This is Why I'm Going Natural (Scary Pic)

[PinkSkates]

Originally posted by thefineprint
my goodness! although i'm sure she must have done something very wrong to end up this way i'm still very relieved that i don't use chemicals on my head anymore...

Yep, me also. I know for a fact that you can have healthy-looking, pretty relaxed hair. (many ladies here prove that). But I also know that relaxers can be deadly to our hair if abused and not used correctly.

 

[fluffylocks]

Hi, Fluffylocks:

I won't take back anything I said, but if you or anyone else needs a further explanation I can give that, just ask and Ill be happy to elaborate.

Now as far as all the stuff you hilighted in blue, you may have taken them the wrong way. I was not calling people who relax anti-God or anything like that because I used the word God. The fact is God didn't put black people on this planet with straight hair, whether perm disguises that image or not. You and anyone else can perm all you want but everyone knows your hair wasn't made that way. There are Aboriginal Austrailans with straght hair but we're not talking about them. Im talkin about kinky/curly/coilys who relax. Straights who curly perm even know they're disguising what their hair really comes out like to look different. Whether or not it is wrong is NOT my point and never was. Do I think its wrong or hate people for doing it? No! But here is where I don't think you understand: I think a lot of people aren't educated enough on it to be doing it themselves or to their children. I think there should be rules and regulations on it just like any other chemical out there that is potentially REALLY harmful. Everything has chemicals, but there are some chemicals that you just leave to the professionals or they need to have better instructions and WARNINGS all over the box. If they can warn on cigarrettes, they can warn on perm. Both can have detrimental effects on your body. They can prove alopecia results from perming just as well as they can prove cancer results from smoking--- whether the hair industry or the cigarrette industry wants you to know it, or not.

By the way, there IS nothing wrong if you are eduacated on your hair, the process, and know what you are doing. Its all fine and dandy to sound like you are making a good point, but you failed to see mine AND proved it at the same time. MANY people AREN'T educated on it. MANY people learn how to relax their own hair just from repeating what was done to them with little regard to the instructions. They think, well if its in the hair section of Walmart, etc, it cant possibly do too much damage. MANY people read the directions and follow them without realizing relaxing every 4 weeks may not be good for their hair. MANY follow directions, but if they had known alopecia could bite them in the arse 20 years later would have never done it in the first place. MANY people allow salon stylists to leave the perm on their head, complain of burning, only to be told the BURNING MEANS ITS WORKING! There are so many ignorant people using relaxers, just like there were so many ignorant people smoking before warnings were put on the box. If FDA put up a warning on relaxers like they did on cigarrettes, I can guarantee you cases like this woman's would be less prominent. There are PLENTY of women going bald now from relaxing their whole life. My MOTHER being one of them!


All these threads about bald spots and seeing women with bad relaxer jobs and you come to this thread acting like they dont exist all of a sudden. If there were more regulations on this stuff things would be A LOT better. Once again, I HAVE NOTHING AGAINST RELAXED HEADS. I however do have something against how the government and hair product companies regulate relaxers.

Whats up Al00. I wasnt asking you to take back anything you said, i also dont think anyone gets a relaxer to hide the way their hair is made or try to disguise anyone. erplexed

I dont think you saw that I AGREE WITH YOU that their needs to be warnings & such. I wasnt just trying to "sound like i was making a good point" erplexed

I was actually saying that the problem IS when women dont know about their hair & that its beautfull and they relax because they hate it, and the problem is they are not educated on products that they use and esp. chemicals, i was trying to say that the problem is not using the relaxer, but not knowing anything else behind it. And we know thats our problem because we have sites like this that teach a few of us what is really going on. And i agreed with you that on top of us needing more knowldege about our haircare, they need more warnings and people should not just be able to buy them.

Geez.

 

[Suerte]

Some of you are so critical when you fail to realize the point.

THIS CAN HAPPEN. IT HAS HAPPENED, AND RELAXERS ARE DANGEROUS. Even when you follow derections. Some are allergic, and a different brand of relaxer could have more sodium hydroxide and be the turning point that causes a reaction. Just because it makes your hair look straight doesn't mean its good for you. I remember some idiot told me perming conditions and cleanses the hair. I wanted to slap her through the internet and I'm glad we haven't met.

