Salon relaxer vs at self relaxing....

[janeemat]

I went to a stylist for about 15 years and I always dreaded relaxer time. No matter what I did, my scalp would burn and have sores the next day. I would drink milk, avoid acidity foods or just anything that would possibly cause scalp irration. Nothing worked. After each relaxer she would pour sea breeze on my hair to keep it from having sores the next days. That did work, buy boy did it burn at first contact. Off and on the nape area would be broked down to scalp. When I would bring it to her attention, she would treat my hair at no charge and it would grow back. Then it would happen again. I know that relaxer was not properly washed out because that's where my head rested on the bowl. For awhile my hair would appear healthy and then it would jacked up again. Eventually I just got tired of this and found another stylist. He was really good at applying my relaxer and my hair grew and got to as good healthy state. I found this forum around the same time I found him. He was soooo expensive, so after gathering all of the wonderful tips from this site I became a DIYer. Needless to say, I have NEVER had any of the relaxer nightmares that I listed above since I began doing them myself. If I'm ever in a position where I can't apply them myself, I would let my last stylist apply my relaxer.

 

[yardgirl]

I tried it once and ended up with horrible damage. I will never, never, never try it again. Hell no!

 

[sunnieb]

Bump....

Sent from my Comet

 

[GraceV]

My hair has done a 90 degree turn around when I started self relaxing at home.
I paid too much money to get poor results,they never use the protein step method and a deep conditioner treatment to my satisfaction,rinsing out the conditioner after 3 to 5 min.
I have encorporated these step at home and my hair so much healthier,thicker and growing out nicely.
I like self relaxing because I have control over the relaxer and not applying the same amount on my damage or thin areas of my head,applying hairline and nape area last.
I use Mizani Butter Blends No Lye Sensitive Scalp that I can purchase at my locall BSS for $11.99.
Advantage to self relaxing you can your own conditioners and styling product that are better quality than what some stylist uses.

ITA with everything you said. I use better products than the stylists use. When they do use the good products they're stingy with it. I like my hair coated in conditioner, the stylist may not agree since she's looking at her bottom line. My neutralizing/relaxer wash-out process takes at least 30 minutes, I am yet to find a stylist with that much patience. My relaxer process involves too many little quirks that would annoy a stylist: adding oil to the relaxer, mid-neutralizer protein step, keeping the neutralizing shampoo/conditioner on for 10 minutes each times x 2 or 3, only using a wide tooth comb etc.

Nah, I'll stick to self-relaxing. My hair is healthier than it's ever been.

 

[Misseyl]

It's about the same, maybe I'm better because I make sure all the relaxer is washed out and neutralized properly.

 

[LaidBak]

Been relaxed for 31 years. I usually self relax out of financial necessity, or time constraints. But my hair ALWAYS looks better when its done at the salon, simply because I cannot see the back of my head.

 

[chrstndiva]

Salon relaxers are only as good as the stylist. My best relaxers were with a very competent stylist who understood how to care and maintain healthy hair. Good stylists are hard to find. I've had too many setbacks with bad stylists since then, so now I'm a DIYer. My relaxers come out great. My hair is straight, but still has thickness and lots of body. I should make my goal of MBL early next year.

 

[Missdelicious1]

I did a pretty good job with self-relaxing in June (which was the first time I did it in a long while). It wasn't bone-straight (which is great for me). I had one area that I had to correct because it was really underprocessed, but now I know what to do for next time. I did my research and watched more than enough youtube vids on it, so I feel more confident about self-relaxing. The only way to know if it works for you is to try it out. At this point, I don't trust anyone else to do my hair the way I like so I'd rather take my chances doing it on my own. Practice makes perfect, and I know my hair better than anyone else so I know I can figure out how to get it exactly the way I like it.