HAIR EMERGENCY!!!!! :-(

[Kookie]

Hello everyone....
I REALLY need your help!

My mother had a hair EMERGENCY over the weekend. She burst out into tears and everything. ((sigh)) Here's the story.

My mother's hair is a little past bra strap level (though it might not be now...)--but her hair is thinning. She's thinking it's due to her age...
But the thinning isn't the point of this particular discussion---

So anyway--she decides to get some braids put in her hair so that she doesn't have to worry about doing her hair while focusing on a rather challenging training class at work.

The braids were BIG braids...about 8 of them.
So after 4 weeks...we proceed to take the braids out. I help her do this.
After taking the braids out--I used a water based detangling spray. I also toggled back and forth using my own mixture of water and olive oil to easily comb thru and detangle her hair. With each piece I detangled...I twisted her hair around into 8 bantu knots (loosely) so that she could go to bed that night. I detangled her hair around 7pm.

The next morning...she evidently woke up and preceded to perm her hair (that might have been around 7am). She used a no-lye relaxer. I BELIEVE...it was Africa's Best or something like that. I'm sure it wasn't the best perm...but she's always doing her hair herself with whatever perm she chooses...and still maintains the length of her hair

All I know is that my mom burst in my room waking me up out of my sleep frantically asking me to please help her!!!
Without all of the unnecessary dialogue...
What happened was...her hair was kinda like fused together?????
She couldn't detangle it--couldn't get a comb thru it at all??????

She told me that when she permed her hair...it was still a little damp from when I detangled her hair the night before. So I was thinking that THIS was the cause. But read on...

She was under the impression that the braids caused it to happen....or that the knots I put in made it happen. Those two reasons make no sense to me though.

Moving on with the story:
So I couldn't get a comb thru her hair. It seemed like it was locked--but worse!!! I couldn't seperate the hair AT ALL. And this was ALL over!!!
I pulled out all of my best conditioners and sprays and everything -- NOTHING separated her hair. It was terrible. We were frantically trying EVERYTHING!!!!

My mom told me she did the follwoing:
- Applied the perm...only let it sit for like 10 to 15 minutes
- Proceeded to wash the perm out
And that's when she noticed that her hair had these nasty tangles in it that wouldn't allow you to finger comb AT ALL.
- She said that's when she proceeded to apply Fantasia I.C's detangling conditioner to her hair.
- She said that just made things worst!!
- And at this point...she came and got me.

After franticallly trying all of my detangling sprays and creams...etc.
She tries once more to wash her hair with a conditioner...it didn't work and made things worse.

My mom called on my brother's girlfriend who does hair (UNlicensed, though). She suggested that we use a conditioner and use a vent brush (or some kinda brush...i can't remember) to brush out the tangles.
I told her we already tried that.
I ask her if we can try a deep treatment with heat.
She stated that was going to be her next suggestion.

The only deep conditioner I have is the Elasta QP.
I plastered that all over her head and sat her under the dryer for about 30 minutes. Her hair was locked up or rather FUSED together terribly--even after that.
Seems like no matter what we were doing--things were only getting WORSE!

My Dad came in and tried to PULL the hair apart with MORE force. It wasn't budging! ?????
My mom pulled out a LOT of hair in trying to rake the comb thru her hair as well (NOT good!)

But after we did the deep treatment--and we still couldn't detangle...
I told her to just leave it alone...and go to a salon with a plastic cap covering her head. She went to the salon where my brother's girlfriend works.

I wasn't with her but she did say that miraculously...she (at the salon) was able to get the tangles out. My mom told me that she put some of "their" conditioner on it...and then used some kind of brush to work the tangle out. My mom did say that she heard that brush TEARING thru her hair though (so I'm sure she still lost a bunch of hair)...but the point is--those detangles were out and she could retain her length.

HOWEVER...it looks like the ends are DEAD now! They look very thin and unhealthy! My mom's not ready to cut yet though. She's going to hang on to them for now.

Now...at this point..I'm still trying to figure out WHY this happened???
A) Was it because she permed hair that was a little wet?
But I think I've done this before in the distant past (that's another story)--and I NEVER had that scene happen!!!
B) Or was it because of this:
I found the box the perm was in--you know the original packaging...
I was searching to see if they date the perms.....
I couldn't find the date BUT--
What I did find was a copyright date.
The copyright had a year of 2005....don't they have to renew the copyrights each year???
If so...was this a "bad perm" my mother used????