Relaxers has the same caustic ingredient DRAINO and NAIR has. Why do you think people have to wear gloves? You think it can burn your hands but won't burn your scalp? Ever wonder why fingers turn yellow and brittle and hard and dead and hurts overtime from touching relaxer? Same thing happens to your scalp after years of relaxing! Why do you think white people look at us like we're crazy when we explain that we put a cream on our head and rinse it out when it starts burning? If Bleach and Cigarrettes and alcohol has all these warnings about being corrosive and damaging and/or volatile, etc... why doesn't perm? Because a lot of black people are flocking to stores to buy the stuff like candy so that they can have hair straight like white people. And they have the nerve to do it to their children too.

Personally, I don't think it is worth it. When I see pictures of people with holes in their cheeks who smoked because it never hurt them at the time(until they were in their 50s with cancer...), pictures of black women with alopecia and patches of bone straight hair surrounding bald spots who say "at least my hair looked good" (until the stuff magically fell out after a number or years),... people with cancers and skin problems and all the like from using Hydroquinone & other chemicals on their skin for years...

I think to myself... why would you hurt yourself to look a certain way that God didn't make you? Why would you potentially harm your body? I was relaxed because I had no choice- my mom did it since I was a toddler. Here I am old enough to make my decision to quit, and yea, that picture just confirms it that I made a good one!

This is the truth: I have a scab on the back of my head about the size of the tip of a pencil eraser. It has been there for YEARS. Possibly a decade. It NEVER HEALED from a relaxer I was given. My mom followed directions most of the time, rinsed, neutralized, and neutralized again. I neutralized everytime I washed for like 2 weeks after a perm to be safe. But it STILL damaged my scalp. Why do some of you relaxed heads think yall have itchy scalps? Sores that don't heal? Scars? Now this is just me guessing but I think Black people don't just get dandruff out of the blue, I think some of it comes from putting perm on the head. I promise you, when I started transitioning, and even after I started stretching years ago, I forgot what dandruff was because it magically went away, like most of the scabs on my head. Unfortunately a lasting effect is that I STILL have a scab, and it STILL hurts, and bleeds and itches like I just got it yesterday. That's not natural.

So don't downplay something clearly unnatural and clearly dangerous, and clearly should be labelled as such. And by labelling, I want to see on the box that the stuff causes alopecia in some people, because it does. That it shouldn't be used every 4 weeks, because it shouldn't. That Sodium Hydroxide is right up there with all the other volatile chemicals like bleach and not a joke. I hate to offend, and I probably have, so for those of you who do relax, I understand why you do it, but you shouldn't shun this woman for doing what she is doing. They need to regulate perms, they need to label better, and they need to find a way to make it safer than what it is. ANYONE can buy a perm and use it at home, and this shouldn't be the case.

People have been spreading the word that chemically altering the texture or color of your hair can cause harm, scarring, burns, hair loss, allergic reaction and even death since Marilyn Monroe was bleaching, and since Nat King Cole was conching...

The warnings on the back of haircolors and chemical texture altering products are about 3 times longer than the lil rectangle on alcohol, cigarettes, and posters in firearms shops.

So um... Ignorance is no excuse. Cuz it's in peoples faces ALL THE TIME.

 

[fluffylocks]

-Alot of people are like that too, but they havent learned any other options...but while you thought you had no choice did you still have these opinions that you have now? You probally didnt, so thats why i think its better to try & educate people than to be so judgemental like everybody else knows what they are doing and knows about their natural hair....

BTW, there is no probably about it, I DID have the same opinion. My mother relaxed my hair until I was in middle school, and my family perpetuated the feeling of embarrassment associated with having natural (because apparently some folks think only mixed people can) hair that caused me to perm my hair through high school. There has been A LOT of societal pressure to relax if you are an African American female! Not as much today with the wave of naturals on TV, but you would be a lying-ass-fool if you stood there and said there wasn't. All the while with my burnt scalp and constant itching, etc. and all the other things that came from it. I have ALWAYS wished I could stop letting my mom do that to me. I have ALWAYS dreaded sitting through a relaxer because I felt like "What is so wrong with my hair that she has to do this every month???" I have ALWAYS hated knowing that everytime I relaxed, I was continuing a cycle I didn't want to. It took a long time, but now that I am an adult, Im glad I made this decision. I can understand going relaxed after being natural all your life for a "look," but I can understand goin natural after being relaxed for life even better (cause Im livin it).

