To Lye or Not to Lye... That Is The Question!

For all of us ladies who have relaxed hair or are thinking of relaxing... There are things that need to be known about the relaxer of choice. Yes they have chemicals but there are ALL different.

LYE RELAXERS:

Lye relaxers are made with the active ingredient being sodium hydroxide. It raises your hair pH into the range of 10-14. It can be very damaging, like any chemical treatment, if no in correctly. When the relaxer cream is applied to the hair is penetrates the shaft of the hair and breaks down the protein bonds. The weakening of these bonds is what allows the curls to straighten out. After this procedure is finished, a neutralizing shampoo is applied to wash out the relaxer and bring the pH down to a more neutral pH.

NO-LYE RELAXERS

Much like lye relaxers, no-lye relaxers raise the hairs pH, but slightly weaker alkali agents are used instead of sodium hydroxide (lye). Most commonly guanidine hydroxide is used. This type of no-lye relaxer uses the same principle as the lye relaxers... permeating the hair shaft and weakening the protein bonds of hair. A neutralizing shampoo is also needed following a no-lye relaxer in order to restore the hairs natural pH. It is also recommended that a chelating shampoo is used to remove minerals that may have been left behind on the hair and scalp.

Another no-lye relaxer is the thio relaxer... It is used in thermal reconditioning of the hair. It has the compound, ammonium thioglycolate, which is also referred to as perm salt or perm waves. Instead of weakening the entire protein bond, this particular treatment selectively weakens the cystine bonds. This however, thoroughly strips the moisture out of the hair even more so than alkali products.

Most at home relaxers (box kits) contain ammonium sulfite and ammonium bisulfite. These compounds like ammonium thioglycolate, selectively weaken the cystine bonds of the hair over time slowly; this reduces the amount of irritation done to the skin.

Regardless of the type of relaxer you choose to use, be sure that you research in depth the chemical before you apply it to your hair. Happy Hair Journeying!

The Moisture Protein Balance

The hair on everyone's head is different. Some straight, some curly. Some soft and silky, others, rough and wiry. But one thing still remains, it's all hair. Hair has to have the correct balance of moisture and protein, if not, breakage will occur.

Moisturizing Conditioners

Moisturizing conditioners will put moisture back into the hair. These conditioners will list water as one of the main ingredients as water is a necessary component to moisturize hair. Be careful when walking down the shampoo and conditioner aisle, there are many “moisturizing” conditioners that have silk proteins that will actually put more protein into your hair.

Moisturizing conditioners are needed when your hair is dry. You hair may snap off at the slightest touch. This is a good indication that your hair may be dry and need some moisture.

Protein Conditioners

Your hair is primarily made up of a specific protein called keratin. The thing about your hair is that it is essentially dead when it comes out of the follicle. Some will disagree, but I will cover that in another post. If you have relaxed hair, you may already know, the bonds in this protein in your hair are weakened in order to straighten your hair.

Protein conditioners will strengthen your hair and will most times list “strengthening” on the label as a characteristic. These types of conditioner are needed when you hair feels mushy or gummy when wet. There are soft protein conditioners and hard protein conditioners. The strength of the conditioner you will need will depend on how mushy your hair is.

In either case, adding or alternating the correct conditioners to your hair regimen is essential for retaining length and having a healthy hair journey.

Stargazer Lilies

Back in June, I received flowers from a very, very wonderful man ;)... They were Stargazer Lilies, if you didn't know this, they are an expensive flower. Even when these beautiful plants are in season during the summer months they can still be $35-$65 for a branch that will have somewhere around 4-5 of the actual flowers upon them. It is easy to see why these flowers can run so high. They are beautiful in a mysterious and exotic way.

In an effort to capture a piece of the beauty that these flowers display, I was inspired to do this tutorial. I'm sorry that the lighting is a little off. I will work on getting it better...

I hope that you enjoyed this as much as I did! Thank you, and please let me know if you all have any requests.

Got Shedding Hair? Try This!

100 strands a day! That is it! I know that for my hair, it sometimes seems that, that is low. Sometimes it seems like 1000 hair strands a day. For me, the shedding is always worse after a relaxer. After many a night spent raiding hair boards, I have found help... Garlic... In your Hair...

I know it sounds very strange but it helps... At least, it helped me. I have not tried using odorless garlic capsules, although I am curious! Here is what I used...

The next time I do this, I will try it with odorless garlic capsules and let you all know how it goes. I hope this helps. Rejuvenate your hair follicles and stimulate your scalp... Happy Hair Journeying!