Is there some hair that just cant be relaxed?

[Bint Yusef]

Has anyone just came to the conclusion there is no way in the world a relaxer will work for them and their hair is simply relaxer resistant? Meaning it cant get straight, reverts, and generally just makes the hair unruly and causes too much damage that maintenance cant control?

 

[cheetarah1980]

Hmmm, my hair can definitely be relaxed. Once it's straightened it DOES NOT revert. However, I came to the conclusion that my hair cannot retain any significant length when relaxed. That's the initial reason I decided to stop perming in the first place. I wanted to grow my hair out and the only times in my life when I'd gotten significant growth was when I stopped perming and wore braids.
I can see from this site that there are tons of thriving heads of relaxed 4b hair...mine has never been one of them. Plus now I absolutely love my natural texture and wouldn't go back to relaxing even if I was guaranteed to retain all my length and grow my hair to BSL.

 

[Bublin]

I agree with this.

Well my Mum stopped relaxing years ago because a week after an application it looked like a relaxer hadn't touched it.

My own experience is that my hair always looked dry and frizzy no matter how much i cared for it. My scalp was an absolute mess - it was caked in dandruff/white stuff - like i had a fungal infection. I would scratch until it bled . I also sweat in my head so it was pointless.

My hair and scalp screamed for years and years for me to stop but i just didn't put 2 and 2 togther until just over a year ago. I chopped the whole lot off and my scalp and hair has never been healthier.

To be honest its only since joining LHCF that i have seen very healthy and beautiful relaxed hair. But personally for me it just doesn't work.

 

[Angelicus]

Yep, me.

 

[Bint Yusef]

Did you ladies try both lye and no lye? Also did you take care of your as well as you did now?

I agree with the person who said since joining LHCF they had really neve r seen women with good looking relaxed hair.

My hair too looked a mess when it was relaxed, but then I also

only washed my hair during at touch up times (every 6 weeks)
used hot curlers everyday on dirty hair
never did a deep conditioner in my life
relaxed all my hair every single time while combing thru
used pink oil daily
didnt cover my hair at night

So I am sure some of the problems I had was attributed to severe neglect and abuse of my hair.

 

[***Toy-Pisces***]

Hey, Anky! I ran in here when I seen your name.

Anyway...why can't you relax???

 

[angelk316]

My hair cant be relaxed.
In the past b4 I went natural I have tried everything but no matter what I do my hair would break off. It would get shorter, shorter and shorter.
Now that I am natural my hair is the longest it has ever been and its growing!!!!!

 

[Bublin]

Did you ladies try both lye and no lye? Also did you take care of your as well as you did now?

I agree with the person who said since joining LHCF they had really neve r seen women with good looking relaxed hair.

My hair too looked a mess when it was relaxed, but then I also

only washed my hair during at touch up times (every 6 weeks)
used hot curlers everyday on dirty hair
never did a deep conditioner in my life
relaxed all my hair every single time while combing thru
used pink oil daily
didnt cover my hair at night

So I am sure some of the problems I had was attributed to severe neglect and abuse of my hair.

I think i used no-lye.
I was always chopping and changing my hairdresser as none of them could style a damn .
I washed my hair 1 once a week and used grease on my scalp. It made my scalp condition worse in the long term but short term relieved the itches.
I used flat irons rarely.
I blowdried alot.
I don't think i trimmed enough
I'd have the relaxer cobed right through every time
Never really did a deep condition (still not very good at doing it now)
Never ever did protective styles.

Mmmmm - if it wasn't for the chemicals mashing up my scalp i guess i could have done a better job back then.

 

[hopeful]

I'm convinced that a section of my hair cannot be relaxed, the nape area. The rest of my hair had no problems with relaxers, it relaxed easily, grew well, and suffered little damage, even with the use of heat. But I am convinced that my nape area does not want or like to be relaxed, I have tried lye and no-lye, self-relaxing and professional stylists, stretching, relaxing often, etc., no matter what, with a relaxer it would always eventually suffer from a setback, the minute it reached the base of my neck. The hair in my nape is a different texture than the rest of my hair, it is 4a/b, tiny coils, fragile, super dry. It is now thriving for the first time in years.

 

[Bint Yusef]

Thanks for the responses thus far ladies.

 

[guesswho]

well I just can't relax, I love the relax look but relaxers and my hair is like oil and water they don't mix, my hair looks horendous and brittle just plain awful, my natural hair and my relax hair is to different heads, and what is weird is I was deep conditioning and taking care of my hair the same way, it was just breaking and horrible, so I stalk the fotkis of beautiful relax heads because that is never gonna be me I just came to the conclusion that chemicals isn't for me.

 

[HoneyDew]

I used to feel this way, but I have found that Profectiv Super to work well for me.

It also works even better since I cut back on silicone use.

 

[Angelicus]

Hey, Anky! I ran in here when I seen your name.

Anyway...why can't you relax???

My hair has been resistant for over two years.

 

[sholly6]

Hello ladies my hair never look as good relaxed than it's has been since a went natural some ten years ago. I have eczema of the skin and on my head so my hair is always dry, so it a job to keep it moisturize. After years of going to the Derm Dr. she just told me that never put a perm in my hair because it does terrible things to my scape and my hair. Since going natural my hair is longer, and more healthy and look ten times better.

 

[Bint Yusef]

Thanks for the comments ladies. Guesswho I love your hair!

 

[Twisties]

I can't relax my hair either. Over the years I tried everything and NONE of it worked. I would always have breakage, which got worse with each try until my scalp on the last go round was inflamed. I finally got the picture (after a lecture by dermatologist) not to put any more chems in my hair.

One of the things I've noticed is that folks who have problems also have another underlying issue like eczema or female issues. I have eczema and endometriosis, which means my immune system is different from others. I have one cousin who is just like me-she has sarcodosis. Out of my immediate family of 11 women - we're 2 that can't relax.

 

[Blackberry7]

Well there's relaxed and there's relaxed till bone straight. I think only a few people's hair does the latter. The bone straightness comes from heat styling.

 

[Proudpiscean]

When you say relaxed, do you mean bone straight? Certain areas of my hair are more resistant than other, but even it will relax somewhat. I believe all hair types will 'relax' to a certain extent. I just stick to texlaxing and am much happier that way.

 

[guesswho]

Thanks for the comments ladies. Guesswho I love your hair!

thankyou chica! I love your curl definition

 

[Bint Yusef]

That is a very good point. I may very well have unrealistic expectations for what a relaxer is supposed to do. I do s see a lot of the ladies here with gorgeous hair still have some wave or curl to their after being freshly washed. hmmm

Well there's relaxed and there's relaxed till bone straight. I think only a few people's hair does the latter. The bone straightness comes from heat styling.

 

[Ms Lala]

My hair never took to relaxers well. Relaxing actually caused my scalp and skin on my face alot of problems that I thought were just my skin acting up. I didn't even realize it was the relaxer until I stopped relaxing. My hair also had much more breakage when relaxed and always stayed around full shoulder length.

 

[gradygirl]

My hair does not respond well to relaxers either. I have no problem growing my hair but in the end I would always have to cut it do to breakage and my scalp was a mess. I just got tired of the growing it out only to have to cut it again cycle that I was doing while being relaxed. Plus like Lala my skin is even reaping the benefits of no chemicals. I love looking at beautiful relaxed heads and this board proves that it can be healthy and long but just not my hair.