A lot of people don't know about their natural hair because they get relaxers. Others just don't know, I can understand that. But you act like my whole point ISNT TO EDUCATE them. WARNINGS ON LABELS AND REGULATIONS that I am talking about WOULD educate them. Its not about being judgemental, its stating facts. Relaxers make hair straight. A lot of White people typically have straight hair. Typically Africans are born with kinky/curly/coily hair. Many black women today have Alopecia, and MANY of them got it from relaxers. These are all facts. My opinion (and many will agree) is that there is not enough warning associated with perms, and there should be.

Good for you
Alot of little girls dont pay any mind to them getting a relaxer or see it as the right/regualr thing that is supposed to happen to their hair & think they dont have an option.
I agree w/you on that part also and i thought it was clear from the first post (not trying to sound rude)

The reason i was saying "educate instead of being so judgemental" was because i gathered you had pretty harsh opinions of women who had relaxers on the street and were going bald or who may actually think getting a relaxer makes their hair white which they think is better or whatever. I was just saying try to tell them about their options that you learned from this site or however you became more educated on hair(but now i know you knew about other options all of your life, but like i said alot of little girls dont because they've been getting them since they were really young)

And once again i agree with you on the regualtions and warning part.

And it wasnt the facts i was speacking about, it was your opinions that drew the facts together.
True we are born with beautfull curly/coily hair and white people usally with straight and relaxers straighten your hair---those are all facts....but that doesnt mean black people relax to be white or however you phrased it.
True many black women have alopecia and many if not most of them get it from relaxers.....I wasnt arguing with that either, at that point i was saying we just need to know more about hair period in all areas not just relaxers and that was a part of the problem alongslide need for more warnings. We can mess up our hair with heat, grease, gel ect. so of course relaxers as deadly as they are will be no different.


I think you got a tad rowdy with the first post, and your responces to mine & didnt see that we have some of the same points.

 

[fluffylocks]

ITA!!! ... I'm the one who really wrote this but I just let Fluffy take the credit it was still in my head and she stole (borrowed) it.

 

[brooklyngal73]

Exactly!!!

What's the rest of the story behind this . . . obviously this woman had someone who didn't know what they were doing trying to give her a relaxer . . . this pic is not inevitable for those of us who are relaxed . . . .

 

[bellezanegra826]

ok here are a few things that she said that threw up some bright red flags for me.



"Isabella this is quite a story. How old were you when you first started to use relaxers and what were your reasons to straighten your hair?
I was 12 years when I started to use relaxers. I straightened my hair because I thought it improved my looks."

if that is the case, then she probably thought straight is better and thought that the longer she left the relaxer on, the straighter her hair would be.

"So you were quite familiar with the process when you used the Optimum relaxer. So what went wrong that day? Was this the first time that you relaxed your hair yourself?
No it wasn't the first time I relaxed my hair myself. So I think it was the brand. Optimum was probably too strong."

if she had relaxer her hair at home before then it is highly unlikely that she would all of a sudden have an allergic reaction. optimum might have been a different brand, but relaxers are not that different brand to brand. a person that has an allergy to hair dye is going to have a reaction whether they use dye A or dye B


"What do you mean ‵the same as usual.‶ Can you be a little more specific?
I used the relaxer the same way everybody does. I added it to my roots, close to my scalp to make it as straight as possible, from roots to ends. Then I wanted to let it sit for a couple of minutes like the directions said. According to the box I could have left it on for 13 to 18 minutes but it started to burn immediately. I thought the relaxer wouldn't straighten my hair if I rinsed it out instantly so I left it on for 4 minutes. After that I could not take it anymore and rinsed it out."

I think she probably let it sit for 4 hours instead of 4 minutes. If the perm started to burn immediately, she should have washed it out right away. Why let something stay on your head if it is causing you intense pain? what may have happened is that the perm did not start burning immediately so she thought she could leave it on longer and then after she had left it on for a long time it started to burn to the point that she couldn't take it anymore.


