getting a curly perm after years of a relaxer

hi!

ive aleays had this question- ALWAYS..lol and i finally have some place to ask the question- lol so ima ask it here..has anyone here relaxed their hair so much to the point where the natural curl was almost gone? Has anyone ever TRIED/WANTED TO TRY getting a curl perm to add those curls back and reconstruct some sort of curl to their hair?

I always thought that I could relax till i get to the length that ive always desired and then, do one curly perm or a few (until my hair kept the curl- ima 3C and thats how my hair is and has been the same with relaxers..it keeps the relaxer for years after so i dont have to do one but once every year or two).

Would it damage my hair? would it work? ive always wondered..

anybody know?

TigerLily said:

You would have to cut all of the relaxed hair off if you want to get a curly perm. A relaxer uses Calcium hydroxide or sodium hydroxide and a curly perm uses amonium thioglycolate. Those two chemicals combined will break your hair off.

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i wouldnt have ever guessed that could happen..scary..i woulda done it and it would have messed my hair up so badly! thank you for answering..im really going to have to consider things more deeply!

A perm and a relaxer do the same thing... break down proteins in the cortex and rearrage the curl pattern. It would be similar to putting a relaxer on top of a relaxer.

Porsche19 said:

A perm and a relaxer do the same thing... break down proteins in the cortex and rearrage the curl pattern. It would be similar to putting a relaxer on top of a relaxer.

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that was the idea i was leaning more towards..because i was thinking if i cut all my relaxed hair off id be natural so, in a way, i wouldnt need to get a curly perm..you know?

ive been to so many black hairstylists over the years that dont want me to do that because they like my hair as it is and often times refuse to do it because of that....i miss my curls tho..really badly.. thank you for your response!

TigerLily said:

As your hair grows out, you could start leaving the relaxer on a limited amount of time. Just enough to relax the curl without processing it bone straight. It's called texturizing. That way, you'd have some of your natural curl left. A relaxer relaxes the curl. A perm (like the one in my siggy) puts the curl in even when you don't have natural curls. (like me. I was natural and didn't have a curl pattern, so I got a curly perm to put curls in my hair)

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thats a good idea..i got one before when i was younger and i didnt notice a significant difference..i love my natural curl pattern so much more now..i think its beautiful and regret having ever straightened it.. i think you have beautiful curls by the way...they look so beautiful and must be so much fun to take care of...i remember when my hair was that short...i think my favorite time would be washing it because the shampoo would make me look like a poodle with all the foam lol..

i wish i had the strength cut my hair to natural..maybe when it gets a bit longer i will...because then i wont feel so self conscious..i wish i could be that free