Relaxing your hair

People with curly or kinky hair use relaxing treatments to make
their hair more manageable; it’s most common among African
Americans or others with unmanageably curly hair. Relaxing is a
similar process to perming because the disulphide bond and
reforming process in the setting stage is identical, but it’s different
in that the goal is to straighten the hair, not to curl and shape it.
The shape of the hair shaft of the very curly or kinky hair adds a
mechanical problem to the straightening process.
Unfortunately, some people are so aggressive with hair straighten-
ing chemicals that they do permanent damage to some or all of
their hair. Overusing the setting agents can damage the hair above
the skin at the hair shaft level or below the skin in the living parts
of the hair follicle and cause the hairs to break off. We’ve seen
almost complete permanent hair loss from an overly aggressive
use of these setting agents. Damage can be limited by making sure
you follow the directions on the use of these chemicals to the
letter.
Hot irons may be used in conjunction with relaxing treatments to
straighten kinky hair, causing injury to the underlying anatomy of
the hair. It’s actually easier and less dangerous to straighten very
kinky long hair by putting wet hair under a paper bag and using a
hot iron on top of the bag. The paper minimizes the damage to the
cuticle because it insulates the hair from the high temperatures of
the hot iron.