"Did you neutralize?
No. There was no neutralizer in the box. I suppose any other brand includes a neutralizer in a home use kit. The Optimum instructions said ‵rinse with warm water and condition afterwards.‶"

if she was a self-relaxer, then why would she think that every other relaxer required neutralization except for this one?


"When did you realize you were loosing your hair and how did long did it take to loose all of your strands?
I realized I was losing hair after a couple of months and within a year I was completely bald."

ok i have gone bald after a perm was applied to my hair by a so-called professional who failed to neutralize my hair. after this, my hair came out the very next day. it didn't take a year for my hair to fall out. also my scalp did not have the types of burns and scarring that she has. thankfully all of my hair grew back. we wen't back to the stylist after like two weeks because we did not realize that my hair hadn't been properly neutralized. even after two weeks of not having my hair neutralized, i didn't have those types of injuries. the burns on her scalp look very similar to the scars that person burned by a fire might have. perhaps she set her hair on fire, but i don't think she got that way from a simple perm. just my two cents

 

[bellezanegra826]

I am not totaly against relaxers but after this thread I am also beginning to feel like it would be important to regulate it.

I always knew relaxer=chemical (duh) but I never thought about it like how alof00fone explained. If it contains caustic substances in it (which it does) this NEEDS to be better explained to the black community so that myths will die (i.e if its burning its working)


Labeling the box AND container is a perfect idea!!!! Great thread.

what really gets under my skin is that not only are relaxers not labeled but some relaxers try to disguise what they really are. for example if you look at the jfm texture softener, it never really says that its a relaxer and simply states that is can make your texture softer. for someone who doesn't know a lot about relaxers they might think that this is just a strong conditioner and that they can leave it on for a long time for extra conditioning benefits.

 

[blazingthru]

I feel for her.

This reminds me of that episode of Martin when Gina had to work at Shenene's (sp) beauty salon for basketball tickets and did a perm on this lady named Marva but forgot to neutrualize.

Had to bring that up.

This is exactly what I thought but I remember reading this entire article a few years back. What a shame. I put my own relaxers in since I was 14 and never did anything like this to myself. I was 14, how old was she and no one told me what to do I just knew. Not only that I read the other containers in the store to find the right one for me and all of them said for professional use only. Otherwise it came in a box with the stuff that goes along with it.

 

[Serenity_Peace]

Dag, I go away for a couple of days and ya'll up in here getting all raw and ish.

 

[Serenity_Peace]

Yeah, some types of dandruff come from dry scalp, and relaxers def. do make your hair and scalp if you get it on there or whatever more dry than usuall.

I must say that my scalp was dry as the dessert when using No-Lye relaxers. Since I've started Lye relaxers, I have not had any adverse scalp conditions at all. Relaxers can dry out the hair, but I'm just speaking for myself; I've not had any problems since switching to Lye.

 

[dillard]

ok i have gone bald after a perm was applied to my hair by a so-called professional who failed to neutralize my hair. after this, my hair came out the very next day. it didn't take a year for my hair to fall out. also my scalp did not have the types of burns and scarring that she has. thankfully all of my hair grew back. we wen't back to the stylist after like two weeks because we did not realize that my hair hadn't been properly neutralized. even after two weeks of not having my hair neutralized, i didn't have those types of injuries. the burns on her scalp look very similar to the scars that person burned by a fire might have. perhaps she set her hair on fire, but i don't think she got that way from a simple perm. just my two cents

ok, i feel sorry for ole girl but i BUSTED out laughing at this part!!

relaxers can do damage to hair,but let's not be drama queens and compare them to cigarettes!!

 

[lsubabiedee]

wow @ some of these responses.

 

[aloof one]

what really gets under my skin is that not only are relaxers not labeled but some relaxers try to disguise what they really are. for example if you look at the jfm texture softener, it never really says that its a relaxer and simply states that is can make your texture softer. for someone who doesn't know a lot about relaxers they might think that this is just a strong conditioner and that they can leave it on for a long time for extra conditioning benefits.

I agree, might wanna be careful. Some people in here are crazy and don't want to hear the truth...

