There are products applied in chemical hair atraightening procedures:
• chemical hair relaxer formula
• neutralizer
• petroleum cream
• shampoos used specifically for relaxers
• hair relaxing conditioners
The procedure of hair relaxing consisits of three basic steps. They are:
1. The possible use of a protective petroleum cream used to protect the scalp & previously relaxed or damaged hair. Besides, one uses a chemical hair relaxing formula to make the natural curls softened, loosened and relaxed.
2. As soon as the procedure of hair straightening has been completed, one should completely wash the chemicals off from the hair using warm water. Then one should use a neutralizing formula to the hair to oxidize and restore the hair's pH because a high pH, caused with the relaxing, can lead to the hair swelling and breakage.
3. It is recommended to apply a conditioner is to the hair. The use of the conditioner depends on the condition of the hair to be relaxed. Thus, sometimes it is used before the relaxing formula, after or in some cases before and after straightening. One may use two types of conditions such as the cream conditioners and the protein or liquid conditioners as well.
Those, who have curly hair, should be very careful, because heat appliances or other chemicals can damage the hair, that’s why the hair should be be conditioned before using a relaxer. When the hair is extremely damaged, one should not use a chemical relaxer until the hair is recovered. In other cases apply before the use of chemical relaxer to dry hair. The purpose of a conditioner-filler is to protect overly porous hair or slightly damaged hair from being over-processed.
One should remember that possible side effects from chemical hair relaxers are hair breakage, hair thinning, lack of hair growth, scalp irritation, scalp damage, hair loss. Thus, you should be well-informed about possible negative effects before using any straighteners. Remember that all relaxers need conditioning treatments before and after use, because they change the basic structure of the hair shaft, loosening the natural curl pattern and damaging its strength and elasticity. The hair becomes weak, easily broken and stripped. One should not use relaxers on already damaged hair or by people who have had scalp damage. Chemical applied after the initial relaxing should only be used to newly grown hair 6-8 weeks afterwards. Do not color your hair earlier than 2-4 weeks after straightening, because the use of extra chemicals will be dangerous and will damage the hair.
If you have decided to straighten your hair, you should perform a “strand test” to find out what kind of chemical should be applied on your particular hair type. The hair’s elasticity and strength should be also determined, the scalp is inspected. Straightening is performed in three stages:
1) the protection of the scalp with a protective petroleum “base cream” to avoid chemicals be in contact with your scalp;
2) the complete removal of the applied relaxer chemical with warm water and the use of a neutralizing formula to reduce the ph if it is required;
3) the apply of a conditioner to the hair to restore some of the natural oils and proteins removed by the chemical.
Before chemical relaxing it is forbidden to scratch, excessively brush or comb your hair, because it leads to “burning” if any of the chemical comes into contact with the area. Use the chemicals only on completely dry hair.
It is interesting to know that among three main kinds of hair relaxers sodium hydroxide and guanidine hydroxide demand pre-shampooing and ammonium thioglycolate may demand a pre-shampooing.
Sodium hydroxide is the strongest of the three relaxers and can damage the hair the most. It softens hair fibers, leads to the hair swelling and breaks the cross-bonds after penetrating into the cortical layer. The cortical or the middle or inner layer of the hair shaft is responsible for the strength, elasticity and shape of the curly hair. The effectiveness of the chemical varies on different factors and the condition of the hair. The strength of sodium hydroxide influences the increase in the pH and makes the straightening faster. Strong straightener leads to the more potential hair damage because it contains much dangerous alkaline.
Guanidine hydroxide relaxers cause less damage to hait comparing with sodium hydroxide relaxers. They can strip fat off the scalp.
Ammonium thioglycolate is the least dangerous straightener, because its pH is 9-9.5, that leads to less damage to hair, although neutralization is required. Such chemical is available in cream or gel form and it can be applied before using a pre-softener.
At first, the stylist may gently detangle the hair using a large tooth comb to make smoothing easier. If the hair has been previously straightened, one should apply petroleum cream to the scalp and other areas of the hair to prevent over processing, hair breakage or burning and/or irritation of the scalp and skin. The chemical should be used to unrelaxed hair only, because the use of relaxer chemical to already relaxed hair will lead to cause breakage. It is usually applied to the entire scalp with the fingers to completely cover freely the hairline around the forehead, nape of the neck and over and under the ears. One should not let the base to be spread or rubbed into the skin or scalp. Avoid the entry of the chemical into the eyes and the contact with sores or abrasions on the scalp of the skin.
| 
