What straightening method damages most??

[Covergirl5906]

Years and years of relaxers

or

Straightening natural hair via blowouts or flat irons....

 

[Bint Yusef]

Just taking a wild stab here, but I think they are 2 different kinds of damage.
Years and years of relaxer can cause havoc on the scalp, but once the hair itself is relaxed thats pretty much it. Just take care of your tresses with all the products that are available.

Constant heat on natural hair, requires you to keep heating up the same strands of hair every time. So essentially you "abuse" the length of your hair over and over again.

Fortunately the bonds in natural hair arent broken and they can sustain a lot more abuse. Years of relaxers and lots of heat is really the double whammy that I would avoid.

 

[Candy_C]

i would say year of straighening

you can relax and avoid heat forever & still get straight hair

I HATE HEAT!! BOOOO!!

 

[WhipEffectz1]

I would think relaxing............................

 

[ShaniKeys]

I'm not sure:scratchch ...I'm gonna go with relaxing, it's irreversible.

 

[Qetesh]

i think it depends on how much you are doing either relaxing or straightening, if they are both done equally (ie rlelaxing every 2 months and flat ironing every 2 months) i would say relaxing is more damaging. its permanent and it strips the hair strands. now if someone is relaxing every 2 months vz flat ironing the entire head every week and the ends daily i would probably go with flat ironing as being more damaging.

it also depends on the person some people are actually allergic to relaxers or it seriously damages the scalp yet they can handle direct hear, and vise versa

for me personally i find that using heat every 2 months is not overly damaging to my hair at all. and i still have the "striaght look" at least 1/2 the time.

 

[RainbowCurls]

I say relaxing too.

 

[Crissi]

Relaxing - heat will damage the hair, but relaxers can damage the scalp (more) than heat. I haven't really seen that many people gobold to the point that it can't grow back when they get heat damage,,,relaxers can be lethal though...

 

[SerenityBreeze]

I think straightening daily is worse than relaxing every two mnths becasue if your relax every two months at a minimum, you only relax the new growth if you are not overlapping when you relax.

When you use direct heat, it is very drying to the hair, can cause split ends, and makes your hair prone to breakage.

So I agree with OnAHairQuest. Natural hair that has been abused daily with heat does not bounce back - it just looks damaged.

Think about when our caucasion (sp) counterparts have "fried hair" from constant blowdrying..there is no bring that back. It just needs to be cut.

Are there any natural ladies who use direct heat daily? I'd be interested in your experiences.

 

[B_Phlyy]

With all things being equal, I think straightening with heat would be more damaging.

 

[LovelyLionessa]

i would say year of straighening

you can relax and avoid heat forever & still get straight hair

I HATE HEAT!! BOOOO!!

I would choose heat over relaxing also, becuase when you touch up it's on the new growth only, but if you regularly use heat along the length of your hair, that could really produce cumlative damage.

OT: Good to see ya Candy C! Your progress looks amaaaaazing!!!

 

[thiccknlong]

relaxing...

 

[DDTexlaxed]

I think heat is the worse. When I use to relax my hair bone strait, I had no damage at all. each time I tried to use a flat iron I got damage. I think it depends on the person, though. Everyone has different results. Candi C, your hair is amazing!

 

[Tee]

I think straightening daily is worse than relaxing every two mnths becasue if your relax every two months at a minimum, you only relax the new growth if you are not overlapping when you relax.

When you use direct heat, it is very drying to the hair, can cause split ends, and makes your hair prone to breakage.

So I agree with OnAHairQuest. Natural hair that has been abused daily with heat does not bounce back - it just looks damaged.

Think about when our caucasion (sp) counterparts have "fried hair" from constant blowdrying..there is no bring that back. It just needs to be cut.

Are there any natural ladies who use direct heat daily? I'd be interested in your experiences.

^^^I agree. ^^^

I had to laugh at your siggy. (Boot Camp - went Awol! lol)