Any 3b/c ladies have issues w/ their relaxer lasting?

clarity2008

New Member
Well I am considering going back to the relaxed side.:look: One of my fears (besides breakage) is the fact that in past, everytime I relax within about 2 months my hair seems to revert back to its natural texture. At first its nice and straight and frizz free then after a few weeks its like I never had a relaxer at all! Why does this happen? Does this happed to anyone else? Does it have anything to do with no-lye relaxers? ....TIA
 

oldcrayons

New Member
I know what you mean... I'm still not sure what my hair type is because I was a 2-something when I was young but I think it's now in the 3's somewhere. Anyway, relaxers never take. It always feels like a waste of time because after I wash my hair, my hair goes back to the way that it was... besides that the curls are a bit looser. I don't know why my hair is like this, but it is which is another reason why you should stop getting perms. It's a waste of time if it never holds :/
 

kblc06

Well-Known Member
Well I am considering going back to the relaxed side.:look: One of my fears (besides breakage) is the fact that in past, everytime I relax within about 2 months my hair seems to revert back to its natural texture. At first its nice and straight and frizz free then after a few weeks its like I never had a relaxer at all! Why does this happen? Does this happed to anyone else? Does it have anything to do with no-lye relaxers? ....TIA

My hair was similar in that if I let it airdry it would look very much like my natural curls (maybe a tad looser). I was relaxed bone straight and would wet wrap my hair and airdry in order for it to dry straight-this would work up to a year post relaxer. I didn't see the point in using a relaxer if I wasn't doing it but once a year anyway and had 6-7 inches of newgrowth that was pretty manageable (I don't believe I used heat but once in the 8 years I had a relaxer). The right hand section of my hair barely ever took a relaxer anyway so it would always be wavy when the rest of my hair was straight :perplexed; the curl pattern there is very strong I guess. My rollerset hair and flatironed hair look very similar to my relaxed hair (except healthier and shinier). I really just don't see the point anymore

I know what you mean... I'm still not sure what my hair type is because I was a 2-something when I was young but I think it's now in the 3's somewhere. Anyway, relaxers never take. It always feels like a waste of time because after I wash my hair, my hair goes back to the way that it was... besides that the curls are a bit looser. I don't know why my hair is like this, but it is which is another reason why you should stop getting perms. It's a waste of time if it never holds :/

ITA :yep:.
 

*Muffin*

New Member
I have a biracial friend that's naturally within the 3a-3c realm, and she got a relaxer (a strong one at that) that was applied before my very eyes, and not only that but she had her hair blow-dried straight afterward, and that straightness didn't even last two weeks. her hair is now curly again, but she says the curls are a lot more manageable now and less out of control. They look pretty much the same to me.
 

Bint Yusef

New Member
I have a biracial friend that's naturally within the 3a-3c realm, and she got a relaxer (a strong one at that) that was applied before my very eyes, and not only that but she had her hair blow-dried straight afterward, and that straightness didn't even last two weeks. her hair is now curly again, but she says the curls are a lot more manageable now and less out of control. They look pretty much the same to me.
This is why I stopped relaxing. It never "took"....never:wallbash: You can see my hair in my hair texture in my profile.
 

adf23

Well-Known Member
I am now transitioning, but when I was regularly relaxing, my hair never got completely straight, no matter how long I left the perm in.

Like others said, my hair gets just as straight with a rollerset and flat iron now, as it did when I had a relaxer- I had to use just as much heat to maintain a straight look as I do at about 80% natural........for that, what is the point of having a relaxer? :nono:
 

Cichelle

Well-Known Member
I'm not sure what my hair type is. It's 3 something. Relaxers never really took for me either. I used to relax my hair and wear it curly...and it basically looked like it does now, natural. :rolleyes: I used to use a SUPER up on this head AND relax from root to tip a few times a year. :spinning: I could never understand how anyone got bone straight hair with a relaxer because it never happened for me. Not even close. I have no idea why.
 