The term relaxer is actually just trash if you think of it--- there is nothing relaxing about it, and the fact that some even imply that they condition the hair! Its sad that people wont even admit that thought like these are so common. This girl (a black one who had relaxed her hair) was arguing up and down Facebook that perm cleanses the hair and makes it stronger. That relaxers are just really strong conditioners so she leaves hers in no less than 30 minutes . Needless to say she looked exactly how you could imagine her to look- 2 inches of split, raggedy, overprocessed, dry thinning hair... and was smilin in the pic too.

 

[fluffylocks]

I agree, might wanna be careful. Some people in here are crazy and don't want to hear the truth...

The term relaxer is actually just trash if you think of it--- there is nothing relaxing about it, and the fact that some even imply that they condition the hair! Its sad that people wont even admit that thought like these are so common. This girl (a black one who had relaxed her hair) was arguing up and down Facebook that perm cleanses the hair and makes it stronger. That relaxers are just really strong conditioners so she leaves hers in no less than 30 minutes . Needless to say she looked exactly how you could imagine her to look- 2 inches of split, raggedy, overprocessed, dry thinning hair... and was smilin in the pic too.

LMFAO & were you talking about me in the first part

Relaxing the curl out of your hair is where it comes from.

I agree alot of them are misleading Especially the "natural ones" that have no chemicals and low ph's

You take this really serious.

 

[cabellera]

PLEASE! PLEASE! DO NOT ATTEMPT TO SEPARATE A BLACK WOMAN FROM HER RELAXER, WEAVES, WIGS OR EXTENSIONS!!! I REPEAT! DO NOT ATTEMPT TO SEPARATE A BLACK WOMAN FROM HER RELAXER, WEAVES, WIGS OR EXTENSIONS!

I WOULD LIKE TO SAY THAT I DID APPRECIATE THE INFORMATION ON THE CAUSTIC CHEMS AND WHAT WE DO TO OUR HAIR FOR WHAT EVER REASON. ITA THAT THERE SHOULD BE MORE INFO OUT THERE REGARDING THE DANGERS IN RELAXING AND DON'T TAKE IT SO MUCH FOR GRANTED, EVEN IF YOU'VE DONE IT A MILLION TIMES. TAKE THE NECESSARY PRECAUTIONS TO HAVE THE BEST RESULTS!

ONES HAIR JOURNEY IS PERSONAL. HOWEVER, THE MAIN POINT FOR FAR TOO MANY BLACK WOMEN, IS SIMPLY KEEPING A GOOD FAIR AMOUNT ON THEIR HEADS. **** SIGH ****

 

[fluffylocks]

PLEASE! PLEASE! DO NOT ATTEMPT TO SEPARATE A BLACK WOMAN FROM HER RELAXER, WEAVES, WIGS OR EXTENSIONS!!! I REPEAT! DO NOT ATTEMPT TO SEPARATE A BLACK WOMAN FROM HER RELAXER, WEAVES, WIGS OR EXTENSIONS!

I WOULD LIKE TO SAY THAT I DID APPRECIATE THE INFORMATION ON THE CAUSTIC CHEMS AND WHAT WE DO TO OUR HAIR FOR WHAT EVER REASON. ITA THAT THERE SHOULD BE MORE INFO OUT THERE REGARDING THE DANGERS IN RELAXING AND DON'T TAKE IT SO MUCH FOR GRANTED, EVEN IF YOU'VE DONE IT A MILLION TIMES. TAKE THE NECESSARY PRECAUTIONS TO HAVE THE BEST RESULTS!

ONES HAIR JOURNEY IS PERSONAL. HOWEVER, THE MAIN POINT FOR FAR TOO MANY BLACK WOMEN, IS SIMPLY KEEPING A GOOD FAIR AMOUNT ON THEIR HEADS. **** SIGH ****

I agree with the last two parts

 

[Treasure2k6]

:killlurk: OUCH!!!!! That looks like it hurt. It looks like something "happened" though. Remember that thing that happened to Michael Jackson when his hair caught on fire? This had to be in that category. I don't see this just happening from a few relaxer applications done improperly. If it did, why the H@LL she didn't stop doing whatever she was doing after the 1st or 2nd time!!!

