I've been hearing about this Japanese straightening technique for more than two years now and this is the information I've gathered from the Internet, TV and magazines:
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[*]Celebrities that have it done: Tyra Banks (but doesn't she wear a weave?), model Cristy Turlington, and actress Julianne Moore (and her hair DOES appear EXTREMELY straight these days)
[*]It IS also called the "Yuko" system
[*]Japanese women have been doing this for years in Japan for that "stick straight" hair. (And we thought they ALL just had hair like that....)
[*]It is a "thio" based system (correct me if I'm wrong), this is the type of chemical used in Vigorol-that liquid relaxer in the little bottle. ("Thio" relaxers tend to be very drying.)
[*]You WILL need to get a touch up as often as you usually do with a "regular" relaxer, based on how fast your hair grows and what texture your new growth grows in [*]The only difference between these Japanese relaxers and regular (lye, no-lye, regular thio) relaxers is that the Japanese relaxer will give you STICK STRAIGHT hair that does not need to be rollerset or blowdried EVER. You can apparently WASH AND WEAR. This is the benefit people are paying the $$$$ for as these relaxers go for $500-800+ for a first time application! (I wonder what it costs for a touchup!)
[*]On Oprah, they did the process on a white woman's hair and Oprah stated that it WAS NOT for AA hair. I wonder why some people say it can be done on AA hair and other's say it can't.
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I wonder if hair that has been Japanese straightened can even hold a curl? I wouldn't get this done unless you wanted to have that STICK straight look at all times and your hair was VERY healthy.
Oh, I just remembered, I read a post by someone on another hair board (white woman) and she stated that she had it done and it damaged her hair. She didn't recommend it.