LunadeMiel

Well-Known Member
I never had an issue getting it straight. Although I did relax root to tip everytime...:look: about 4/5 times a year...:nono:
 
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Filmatic

New Member
My hair was similar in that if I let it airdry it would look very much like my natural curls (maybe a tad looser). I was relaxed bone straight and would wet wrap my hair and airdry in order for it to dry straight-this would work up to a year post relaxer. I didn't see the point in using a relaxer if I wasn't doing it but once a year anyway and had 6-7 inches of newgrowth that was pretty manageable (I don't believe I used heat but once in the 8 years I had a relaxer). The right hand section of my hair barely ever took a relaxer anyway so it would always be wavy when the rest of my hair was straight :perplexed; the curl pattern there is very strong I guess. My rollerset hair and flatironed hair look very similar to my relaxed hair (except healthier and shinier). I really just don't see the point anymore



ITA :yep:.

That sounds exactly like my hair. I am thinking of cutting relaxing down to 1-2 or even going natural. I stopped using super bc it wasn't doing a dang thing. I am glad I'm not the only one who thought a relaxer was suppose to get my hair straight.
 

titan

New Member
It would happen to me evertime I would relax my hair. Relaxers really don't combat frizzy hair. When I did relax, I had to make sure that I did not wash my hair as often, because my hair would revert.
 

oldcrayons

New Member
It would happen to me evertime I would relax my hair. Relaxers really don't combat frizzy hair. When I did relax, I had to make sure that I did not wash my hair as often, because my hair would revert.

You know, even when I went to the salon and had my hair blown out after a relaxer, I could STILL feel the curl in my roots. It always pissed me off because hair relaxers aren't cheap!

And the relaxers made my hair even MORE frizzy see :wallbash:



And now my hair is just flat. LOL. :(
 

Menina Preta

Well-Known Member
Very interesting...I'm a 4a mostly, and I've never ever had issues with reversion with my relaxer (I've used Revlon, Optimum, and now I'm Mizani BB). Perhaps these companies aren't making relaxers in mind for the 3s and/or haven't perfected the process yet for them. I wonder how you all's hair would respond to one of those Brazilian Keratin Treatments or Thermal Reconditioning.
 

SelfStyled

Well-Known Member
That's the reason why a lot of 3's stop relaxing. There's no point.


How come 3 hair won't relax? DD is just turned 13 and I am thinking about relaxing her hair, but I don't really want to bother, if there is no point.

Have any type 3 ladies found something effective?
 

stormy07

Active Member
when I was younger my hair never took to relaxers it would revert within 2 days except with the international textures relaxer (I think they're universal textures now) I don't know if the international textures was no lye or lye or whatnot cuz this was a long long long long long time ago....but that was the only one that ever really took to my hair
 

LunadeMiel

Well-Known Member
How come 3 hair won't relax? DD is just turned 13 and I am thinking about relaxing her hair, but I don't really want to bother, if there is no point.

Have any type 3 ladies found something effective?
The only effective thing was relaxing often and from root to tip everytime. Also leaving it in for long time...:nono:
 

Carolina18

New Member
when I was younger my hair never took to relaxers it would revert within 2 days except with the international textures relaxer (I think they're universal textures now) I don't know if the international textures was no lye or lye or whatnot cuz this was a long long long long long time ago....but that was the only one that ever really took to my hair

Interesting... can you please tell me more about it? Was your hair healthy after using it?
 

Carolina18

New Member
OP, thanks so much for starting this thread. I was thinking of starting a similar thread but didn't know how to phrase it without being told I am under-processing, or need a stronger relaxer. This is the main factor that's holding me back from relaxing.

Anyone else managed to counteract this problem aside from relaxing from root to rip? I'd like to cut down my detangling and styling time by relaxing, but there's no point compromising my hair's health if the relaxer won't last once water touches it.
 