I need some advice everyone!!!
Even though my mother sitll has hair on her head...she's scared to death to even wash her hair now!

Have you guys ever heard of something like this happen?
Why did this happen???

Any tips/suggestions/advice is MUCH appreciated!

 

[malibu4590]

Wow! As I continued to read, I was hoping that you would say "SIKE" or something. It's terrible to hear what happened to your mom's hair. I'm glad she was able to retain her length through that traumatic event though. I wish I was able to offer some advice but I'm not a hair guru like some of the ladies. My guess would have been that damp hair + relaxer x just taking out braids = to much of a shock for mom's hair so close together. Maybe the cuticle was open b/c the hair was still damp and when she put the relaxer on it, the cuticle slammed shut from the chemicals and caused her strands to fuse together. I really wish I could give you a better response because this is the first time I've ever heard anything like this. Tell mom good luck and not to worry; her hair will be back in tip top shape before she knows it.

ETA: I don't think the copyright had anything to do with the expiration date of the relaxer. Not 100% sure but it doesn't seem to be a factor.

 

[buttaflye03]

Aaack! I'm so sorry this happened to your mom. I could just imagine the panic she went through. I'm not sure what happened though. I think she permed her hair too soon after removing her braids, but I don't know why her hair locked. She's self permed before so I'm sure she used a neutralizer right? Maybe the damp hair caused it, I don't know. The copyright date doesn't play a factor IMO.

ETA: I would think she'll need some protein treatments to help strengthen her hair. More experienced ladies here can chime in on that.

 

[loveable37]

Hi,
I am can give u my opinion about it(yeah)
This happened to me more than once now i know to.....

1. NEVER APPLY A RELAXER THE SAME DAY/WEEK AFTER U REMOVE ANY BRAIDS ,TRY WAITING MAYBE 2 WEEKS OR SO BECUSE AFTER REMOVING BRAIDS UR HAIR IS EXTREMELY WEAK HANDLE IT WITH CARE.

2.NO-LYE RELAXER (CALCUIM BUILD -UP)MY HAIR HATES IT.

 

[Cincysweetie]

This happened to a friend of mine awhile back:

http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showthread.php?t=55658

I think it was a combination of her relaxing so soon and not detangling right away. My friend ended up cutting some of her hair b/c the ends were shot. Your mom may have to do the same, it's not worth holding on to bad ends to retain length.

 

[sareca]

This happened to a friend of mine awhile back:

http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showthread.php?t=55658

I think it was a combination of her relaxing so soon and not detangling right away. My friend ended up cutting some of her hair b/c the ends were shot. Your mom may have to do the same, it's not worth holding on to bad ends to retain length.

Sorry about your mom's hair.
But, ITA w/ Cincy. The general consensus is you should wait 2-3 weeks after takedown before you relax. I also always detangle and blowdry (w/ a small tooth attachment) to get all the tangles out. You may think they're out but that first detangling session is just a preliminary.

 

[KiniKakes]

I'm so sorry that happened to your mother! How awful!!! I know she must have been so shocked and horrified to discover that.

I have no idea what the cause was. But i can say that, in my experience, relaxing right after removing braids has never been an issue for me. I always relax like 2 days after I take out my braids. So does my best friend. We are both just too vain to go a full week without our relaxer. So we get it right away. Depending on how thoroughly i combed my hair, i may lose a little or a lot of hair.... it's natural shedding though, combined with tangles/knots that I was too lazy too remove good. But ive never experienced any matting or hair fused together.

Wish I could offer more advice. Im sorry.

 

[crlsweetie912]

Yeah, relaxer too soon after taking out braids is an accident waiting to happen. Also, what did you use to detangle her hair with? If it wasn't a smaller toothed comb, I am guessing that she had a lot of shed hairs in those braids after them being braided for 4 weeks. The shed hairs are dead and the cuticle opens and "locks" with the other hairs. Making a tangled mess. I hope her hair recovers.

 

[Kookie]

Thanks for your input guys!!!
When my mom comes home from work...I'm gonna let her read this thread!

It sounds like everyone is saying that it's because she permed too soon after taking out her braids.
And I got one person that stated that perhaps it was the damp hair that made it lock up on her like that.

It's definitely a weird situation.....
I hope it NEVER happens again....

 

[Kookie]

Hi,
I am can give u my opinion about it(yeah)
This happened to me more than once now i know to.....

