Black Hair Care Guide

Time for a really quick science lesson (keep reading, it will be really quick and painless, I promise). There is a scale called a pH scale. Solutions (liquids) are rated on this scale. It ranges from 0-14. Water is right in the middle with a pH of 7 and is “neutral” (neither acidic or basic). Substances with higher pH are called alkaline, caustic or basic. Solutions with lower pH are called acidic. The farther from the number 7 (either high or low), the more the solution will do in terms of burning or breaking chemical bonds. Something very acidic or something very basic can take your skin right off. The pH scale is a logarithmic scale. What that means is a whole number difference is greater than you might think. A solution that is pH 8 is ten times more basic than a solution that is ph 7. One that is a pH 5 is 100 times more acidic than a pH 7. That’s as far as we need to go for our purposes. End of lesson. Most relaxers, whether lye or no lye, have a very high pH (very near the top of the scale). In other words, they are caustic. A few companies have come out with relaxers that are not caustic. But, that doesn’t mean they are milder. Many have just slid down to the other end of the scale using acidic solutions to do the job.Relaxers work on the same principle as commercial products like Liquid Plumr^® that you’d buy to remove hair from your sink or drain. Relaxers break the hair down. Relaxers work because they break the bonds that actually give strength to the hair. This causes the hair to straighten. Therefore, relaxed hair is, by definition, weaker than natural hair. Relaxers also deplete the hair of sebum (the oil your scalp secretes). Combine that with heat and you can really end up with a problem. That’s why it is of the utmost importance to be careful when putting in relaxers and to give relaxed hair the best care possible.Does this mean we are against relaxers? Absolutely not. If a quality relaxer is applied properly and the hair is maintained properly, your hair can definitely be healthy. However, your hair will be weaker than if it were natural and will be more prone to problems. These problems are not insurmountable as long as you are aware of how to take care of your hair.

Many people have asked us why we don’t sell relaxers. Our policy is that we do not sell relaxers because we think they should be applied by a professional in a salon setting.