Switching from no-lye to lye relaxer

[davismo4]

Pretty much all of my life, I have used no-lye relaxers on my hair. The last few times that I have relaxed, I noticed an extreme amount of dryness afterwards. I relax with Silk Elements no-lye relaxer and neutralize with ORS Aloe shampoo because of its chelating properties. However, despite chelating, I have still noticed a great amount of dryness, which I had not noticed or maybe paid attention to before. Im thinking about switching to a lye relaxer because I have heard that it doesnt dry your hair out as much. If I do switch, the next time I relax should I do a corrective and pull the relaxer through the length of my hair for about a minute? Or should I just concentrate on the new growth and not risk overprocessing? Also, I would love to hear from anybody who had a similar problem and switched and how it has helped your hair in the long run. Thanks so much!

 

[Crystalicequeen123]

Girll.....yes....if you are getting "dryness", then please try a LYE relaxer! I don't mean to be biased, but I have tried both, and EACH time I end up loving the LYE relaxers better...hands down! NO-lye is gentler on your scalp, but for me it always ended up making my hair feel dry and hard. My hair never seemed to retain moisture!! I felt like my conditioners never really got through my hair!

So, needless to say, I'm BACK to my tried and true Design Essentials reg. strength Lye relaxer. I LOVE this relaxer! IF you want to read the results from my touch-up last night, just look through my more recent posts talking about my touch-up.

BTW...did you ever try Silk Elements "LYE" version of their relaxer? I've used Silk Elements LYE, and I happened to like it. It wasn't too expensive either. The only reason (honestly) why I stopped using it was because I began to experience thinning at my widow's peak, and I only noticed it when I started using that relaxer. I don't know or think that the relaxer was to blame per se...but I wasn't taking any chances! That's the ONLY reason why I stopped using it. Otherwise, I thought it was a pretty decent relaxer.

In answer to your question, my stylist didn't run the lye relaxer all the way down my hair when she touched it up yesterday. I always get a little uneasy about running a relaxer all the way down the ends....even if you have different relaxer types in your hair. IDK...my hair is fine-textured, so I never have my stylist run relaxer all down my hair...even when we've switched brands or whatnot. But...it's up to you. I just wouldn't do it.

 

[poookie]

Never overlap lye with no lye. Leave the no-lyed hair be, and only apply lye to the new growth, unless you're doing a corrective. in that case, make sure to base the length of your hair before applying the lye relaxer. i've done a correctives before using this method and had nice results. i use Hawaiian Silky Lye by the way, since it doesn't burn my scalp at all, and it still fully processes me. i used to use ORS no lye until i switched to lye in October of 2007.

 

[Luscious Locks]

I had the same problem. I used no-lye my whole life (Optimum care). When I switch to lye I use Design Essential regular lye relaxer. It buuuuurned the mess out of my scalp. I had scabs and puss and all that. My hair was glued to my scalp by scabs. I'm really not trying to scare you, but I'm letting you know that lye can be very tough on your scalp. I do not consider myself to be tender headed or have sensetive skin/scalp, but lye was too much for me. I use Design Essentials twice. Apprentlys it's supposed to be gentler on the hair that Affirm. My stylist said that compared to Affirm is does not break down the hair that much. I guess that's true because I'd also go home with wavy hair, not straight hair, but I also asked the stylist to rinse at 15 minutes because my scalp was on fire.

What did I do to solve this? I switched back to no lye. But not back to Optimum. I'm a phyto girl now (phytospecific relaxer). It's all the comfort of no-lye with lye results. No dryness at all, and no burning during the relaxer process. I love it!

 

[DecemberBaby]

When I switched from no-lye to lye, I applied the lye to my new growth as usual and for the last 1-2 minutes, I ran it throughout my entire head. I didn't experience any breakage, just softer, shinier hair. I have been using lye ever since, ORS or SE.

 

[janeemat]

I've been using Affirm sensitive scalp for over 4 years and my hair is not dry. But of course I do a lot of deep conditioning. As I get deep into my stretches my hair seems a little drier. I just up the conditioning or maybe switch to something else. No burns for me since making the switch.

 

[spencd]

I just did the new growth. Make sure you base the scalp and I would also use some sort of hair protector so your hair at least relaxed part is not overprocessed.

 

[DaDragonPrincess]

Always base hair first, I only apply relaxer on new growth only. I no longer use no-lye relaxers , now i'm using a lye relaxer "Nairobi replenishing Relaxer",I have found that them no-lye relaxers,did nothing for my hair,but made it dry and break. I use to use Motions,Cream Of Nature,Revlon,etc. I found using the lye relaxer, my hair had felt ALOT better and more healthy.​

 

[Ladybelle]

to prevent dryness with no-lye relaxers, it's very important to wash with a shampoo that removes calcium deposit build-up at least once within a month after a touch up or application

The build up of calcium deposits from no-lye relaxers can cause dryness because they prevent the hair from being able to absorb moisture.

Some of these shampoos include:

1. Elucence
2. Redken Clarifying Shampoo
3. ORS creamy aloe shampoo
4. Joico Kpak Clarify Chelating shampoo
5. aveda shampure

These shampoos also help for those who have hard-water. Before you switch over to lye relaxers, you may want to try chelating your hair to see if you notice a difference in dryness. (chelating is just the term from removing stuff from the surface of hair follicles that would otherwise prevent other products from binding to the hair.)

good luck on whatever you decide!

 

[cynd]

I'm considering switching from no lye to lye? Bumping for additional tips, suggestions.

 

[InBloom]

I switched years ago, from no-lye to a lye relaxer. I used the Linange system. I really enjoyed how soft and bouncy my hair was immediately after relaxing when using Linange. I had no after relaxer "stiffness" while using it. It was TOUGH on my scalp though.

After about a year of using Linange, I noticed some thinning at the top of my head. I got heavy into tea-rinsing, garlic supplements and shampoo to combat hair fall. It took a while before I noticed I didn't have so much shedding when I used no-lye relaxers. Once I figured that out, I went back to no-lye.

I fixed the issue with stiffness with using no-lye by changing my shower-head to one with a filter, chelating shampoos (in addition to the neutralizing shampoo), and adding oils to the relaxer mix and underprocessing for a texlaxed finish.

My hair is low density anyway, so the extra shedding was not cute for me. Had it not been for the shedding problem with Linange, I'd probably still be using it.

 

[cynd]

I switched years ago, from no-lye to a lye relaxer. I used the Linange system. I really enjoyed how soft and bouncy my hair was immediately after relaxing when using Linange. I had no after relaxer "stiffness" while using it. It was TOUGH on my scalp though.

After about a year of using Linange, I noticed some thinning at the top of my head. I got heavy into tea-rinsing, garlic supplements and shampoo to combat hair fall. It took a while before I noticed I didn't have so much shedding when I used no-lye relaxers. Once I figured that out, I went back to no-lye.

I fixed the issue with stiffness with using no-lye by changing my shower-head to one with a filter, chelating shampoos (in addition to the neutralizing shampoo), and adding oils to the relaxer mix and underprocessing for a texlaxed finish.

My hair is low density anyway, so the extra shedding was not cute for me. Had it not been for the shedding problem with Linange, I'd probably still be using it.

Thanks so much for all of this! I too have very low density, fine hair that's thinning on top. Sounds like lye is not the way to go.