1. NEVER APPLY A RELAXER THE SAME DAY/WEEK AFTER U REMOVE ANY BRAIDS ,TRY WAITING MAYBE 2 WEEKS OR SO BECUSE AFTER REMOVING BRAIDS UR HAIR IS EXTREMELY WEAK HANDLE IT WITH CARE.

2.NO-LYE RELAXER (CALCUIM BUILD -UP)MY HAIR HATES IT.

Thanks for your opinions on the subject!!

About the no-lye relaxers....
I think she was under the impression that no-lye relaxers are "better". She doesn't know why this is the case...this is just what she must've been told many years ago.

If you have a link that jumps to this discussion on no-lye relaxers--I can appreciate that also!

Thanks AGAIN for the tips!!!

 

[Kookie]

This happened to a friend of mine awhile back:

http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showthread.php?t=55658

I think it was a combination of her relaxing so soon and not detangling right away. My friend ended up cutting some of her hair b/c the ends were shot. Your mom may have to do the same, it's not worth holding on to bad ends to retain length.

Yes. I plan to take her with me when I get my hair pressed in April (natural head checking in!).
But I think she's at the point where she wants to get a REALLY short cut...and just start over. But we'll see about that one--she might chicken out (just as she has done in the past...)

But the ends of her hair look TERRIBLE now. He hair doesn't look healthy at all to me. In another month...I'll take her to a professional and let them assess her hair's condition.....
Until then...she's not going to trim it herself.
At the present moment...she's under the impression that she can baby her hair back to strength.

I think I am going to urge her to do a protein treatment in about 2 weeks. What do you guys think? Is that good advice????
I have Aphogee treatments handy that I use on my own hair.....

 

[Kookie]

Sorry about your mom's hair.
But, ITA w/ Cincy. The general consensus is you should wait 2-3 weeks after takedown before you relax. I also always detangle and blowdry (w/ a small tooth attachment) to get all the tangles out. You may think they're out but that first detangling session is just a preliminary.

See...I didn't want to blow dry because I knew she planned on perming her hair at some point the next day. I KNEW the heat would open the cuticle up. But for some reason...I didn't think the water from the detangling spray would ALSO open the cuticle up.

But without water or heat....I had no other alternative to detangle her hair....

Basically...she should've just let her hair rest--that seems to be the safest route in this situation, huh?

 

[CAPlush]

Yes. I plan to take her with me when I get my hair pressed in April (natural head checking in!).
But I think she's at the point where she wants to get a REALLY short cut...and just start over. But we'll see about that one--she might chicken out (just as she has done in the past...)

But the ends of her hair look TERRIBLE now. He hair doesn't look healthy at all to me. In another month...I'll take her to a professional and let them assess her hair's condition.....
Until then...she's not going to trim it herself.
At the present moment...she's under the impression that she can baby her hair back to strength.

I think I am going to urge her to do a protein treatment in about 2 weeks. What do you guys think? Is that good advice????
I have Aphogee treatments handy that I use on my own hair.....

I think a protein treatment will help repair some of the mechanical damage from all of that detangling. If I can suggest something, you need to do everything you can to keep her hair's pH down and her cuticles closed to keep it from tangling up. I know that some on this board shampoo after Aphogee treatments, and I generally use Roux Porosity Control shampoo to shampoo the treatment out to keep my hair from snarling up afterwards. Also, you need to find out what conditioner they used at the salon and get a big bottle of that stuff since her hair likes it. Use that as a moisturizing deep treatment following the protein treat. I know her hair may look unhealthy now, but you should do everything you can to repair it before the trim so she won't have to trim more than necessary.

 

[Kookie]

I'm so sorry that happened to your mother! How awful!!! I know she must have been so shocked and horrified to discover that.

I have no idea what the cause was. But i can say that, in my experience, relaxing right after removing braids has never been an issue for me. I always relax like 2 days after I take out my braids. So does my best friend. We are both just too vain to go a full week without our relaxer. So we get it right away. Depending on how thoroughly i combed my hair, i may lose a little or a lot of hair.... it's natural shedding though, combined with tangles/knots that I was too lazy too remove good. But ive never experienced any matting or hair fused together.

Wish I could offer more advice. Im sorry.

Hey Kinkakes!
Thanks for your post!

I've never seen anything like this before in my life either.

