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Black women have been after straight hair since the inception of slavery and the implantation of the idea that our black hair in its natural state is not beautiful.
The invention of the hair relaxer, allowed black women to accomplish our hair straightening goals.  But have you ever wondered how does that creamy substance that you apply to your hair every month make your hair straight?
How Does Hair Relaxer Work?
The most popular hair relaxers contain one of two different chemicals that work to break down the chemical bond of the the natural curly hair shaft.  One is  SODIUM HYDROXIDE (lye-based) and GUANIDINE HYDROXIDE (no-lye) formulas.  The latter is considered to be milder than the first, but both essentially do the same thing….they remove all moisture from the hair shaft, rendering it limp and straight.
The end result is straight hair- but it is now permanently damaged straight hair.  Once the bonds have been broken it is permanently compromised and the damage cannot be reversed.  This straight hair is also now very dry hair,straightners, which is why most relaxers are immediately followed by a deep conditioning process that gives the illusion of putting back in the lost moisture into the hair.  The only way to correct the hair straightening process is to cut out the chemically treated hair and grow new virgin hair.

The Cycle Begins
What normally happens is a vicious cycle of adding more commercially based products to our abused locks to keep up the illusion of  straight and shiny hair.  But the truth is that is just that-an illusion.  Most of the products that we add to our hair actually compound the damage rather than to help.
The hair ‘grease’ that we use normally contains petroleum, the same by-products of gasoline.  While it does create an unnatural shine to your hair, it also coats the scalp and the hair shaft while not allowing the scalp to breathe. It covers the natural pores of the scalp which actually do produce oils that are beneficial to the hair and blocks them.  The end result is dry scalp and dandruff.
To Burn Or Not to Burn
Most hairdressers will follow the instructions on the box to a tee and wear gloves when applying this product onto the hair.  The reason for this is that lye is very corrosive and is actually an active ingredient in most industrial cleansers used to clean your town sewers and pipes.  Most women can attest to this fact from the high incidence of chemical burns to the ear, forehead, scalp, and anywhere else that this unfortunate substance manages to hit bare skin.  It gives rise to the question, if hair relaxer can cause severe damage to skin after just a few minutes of exposure , what does it do to the sensitive scalp after years of many applications even if there are no burns.
It is well known that the skin is porous and that it can absorb chemicals through it, so it is safe to assume that repeated use of this chemical must be being absorbed into the scalp. If these chemicals are so toxic that the FDA recommends that you use protective gear before handling them,purple ghd, one must ask -what is the risk of adding these chemicals to your hair?

What About The Smell?
Taking the cover off a jar of perm and taking a whiff can give even the best of us a whopping headache and cause dizziness,official ghd,  and a study done by the Cancer Surveillance program at the University of California, are showing that there seems to be higher incidences of blood cancers in women in the hair, beauty and nail industries.
Their exposure to the dyes, relaxers, nail solutions, shampoos and permanent wave solutions all seem to heighten this risk and it seems that frequent inhalation of these chemicals can also lead to asthma and lung issues.
The Question of the Hour…Is Relaxing Our Hair Really Worth It?
Is the risk of our health and our healthy mane of  hair really worth an image of beauty that is not our own?  We are born with kinky curly hair.  That is what it is.
The issue of straight hair goes deep into the psyche of what it means to be black and strikes at the very essence of our genetic collective.  It is time to examine the insanity as to why we are so willing to put common sense aside and keep pursuing this obviously self-defeating pastime of straight hair.
What we may really have to examine is the belief that there is something wrong with  our hair in its natural state; and our misguided impression that the hair grows out of our head naturally somehow is ‘not good enough’ or ‘wrong’.  I don’t know the answers, but I do know the dialog must begin.
*If you are at the point where you are ready to begin the dialog feel free to leave your comments below.  A great place to begin is to get Tulani Kinard book, ‘ No Lye’, and Pamela Ferrel’s book, Let’s Talk Hair.