Lye vs. No Lye Relaxers

[FashionistaNY]

I was wondering if anyone experienced the same adverse effects with lye relaxers. About a year ago, I started relaxing my hair professionally with Affirm Mild No Lye Relaxer (w/Marcia) and I noticed, my hair was growing, however, thinning out horribly at the ends.

Prior to using Affirm Mild Lye, I used Precise No Lye and I had the most beautiful head of hair. Thick, full, bouncy and impeccable shine. As a result of using Affirm Mild Lye, I recently had to cut 4" of my hair

Anyone else experienced problems with lye or affirm? I have 4A hair, well maybe 4B.

 

[Carlie]

I used to have my Affirm Lye relaxer applied by Marcia as well. What I found out though, was that she wasn't applying the Affirm 5 in 1 or Positive Link (required step in the Affirm Lye Relaxing System) to my hair after rinsing out the relaxer. Because of this, I no longer go to her for my relaxers. If this is what was happening to you as well, then that could be a reason for your thinning.

There was a recent thread on this: Here it is...

 

[Mitre]

Hi I go to marcia to. I ask her if she have the affirm 5 in 1 and she said yes and showed me the bottle. Then I ask her to use it after my relaxer and she did. She never used it before from what i remember. La Var relaxer is now $83 that is a little to steep for me. I am going to try doing my own relaxer next touch up

 

[Carlie]

That's exactly it. To pay $80+, you shouldn't have to ask for a step that's a required part of the relaxer system. When I first started going to her I wasn't aware of this.

 

[Mitre]

Hi carlie and everyone do you do your own relaxer now or do you go somewhere else. If you go elsewhere where do you go? What relaxer do you use now? I had to cut 6-8 inches off the ends of my hair due the same thinning every one talked about plus braids removal. I donot want to use affirm again, but i want to stick with the lye.

 

[star]

I have also heard about AFFIRM thinning your ends. My hairdresser does use the 5 in 1 with my AFFIRM relaxer. My ends do not seem thin but sometimes it hard to tell if they should really be thicker. Is it a known fact that Affirm does this to your ends and sounds like if you do not use the 5 in 1 you are really in trouble. I serioulsy thinking about changing my relaxer. Does anybody know what is really going on with this perm?

 

[FashionistaNY]

OMG.

Affirm really jacked up my hair. My hair looked pitful, limp, lifeless and thin as can be.

I am now in the process of transitioning away from Affirm. My last relaxer with Marcia was July 2004. I had my last relaxer which was no lye applied September 2004.

Now that I think about it, I started losing more hair than usual with Affirm and I couldn't understand why. I wasn't manipulating my hair, wearing weaves, braids or anything and faithfully conditioned every week.

March 18, 2005, I had the big chop and not that I don't appreciate all the tips I get from LHCF, but I'm going back to my old regimen from 1996 in which I was able to attain and keep 1" of new growth every month. I relaxed with Precise No Lye every 10 weeks, deep conditioned once a week and I actually used that god awful Perfect for Perms by Razac. I took no vitamins, used no special potions or took in extra protein and my hair grew like weeds, literally. I'll never forgot having my bangs cut above my eyebrows late November and by March touching the tip of my nose.

 

[FashionistaNY]

I have also heard about AFFIRM thinning your ends. My hairdresser does use the 5 in 1 with my AFFIRM relaxer. My ends do not seem thin but sometimes it hard to tell if they should really be thicker. Is it a known fact that Affirm does this to your ends and sounds like if you do not use the 5 in 1 you are really in trouble. I serioulsy thinking about changing my relaxer. Does anybody know what is really going on with this perm?

Star, I'm almost ready to bet my life that it's the Affirm Relaxer in GENERAL. Because the girl I was going to was using the 5 n 1 because I own the bottle at home and I know how it smells and she was in fact using this stuff in my hair and my hair still thinned out. OMG, the state of my hair prior to March 18 was atrocious. Reading the other thread regarding AFFIRM and from my experiences I would advise you to stay far and clear from this relaxer.

My best results are far as body, straightness, growth and moisture was ghetto PRECISE. Yup, the $3.99 no lye relaxer.

 

[MonaLisa]

Oh Precise, no question. If I were ever to leave my beloved Phyto...I would go back to Precise.

The irony however....is that Precise is an offshoot of Avlon...the makers of...
you guessed it...Affirm. Go figure. lol.

 

[star]

Thanks for your honesty. I had started having some bad feeling about it but did not know why. I think this confirms it. It is time to move on. I think I am going to try Precise or the Profectiv that babygurl uses. But thanks a million.

Star, I'm almost ready to bet my life that it's the Affirm Relaxer in GENERAL. Because the girl I was going to was using the 5 n 1 because I own the bottle at home and I know how it smells and she was in fact using this stuff in my hair and my hair still thinned out. OMG, the state of my hair prior to March 18 was atrocious. Reading the other thread regarding AFFIRM and from my experiences I would advise you to stay far and clear from this relaxer.

My best results are far as body, straightness, growth and moisture was ghetto PRECISE. Yup, the $3.99 no lye relaxer.

 

[Carlie]

Hi carlie and everyone do you do your own relaxer now or do you go somewhere else. If you go elsewhere where do you go? What relaxer do you use now? I had to cut 6-8 inches off the ends of my hair due the same thinning every one talked about plus braids removal. I donot want to use affirm again, but i want to stick with the lye.

My last relaxer was done at Reaction Salon w. Affirm Lye as well. They used the whole system but I'm still considering a change. My hair that's relaxed w. Affirm seems very healthy but I feel my ends could be thicker. I don't know if it's because my ends were relaxed w. no-lye or what but right now, I'm looking for alternatives. I have a little while before my next touchup.

I started this thread to aid in my search.

 

[lkg4healthyhair]

I have used Affirm for years (including 5in1 step) and always liked the results...but always had shedding.
The same person relaxed my hair in March 05 that has been doing it for years and I used Phyto Mild this time. I have not had shedding and its been 4 weeks...ok....let me go find some wood to tap on

My only problem is Phyto is so expensive since I don't put in my own I have to buy it and they pay to get it put in.

 

[azul11]

OMG.

Affirm really jacked up my hair. My hair looked pitful, limp, lifeless and thin as can be.

I am now in the process of transitioning away from Affirm. My last relaxer with Marcia was July 2004. I had my last relaxer which was no lye applied September 2004.

Now that I think about it, I started losing more hair than usual with Affirm and I couldn't understand why. I wasn't manipulating my hair, wearing weaves, braids or anything and faithfully conditioned every week.

.

Omg I was dealing with the same situation. I had to leave Marcia because she always gave me an Affirm touchup and it made my hair look thin. I had people comment and say your hair is getting long but it looks thin. I liked Marcia because she was recommended by this site and the people who went to her had beautiful hair but I couldnt afford to go to her every 6 weeks which she suggested and have my hair look see thru. I have since switched back to no-lye and plan to stay that way. With me lye was a hit or miss mostly miss experience for me. God bless you all.

 

[BklynHeart]

I've been using Affirm Mild for a year. I just used Regular because my hair seemed to get hard after 5 weeks. I've noticed that even though my hair still looks pretty thick I've been shedding more as well. I may go back to Revlon Mild. I never had problems with it, and I used it for 10 years.