When I used to perm my hair after taking down braids...I usually gave it at LEAST a full DAY to rest. But my mom permed her hair like...12 hours (or a little less) after taking out the braids. She said she had a lot to do...and just wanted to get her hair done and out of the way.

But she is older...and her hair is naturally "weaker" as a result.
I think that because her hair is at the stage where it is naturally fragile.....
Perhaps her hair just can't stand the same things our hair can stand????

 

[Kookie]

Yeah, relaxer too soon after taking out braids is an accident waiting to happen. Also, what did you use to detangle her hair with? If it wasn't a smaller toothed comb, I am guessing that she had a lot of shed hairs in those braids after them being braided for 4 weeks. The shed hairs are dead and the cuticle opens and "locks" with the other hairs. Making a tangled mess. I hope her hair recovers.

I detangled her hair with a wide tooth comb.
I'm a natural head--so that's all I have!
But yes...a lot of hair was shed during the detangling process. And it really wan't that bad to detangle...because her hair is already kinda thin anyway. I was done in no time!

I hope her hair can recover as well!
And I hope that she feels comfortable doing her hair in the future.
She has a bit of paranoia at the moment.
She won't have to do it the next time around though because I'm going to take her to a trusted stylist to do it for her.

 

[Kookie]

I think a protein treatment will help repair some of the mechanical damage from all of that detangling. If I can suggest something, you need to do everything you can to keep her hair's pH down and her cuticles closed to keep it from tangling up. I know that some on this board shampoo after Aphogee treatments, and I generally use Roux Porosity Control shampoo to shampoo the treatment out to keep my hair from snarling up afterwards. Also, you need to find out what conditioner they used at the salon and get a big bottle of that stuff since her hair likes it. Use that as a moisturizing deep treatment following the protein treat. I know her hair may look unhealthy now, but you should do everything you can to repair it before the trim so she won't have to trim more than necessary.

Wow!!
Thanks for such the wonderful advice there lady!

I'm clueless as to how to keep a hair's PH down?????
I'm still new to hair care and terminology--so bear with me here....

That Porosity Control Shampoo...sound slike a good idea to close her cuticles up! I think I'm going to try and find it. Where can I purchase it???

With the Aphogee: Would you suggest I clarify the hair first, then apply the aphogee shampoo, reconstructer, and mositure balancer AND THEN shampoo with the porosity Control Shampoo followed by a Deep Moisturizing treatment?

The Aphogee treatment I have comes with 3 steps (mentioned above)....I just need to know the order to follow in doing everything....

 

[InnerSoul]

I had a flashback.. that happened to me once when I did not detangle completely before putting in my relaxer.. and then once I put the relaxer in I didn't leave it in long enough so it was underprocessed and tangled. Luckily my hair recovered and I know that your mom's hair will recover as well.

Protein treatments and a moisturizing deep conditioner should put her hair back on track!

 

[CAPlush]

Wow!!
Thanks for such the wonderful advice there lady!

I'm clueless as to how to keep a hair's PH down?????
I'm still new to hair care and terminology--so bear with me here....

That Porosity Control Shampoo...sound slike a good idea to close her cuticles up! I think I'm going to try and find it. Where can I purchase it???

With the Aphogee: Would you suggest I clarify the hair first, then apply the aphogee shampoo, reconstructer, and mositure balancer AND THEN shampoo with the porosity Control Shampoo followed by a Deep Moisturizing treatment?

The Aphogee treatment I have comes with 3 steps (mentioned above)....I just need to know the order to follow in doing everything....

You can purchase Porosity Control at any Sally's, they all carry Roux products.

Here are my steps for Aphogee:
1) Shampoo. I have tried both clarifying and just using the shampoo, and my hair came out severely dry when I clarified first. I am going to say you don't need to clarify for your Mom because she just had a relaxer and the neutralizing shampoo was probably clarifying as well.
2) Protein. I add the treatment to my hair, and sit under a hooded dryer until it dries hard. I then rinse it out for a good 3-4 min w/o touching the hair.
3) Shampoo with Porosity Control. I suds up 1x with the porosity control shampoo.
4) I then go on to the moisturizing step. If you want to use the balancing moisturizer, I suggest you use it now.
5) Add a moisturizing deep treatment to her hair then sit her under the hooded dryer. Let her hair cool off from the dryer after she get out. Leave the treatment in for 30min-2 hours if you have the time. Feel her hair to make sure it has softened before your rinse it out. You HAVE to rinse with tepid water.