 

[naijamerican]

Just a comment: this is a really interesting thread, but after reading it, it seems like it's devolving into a bigger argument over relaxed vs. natural and I don't think it needs to. After all, as some people already alluded to, especially bellezanegra826 and Treasure2k6, maybe there was some underlying problem with her. Maybe she was allergic to the chemicals and all it took was one bad time, or a bad batch, to bring it to light. And why did it take an entire year for her head to get jacked up?

The more I think about it (I'm kind of thinking as I type) the more I am beginning to wonder if this story is real or if it's just the stuff of urban legend, concocted by militant Napptural sisters... hmmm, now that I think about it I know for sure that I've seen this picture before, a few years ago.

I mean my point is, why should we use this picture to buttress our arguments when it might not even be true? And even it if is true (which I do indeed suspect that it is) there is so much evidence on both sides of the relaxer debate that I just chalk this picture up to someone's horrific experience, not exactly representative of many women. I mean, why has this not happened more often and more frequently? Why aren't there more Black women walking around with scabbed scalps that can't grow hair anymore?

Anyway, that's my two cents. I still agree with Al00fone that there should be warnings on relaxers. My sister just got a relaxer after 10 years (I believe) of being natural. The hair dressers told her that a relaxer would make her hair stronger or some kind of nonsense that made me want to reach through the celly and hit her upside her head for believing it. The ignorance in our community for our own hair is remarkable. And LOL at Fluffylocks' warning for sure!

 

[fluffylocks]

Just a comment: this is a really interesting thread, but after reading it, it seems like it's devolving into a bigger argument over relaxed vs. natural and I don't think it needs to. After all, as some people already alluded to, especially bellezanegra826 and Treasure2k6, maybe there was some underlying problem with her. Maybe she was allergic to the chemicals and all it took was one bad time, or a bad batch, to bring it to light. And why did it take an entire year for her head to get jacked up?

The more I think about it (I'm kind of thinking as I type) the more I am beginning to wonder if this story is real or if it's just the stuff of urban legend, concocted by militant Napptural sisters... hmmm, now that I think about it I know for sure that I've seen this picture before, a few years ago.

I mean my point is, why should we use this picture to buttress our arguments when it might not even be true? And even it if is true (which I do indeed suspect that it is) there is so much evidence on both sides of the relaxer debate that I just chalk this picture up to someone's horrific experience, not exactly representative of many women. I mean, why has this not happened more often and more frequently? Why aren't there more Black women walking around with scabbed scalps that can't grow hair anymore?

Anyway, that's my two cents. I still agree with Al00fone that there should be warnings on relaxers. My sister just got a relaxer after 10 years (I believe) of being natural. The hair dressers told her that a relaxer would make her hair stronger or some kind of nonsense that made me want to reach through the celly and hit her upside her head for believing it. The ignorance in our community for our own hair is remarkable. And LOL at Fluffylocks' warning for sure!

I know (about the debate) erplexed
Thats the same thoughts i had in the bolded.
I've also been agreeing with Al00 about the warnings since the jump, just some other stuff....
I didnt have any warnings?---I think that was something i quoted.

 

[aloof one]

I have homework that is due at 8am & the BF is on the phone so I'll be quick. He'll be so mad if I hang up just so I can type on some hair site

Im not militant, I love everyones hair no matter relaxed or natural or whatever, but the only reason I care is because of the dangers. if you can do it and you can do it right, do it to it and dont take it personal. cause its not. I envy a lot of relaxed heads because I never had long relaxed hair, and now that I am transitioning, I dont think I ever will (not that I regret it, but it woulda been nice all those 20 years of being relaxed to be BSL at some point)

but if you abuse it and you do it wrong... i hope the laws make it harder for this to happen. I hope they regulate these things with a vengeance and invent some relaxers that actually are worthy of that name and not a joke. I only complain because I know people take it too lightly- I know yall think IM too serious, but the fact is (even though most of you know what youre doing) some people arent serious enough. Thats why we have friends who dont listen scratchin in their scalp with a ton of grease stacked on their head wondering why they have the itchies, mothers who say youll never get to BSL or beyond because of some terminal length myth, and acquaintences wondering why trimming every 3 weeks isnt making their hair grow.

