Relaxing to the ends

[butterfly7]

Does anyone do this? I think in Cathy Howse's book, she mentioned doing this periodically, like once every few years or something like that. I'm not sure.

Anyway, I have been having an issue with getting my hair completely straight. And well, last night, I got a relaxer after 10 weeks and I love it. My new growth is completely straight, but the rest of my hair is still sort of curly. It's not bad and I usually don't like it bone straight anyway, but if I wanted it completely straight, would relaxing to the ends be a bad idea? (I haven't done it since my very first relaxer in my life over 20 years ago.)

Thanks for your help.

 

[Isis]

I haven't done it either and I wondered about what Cathy Howse wrote. I think I like having my hair the way it is, not bone straight. It makes my hair more versatile. It may work great for Cathy but personally, I don't want to take the chance on any possible damage by applying the relaxer to my ends periodically.

 

[Tracy]

[ QUOTE ]
if I wanted it completely straight, would relaxing to the ends be a bad idea?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yup. People are gonna say it's not a big deal, but I am strongly against this unless your hair is severely underprocessed and it would be more damaging to LEAVE it that way. And I STILL would be very very careful about WHO you allow to do it. Correcting truly underprocessed hair is an art and a science.

Unless your hair is truly underprocessed I wouldn't take the risk.

 

[Karonica]

My mother does this every perm!

She slabs the perm on her entire head and leaves it on for about an hour. She isn't bald ya'll!

I wouldn't rule out the possibility as I don't personally think it would be all that damaging, but everyone's hair is different. Talk to a professional stylist and she can tell you whether or not she'll do it, and what perm she'll use, etc.

 

[pebbles]

[ QUOTE ]
Karonica said:
My mother does this every perm!

She slabs the perm on her entire head and leaves it on for about an hour. She isn't bald ya'll!

[/ QUOTE ]

You see, now if I did that I would be completely bald!

Also wanted to add that CH just mentioned running the relaxer through all of your hair once every year or more only if your hair looks like it's not as straight as you would like it to be, but she doesn't advocate doing this on a regular basis.

 

[Karonica]

She's a freak of nature, I kid you not!

And she perms like every 2-3 months, so I just don't understand it! That's why when I need to do any experimentation, I do it on her hair first, before putting it on mine.

 

[ccd]

I had this done about 4 years ago....I was extremely nervous about it but it did not damage my hair. The hairdresser suggested it ( a Dominican salon) and it took some convincing, but now that I think about it....my hair was very dried out and I believe it was from wearing it curly/wavy and never mosturizing daily.... :shocked I know,crazy!- this is before I knew how to take care of my hair.......

If your hair doesn't give you problems than i'd say don't risk it....... I don't regret doing now since I didn't experience any adverse effects.......if you chose to do it....be careful and make sure they wash it out quickly.

 

[butterfly7]

[ QUOTE ]
pebbles said:
[ QUOTE ]
Karonica said:
My mother does this every perm!

She slabs the perm on her entire head and leaves it on for about an hour. She isn't bald ya'll!

[/ QUOTE ]

You see, now if I did that I would be completely bald!

[/ QUOTE ]

And that's what I'm trying to prevent. Thinking back, I do know people that used to do it at every perm.

 

[Allandra]

I would be scared to death to relax to my ends.

 

[pebbles]

LOL! I don't blame you, Karonica. With hair as tough as your mom's hair, I'd experiment on hers first too.

 

[butterfly7]

You guys are great. Thanks for your input.

It's straight enough, I guess. I just find it weird that my new growth area is straighter. I can see the difference. I was wondering if eventually this would start to cause problems for my hair.

I have made sooo much progress since March and I don't think I could handle any set backs, either way.

 

[Karonica]

Your newgrowth was probably processed more. Don't fret. I had this problem earlier this year and guess what? The underprocessed hair has just about grown out!

It'll grow out before you know it.

 

[A_Christian]

I'm almost 10 weeks post-relaxer and the rest of my hair, with the exception of the new growth, is still so straight. I also would be afraid to run the relaxer through the rest of my hair. However, like others have said, if you get it done by someone who really knows what they're doing then it should be okay as long as your hair is strong enough to take it.

 

[Babygurl]

My mom also does this about once a year....and she has the most beautiful hair....long and thick!

 

[perfectpeace]

[ QUOTE ]
butterfly7 said:

I just find it weird that my new growth area is straighter. I can see the difference. I was wondering if eventually this would start to cause problems for my hair.

I have made sooo much progress since March and I don't think I could handle any set backs, either way.

[/ QUOTE ]


I have a similar problem. I used a no-lye that just did not take. (Now I juse lye). So there is about a 2-inch wide strip of hair around my entire head that is frizzier then the rest of my hair. I flat iron, so its only noticable when my hair is wet or air dryed. I'm thinking about dusting every couple of months until I cut out the strip. (Just dusting though, I'm still trying to grow this hair.)

perfect peace

 

[caralexis2005]

i could not do this. besides, when you touchup some overlap happens and then the relaxer goes through your hair when you rinse. i'm concerned about the relaxer going through my ends when i rinse it out!! i couldnt imagine putting it on there purposely! i would be freaking out.

 

[Isis]

[ QUOTE ]
caralexis2005 said:
i could not do this. besides, when you touchup some overlap happens and then the relaxer goes through your hair when you rinse. i'm concerned about the relaxer going through my ends when i rinse it out!! i couldnt imagine putting it on there purposely! i would be freaking out.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's why I protect the rest of my hair with oil before I retouch. Usually I use lots of olive oil all the way through my ends.

 

[NAY007]

i remember when i first started relaxing my hair i didn't know anything about it. i'm from germany and over here they sell the relaxers in so called "afro shops". so although it says to only relax the new growth, in the beginning i always always relaxed my whole hair. and up until i stopped relaxing, which was last year in december, i always overlapped. my hair, thank God, never was damaged due to doing this.

 

[teenie]

I relaxed to the ends for years because I didnt know any better. My mom had always done it like that and that's how she taught me to do it. I always maintained beyond shoulder length hair doing this, thankfully!
Now I dont dare do that every relaxer but I do occasionally about once a year or so pull my relaxer through to the ends just before I rinse out.

 

[lilchanel]

I have a friend that does that too. She told me that she has been doing this almost all of her life. Her hair is collar length and it's really pretty. I always thought it would cause breaking and thinning.

 

[Karonica]

Everybody's hair is different. I had a hairdresser I was seeing last year who wanted to run the perm though my ends because it was so curly. I told her no because the curliness gave me style versatility. But now, in some areas of my hair, I have too much curliness and more kink. I may get this procedure done for my next touch-up. I just got a perm but I'll have my hair in this style for the rest of the week, so when I wash it on Friday, I'll see if my hair came out underprocessed.