I hope this helps you and your Mom, there are a lot of threads on the Aphogee treatments, search for it and you will pull up a whole bunch of different methods used by ladies here. This method is simple and has not failed me yet.

 

[chocolatesis]

A similar thing happened to me before. The problem was not detangling my hair suffiently (after removing the braids) before relaxing. When you take braids out, they usually leave bad tangles at the point where the extensions meet your hair and if you don't get the tangles completely out, then they just become worse when water touches them. I find this is true even if I'm just going to wash & condition my hair after removing braids. I have to get all tangles out in order to avoid a tangle nightmare.

 

[redcreme]

Hello everyone....

My mother's hair is a little past bra strap level (though it might not be now...)--but her hair is thinning. She's thinking it's due to her age...
But the thinning isn't the point of this particular discussion---

Hi kookie, I had to come out of lurk mode for this one. I have EXTREMELY fine , thin hair and i had this happen to me MANY times. Fine hair when it sheds has a tendency to knot up and matte like crazeee. I know you said you detangled her hair, but unless you finished detangling with a fine toothed comb, it probably wasnt detangled enough.

This happpened to me also, i thought i detangled my hair really well after coming out of braids for 4 weeks and went to relax at a dominican salon the next day. Needless to say, after the relaxer was washed out my whole head was stuck together and that lady ripped through my hair with a fine toothed comb (i still shudder when i think about it).

Knowing what i know now i would probably say to detangle with a with a wide tooth comb first and then follow up with a smaller toothed comb. Also, instead of relaxing i think she needed a protein treatment with nexxus emergencee (aphogee is way too strong for thinning hair, IMO) followed by a moisturizing conditioner. HTH.

ETA: This is my second time trying to post this. I am so computer illiterate, you wouldnt believe i graduated summa cum laude. Go figure

 

[nelli711]

Gosh, I'm sorry for what happened with your mom. I'm happy to hear that they got her hair untangled.

To be honest with you, I have no idea why or how her hair got matted like that. I've never heard of anyone's hair getting that matted to that extreme. I remember one time I wore braids and my hair got matted but that was because I didn't thoroughly detangle and I'm telling you, when that water hit my hair, it instantly dreaded and matted up. How well did you detangle?

 

[Kookie]

Hi kookie, I had to come out of lurk mode for this one. I have EXTREMELY fine , thin hair and i had this happen to me MANY times. Fine hair when it sheds has a tendency to knot up and matte like crazeee. I know you said you detangled her hair, but unless you finished detangling with a fine toothed comb, it probably wasnt detangled enough.

This happpened to me also, i thought i detangled my hair really well after coming out of braids for 4 weeks and went to relax at a dominican salon the next day. Needless to say, after the relaxer was washed out my whole head was stuck together and that lady ripped through my hair with a fine toothed comb (i still shudder when i think about it).

Knowing what i know now i would probably say to detangle with a with a wide tooth comb first and then follow up with a smaller toothed comb. Also, instead of relaxing i think she needed a protein treatment with nexxus emergencee (aphogee is way too strong for thinning hair, IMO) followed by a moisturizing conditioner. HTH.

ETA: This is my second time trying to post this. I am so computer illiterate, you wouldnt believe i graduated summa cum laude. Go figure

I am SO happy you came out of lurk mode to tell your story!
We could sure use all the help we can get here!

And I think the protein treatment could have done her hair well right after the braids (in order to strengthen it). And then maybe 2 weeks later her hair would've been strong enough to handle the relaxer.

Great info!
Thanks again for your hlep!!!!

 

[Kookie]

Gosh, I'm sorry for what happened with your mom. I'm happy to hear that they got her hair untangled.

To be honest with you, I have no idea why or how her hair got matted like that. I've never heard of anyone's hair getting that matted to that extreme. I remember one time I wore braids and my hair got matted but that was because I didn't thoroughly detangle and I'm telling you, when that water hit my hair, it instantly dreaded and matted up. How well did you detangle?

I actually detangled VERY thoroughly.
The comb glided thru perfectly.
It wasn't a situation where I thought I might've detangled the hair...her hair WAS detangled. It didn't take much work at all--her hair is thin.