Im not saying stop relaxing, but I am saying if we were more aware of the issues and others were more educated (BY BETTER WARNING LABELS), the problems would decrease and this poor woman wouldnt be walking around with a scab for a hat.

 

[NYAmicas]

Well seeing that her scalp is actually scarred up I don't think it took time for this to happen. It looks like whatever scarred her scalp was bad enough to remove all the hair at once like she didn't even try to wash it out or something. I think even if she had just rinsed with water enough of the chemicals would have been removed to keep from damaging her scalp. Just think about it, if it was bad enough to damage skin of course the hair would have severely damaged and fall out. I don't think she just "didn't neutralize". Her condition looks more like she didn't rinse, wash neutralize or anything. It looks like she tried to deep condition overnight with the relaxer or something. If that's what she claims then I would only believe that it was a bad batch (which could only be proved if she had done everything right) or that it was an allergic reaction. Either way, I don't think that will happen if you simply don't neutralize, yes your hair will suffer but I don't think your scalp will scar, etc. I don't believe it. I think it was Sistaslick who said that water will neutralize your hair enough to stop the chemicals from working but that neutralizing shampoo brought the Ph level back to normal and closed the cuticle, i think it was her. Anyway , not convincing.

1) As bad as I feel for that woman right now the thought of someone trying to overnight a relaxer had me rolling. Did she baggy too?

2) OP! You made Halloween come early for me!

 

[kittenz]

1) As bad as I feel for that woman right now the thought of someone trying to overnight a relaxer had me rolling. Did she baggy too?

2) OP! You made Halloween come early for me!

You not right! I thought I was bad but this thread got a little to deep for me. It ain't too many things I feel passionately about and of the few relaxing aint one of them. But to each his own.

 

[aloof one]

1) As bad as I feel for that woman right now the thought of someone trying to overnight a relaxer had me rolling. Did she baggy too?

2) OP! You made Halloween come early for me!

I think she used a plastic cap under a hooded dryer

 

[SparklingFlame]

Some of you are so critical when you fail to realize the point.

THIS CAN HAPPEN. IT HAS HAPPENED, AND RELAXERS ARE DANGEROUS. Even when you follow derections. Some are allergic, and a different brand of relaxer could have more sodium hydroxide and be the turning point that causes a reaction. Just because it makes your hair look straight doesn't mean its good for you. I remember some idiot told me perming conditions and cleanses the hair. I wanted to slap her through the internet and I'm glad we haven't met.

Relaxers has the same caustic ingredient DRAINO and NAIR has. Why do you think people have to wear gloves? You think it can burn your hands but won't burn your scalp? Ever wonder why fingers turn yellow and brittle and hard and dead and hurts overtime from touching relaxer? Same thing happens to your scalp after years of relaxing! Why do you think white people look at us like we're crazy when we explain that we put a cream on our head and rinse it out when it starts burning? If Bleach and Cigarrettes and alcohol has all these warnings about being corrosive and damaging and/or volatile, etc... why doesn't perm? Because a lot of black people are flocking to stores to buy the stuff like candy so that they can have hair straight like white people. And they have the nerve to do it to their children too.

Personally, I don't think it is worth it. When I see pictures of people with holes in their cheeks who smoked because it never hurt them at the time(until they were in their 50s with cancer...), pictures of black women with alopecia and patches of bone straight hair surrounding bald spots who say "at least my hair looked good" (until the stuff magically fell out after a number or years),... people with cancers and skin problems and all the like from using Hydroquinone & other chemicals on their skin for years...

I think to myself... why would you hurt yourself to look a certain way that God didn't make you? Why would you potentially harm your body? I was relaxed because I had no choice- my mom did it since I was a toddler. Here I am old enough to make my decision to quit, and yea, that picture just confirms it that I made a good one!

