Perm vs Relaxer vs Touchup... What is it?

[plzgrow]

To all the hair guru's ...

A friend of mind asked me a question. I am not sure has been asked before what is the diffrence between a perm, relaxer and a touch up.

My response was :​

A perm is supposed to make the hair wavy or curly. Usually what white people, or people with straight hair in general use to make their hair wavy, curly, or have more body...

A relaxer is to straighten the curl pattern of your natural hair. When black people say "perm" they usually mean relaxer.

A touch up is to relax the new growth. Once you get a virgin relaxer, if you want to keep your hair relaxed you have to get a touchup when your natural hair grows back in, usually every 2 months. Although some people do it sooner and some people stretch longer.

So simply put:

Perm:Makes hair curl or wavy
Relaxer:Makes hair straight
Re-touch:Straightens new growth after initial relaxer

Correct me if I am wrong ladies.

 

[SleepyJean]

Yes, you are correct!

ETA: It really irritates me when people think a perm is a relaxer.

 

[plzgrow]

It took me a while to figure out the two. If I added texalax she would've been more confused.

 

[RavenMaven]

Thanks for clarifying this for me, lol. I wasn't too sure about the correct terminology either.

 

[glamazon386]

You are right but a lot of black folk call a relaxer a perm. I guess because it's permanent? Or say they need a perm when they need a touch up. IDK. A lot of us use the terms interchangeably when we really should be saying relaxer. People ask me all the time why I stopped perming my hair or if I perm my hair. I know what they mean. I never really paid it any mind because I knew what they meant.

 

[SlantedEyezMiss2003]

Girl you are right.....I had someone tell me a perm is a relaxer, and I always thought a perm was to make your hair wavy or curly......