There's one more piece of information that MAY be relevant here.
When she went and got the braids in....the braider pulled out this huge tub of that famous black gel that some people used to use back in the day! You know...the kind that leaves a film on your hair and flakes?
Before we took the braids out...you could see where it flaked up all over! And she told me that when she reached to scratch her head...it was stuck up under neath her nails. She just thought her hair was dirty. But I tried to tell her that it was that black gel the braider used. The braider urged that that was what she used on ALL of her clients. I allowed her to proceed because I just assumed we could just wash it out. But she caked a BUNCH of it on all up and down each braid. It was insane!

So when I detangled her hair with the water based mixture...you could see the bits and pieces of the gel thru out her hair.

Maybe the gel pieces in her hair had something to do with the hair fusing together like that???

And I must clarify to everyone:
My mom's hair wasn't just horribly tangled--her strands were fused together like GLUE!
It wasn't like your typical loc'd hair--I had never seen anything like it in my life! It was SCARY!!!
I reached for the scissors and was ready to cut it off!!! Out of site...out of mind! But--I put the scissors back down and put forth full effort to save her hair!

 

[Kookie]

You can purchase Porosity Control at any Sally's, they all carry Roux products.

Here are my steps for Aphogee:
1) Shampoo. I have tried both clarifying and just using the shampoo, and my hair came out severely dry when I clarified first. I am going to say you don't need to clarify for your Mom because she just had a relaxer and the neutralizing shampoo was probably clarifying as well.
2) Protein. I add the treatment to my hair, and sit under a hooded dryer until it dries hard. I then rinse it out for a good 3-4 min w/o touching the hair.
3) Shampoo with Porosity Control. I suds up 1x with the porosity control shampoo.
4) I then go on to the moisturizing step. If you want to use the balancing moisturizer, I suggest you use it now.
5) Add a moisturizing deep treatment to her hair then sit her under the hooded dryer. Let her hair cool off from the dryer after she get out. Leave the treatment in for 30min-2 hours if you have the time. Feel her hair to make sure it has softened before your rinse it out. You HAVE to rinse with tepid water.

I hope this helps you and your Mom, there are a lot of threads on the Aphogee treatments, search for it and you will pull up a whole bunch of different methods used by ladies here. This method is simple and has not failed me yet.

OOOOHhhh!!!
Thank you so much!
I really appreciate your help!

For now...I think I'm going to follow your method for the protein treatment. You were kind enough to lay the steps out for me....without me having to search thru page after page of an old thread. THANK YOU!!!

 

[buttaflye03]

Maybe the glue pieces reacted with the relaxer? This is all very interesting and informative at the same time.:scratchch

 

[redcreme]

I actually detangled VERY thoroughly.

There's one more piece of information that MAY be relevant here.
When she went and got the braids in....the braider pulled out this huge tub of that famous black gel that some people used to use back in the day! You know...the kind that leaves a film on your hair and flakes?
Before we took the braids out...you could see where it flaked up all over! And she told me that when she reached to scratch her head...it was stuck up under neath her nails.
So when I detangled her hair with the water based mixture...you could see the bits and pieces of the gel thru out her hair.

Maybe the gel pieces in her hair had something to do with the hair fusing together like that???

And I must clarify to everyone:
My mom's hair wasn't just horribly tangled--her strands were fused together like GLUE!

OMG!. Deja Vu

When I got my hair braided, they put that sticky gel on my braids too (only i think it was the pink gel). When i detangled, my hair seemed ok. just a bit sticky. I thought if i got a relaxer everything would be okay. Big Mistake, my hair matted together like glue and that chick sliced through it with that fine toothed comb.

I guess that gel, and hair weakened by braids is what contributed to the matting. I'm so happy you shared this, because ever since that incident i've been to scurred to get braids ever again. If I ever do i aint letting them put that pink get. Maybe the fantasia IC one.

 

[Charle]

Since you said the hair was fused, not just tangled, I would guess the gel chemically reacted with the relaxer to form some kind of glue or bond. Maybe someone who knows chemistry could comment.

I'm glad your mom's hair is doing better

 

[Kookie]

Since you said the hair was fused, not just tangled, I would guess the gel chemically reacted with the relaxer to form some kind of glue or bond. Maybe someone who knows chemistry could comment.

I'm glad your mom's hair is doing better

Thanks Charle!

And what you suggested makes sense, I think.
I know nothing about chemistry though!
Hopefully someone else with the knowledge can chime in here too!

But I'd like to think it was that horrible gel she "caked" on her hair.
I knew I should've spoke up and told the lady to stop!!
But like I said...I just thought it would wash right out without any kind of problems.

I guess I know now though....