This is the truth: I have a scab on the back of my head about the size of the tip of a pencil eraser. It has been there for YEARS. Possibly a decade. It NEVER HEALED from a relaxer I was given. My mom followed directions most of the time, rinsed, neutralized, and neutralized again. I neutralized everytime I washed for like 2 weeks after a perm to be safe. But it STILL damaged my scalp. Why do some of you relaxed heads think yall have itchy scalps? Sores that don't heal? Scars? Now this is just me guessing but I think Black people don't just get dandruff out of the blue, I think some of it comes from putting perm on the head. I promise you, when I started transitioning, and even after I started stretching years ago, I forgot what dandruff was because it magically went away, like most of the scabs on my head. Unfortunately a lasting effect is that I STILL have a scab, and it STILL hurts, and bleeds and itches like I just got it yesterday. That's not natural.

So don't downplay something clearly unnatural and clearly dangerous, and clearly should be labelled as such. And by labelling, I want to see on the box that the stuff causes alopecia in some people, because it does. That it shouldn't be used every 4 weeks, because it shouldn't. That Sodium Hydroxide is right up there with all the other volatile chemicals like bleach and not a joke. I hate to offend, and I probably have, so for those of you who do relax, I understand why you do it, but you shouldn't shun this woman for doing what she is doing. They need to regulate perms, they need to label better, and they need to find a way to make it safer than what it is. ANYONE can buy a perm and use it at home, and this shouldn't be the case.

I agree with all that you said BUT I do understand why ladies relax. I did it for years b/c it was all I ever knew. I did have some major burning from a relaxer when I was 12 that had all my hair glued to my scalp and I was like but it wasnt until years later that I wanted to go natural and didnt know how.


I think relaxing your hair is fine for some who prefer that choice but the manufacturers should put better warning labels on there. I'm surprised they havent been sued up the wazoo many times already.

DISCLAIMER: I am NOT judging the relaxed ladies. Its all a personal choice. I was relaxed myself for years so what could I possibly have to say that would condemn you?

 

[SparklingFlame]

The more I think about it (I'm kind of thinking as I type) the more I am beginning to wonder if this story is real or if it's just the stuff of urban legend, concocted by militant Napptural sisters... hmmm, now that I think about it I know for sure that I've seen this picture before, a few years ago.

Giiiiiiirl, the air birds are gonna start flying over your house in a minute for that one!

but yeah...I can definatly see how you came up with this conclusion!

 

[AmilLion]

Well seeing that her scalp is actually scarred up I don't think it took time for this to happen. It looks like whatever scarred her scalp was bad enough to remove all the hair at once like she didn't even try to wash it out or something. I think even if she had just rinsed with water enough of the chemicals would have been removed to keep from damaging her scalp. Just think about it, if it was bad enough to damage skin of course the hair would have severely damaged and fall out. I don't think she just "didn't neutralize". Her condition looks more like she didn't rinse, wash neutralize or anything. It looks like she tried to deep condition overnight with the relaxer or something. If that's what she claims then I would only believe that it was a bad batch (which could only be proved if she had done everything right) or that it was an allergic reaction. Either way, I don't think that will happen if you simply don't neutralize, yes your hair will suffer but I don't think your scalp will scar, etc. I don't believe it. I think it was Sistaslick who said that water will neutralize your hair enough to stop the chemicals from working but that neutralizing shampoo brought the Ph level back to normal and closed the cuticle, i think it was her. Anyway , not convincing.

I agree. Sometime is wrong with this picture. It's clear that she has chemical burns on her scalp and there's no way that a chemical burn will develop like that overtime.

 

[Country gal]

I chose to stop relaxing my hair because I didn't want to be 50 or 60 years old still perming my hair. My Opinion, I feel several decades of permed hair can't be good for your health. I don't look down my noses at relaxed hair. Personally for me, natural hair is where it's at.

al00fone- You are making a great point re dandruff. Last time I had dandruff was when I was relaxed. I haven't had dandruff for other three years.

 

[cocoberry10]

Yep, me also. I know for a fact that you can have healthy-looking, pretty relaxed hair. (many ladies here prove that). But I also know that relaxers can be deadly to our hair if abused and not used correctly.

I didn’t post this to make relaxed people feel bad. I agree with you pinkskates. This board proves there are many long, healthy, relaxed heads of hair. I just thought it was worth posting!

 

[PuffyBrown]

I remember this too. I really feel bad for her. If I am not mistaking the product that she used was a salon grade product so even if it did not "say" to neutralize after rinse, it says professional use only. Wow thatz too bad