CurlyMoo

Well-Known Member
My mom used to do that to my hair...she kept trying to get it straight like the other girls. I dont know if its the brand of relaxer or what, but Ive never had bone straight hair.

When I was a little girl my hairdresser tried to bone straight my hair too, poe thang.:nono:
 

sunnydaze

Well-Known Member
Yep..that was me all the way. Like someone stated earlier, relaxers don't combat the frizz. I remember getting retouches root to tip :)blush:)..and my hair still being poofy and frizzy. No one ever thought I had a relaxer b/c my hair never looked sleek.
 
It did. Optimum, Relvon, Ultra Sheen, Dark and Lovely, etc all made my hair frizzy, dry, brittle and revert back - somewhat. My hair can't tolerate non-lye and strong/harsh relaxers

Was on my way to going back to going back to Leisure Curl/Wave Nouveau when I tried Affirm and later, when I was too broke to go to the salon, Iman. Did the trick.
 
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Dposh167

Well-Known Member
wow...this is interesting. I never knew 3s had a problem with relaxers taking...which would explain why my 3c friend stopped getting hers.
 

glamazon386

Well-Known Member
How come 3 hair won't relax? DD is just turned 13 and I am thinking about relaxing her hair, but I don't really want to bother, if there is no point.

Have any type 3 ladies found something effective?

IDK... Most of the women in my mother's family have that problem. Some of them still relax just to thin the bulk of the hair out but the curls/waves don't go anywhere. Some of them stopped bc it caused more damage than good. And the rest just cut all their hair off. My granny used to have me do her hair and it would never stay straight for long. If she stayed in the shower too long, or got caught in humidity or anything it would still revert with the relaxer. It wasn't as bad as it was without it but it still reverted. She said the waves would come back in and mess her style up. :lol:
 
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Evazhair

New Member
Well I am considering going back to the relaxed side.:look: One of my fears (besides breakage) is the fact that in past, everytime I relax within about 2 months my hair seems to revert back to its natural texture. At first its nice and straight and frizz free then after a few weeks its like I never had a relaxer at all! Why does this happen? Does this happed to anyone else? Does it have anything to do with no-lye relaxers? ....TIA

This is interesting because I have been experiencing this for the past year with my stylist. She is very cautious about health and overprocessing, I feel a little too cautious. With others I would only experience it when I had a more than usual amt of ng and it would always be right at the root. It would appear straight as it grows out. When I get my touchup back home it usually doesn't happen. I know he smooths a lot more than my stylist up here and I believe that he processes it a little longer, but not a significant amount. Last year I had a consult with an Avlon Educator and she said that our wavy hair a lot of times doesn't take especially with larger amounts of ng and suggested that I use the relaxer for resistant hair. Super/resistant relaxers scare me. My hair gets straight with regular relaxers, but you do have to smooth (generate heat) for my hair to get straight. When I do have the wave, as it grows out I don't have the wave anymore. I have gotten tired of fighting it, because my hair gets straight for the most part. If I still had the bulk and frizz it would be a major problem. My past touchup came out with the slightest wave in some places and she smoothed it well. I am going to time her to make sure she is processing the full time. A small section in the thicker lower back it is wavy at the root, but I can handle it. I think she is finally realizing that she has to smooth my hair more and I am realizing that my hair tends to do this. It makes me wonder if when my hair gets totally straight if it is being pushed to the brink of overprocessed, or what other variables are coming into play. Hmmm off to read the rest of the thread.
 

kblc06

Well-Known Member
How come 3 hair won't relax? DD is just turned 13 and I am thinking about relaxing her hair, but I don't really want to bother, if there is no point.

Have any type 3 ladies found something effective?

The only thing that ever came close to was Sheenique (which they discontinued :sad:) and Soft & Beautiful Botanicals (mild/regular); but I had moderate to severe scalp reactions to most relaxers due to my sensitive skin....that's another thing that deterred me :nono:
 
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