like it's the gospel truth until I have read evidence that supports it (NOT word of mouth).
I hope you're not assuming. The OP asked for opinons. I wouldn't put opinions and "spreading a theory like it's the gospel truth" in the same category, which is what it seems like you're doing here. I don't know though, I don't want to put "words in your mouth". I have strong opinions...as do you, obviously. But I don't and did not assume you did so on word of mouth alone.
However, I'm sure you're extending the same courtesy to me.
This has actually been quite enlightening as I've been contemplating texlaxing...the issue of "reversion" vs "repair" will weigh heavily on my decision. THESE are the kind of things they should be teaching in cosmetology school. Not that you need a relaxer every 4 weeks.
This was a very good thread OP!
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