Box Relaxers. Do you, do you?

Okay, so relaxers are costing about $50-70 every 4-6 weeks and its starting to take a toll on your pockets. So, you decide you're going to box relax...yourself.

You're going to pick a chemical off the shelf--that you've never been trained with and you're going to put it on your scalp--and hair--and you've done it before--sooo you got this. Right. That in itself doesn't even make sense and you KNOW you need to just spend the cash, however, you're going to do what you want anyway. That being said--here are somethings you should know:

1. There's no such thing as "no-lye" that's a big lie! If a relaxer contains less than a certain percentage of lye in the product, they are allowed to put "no-lye." So keep in mind while it has a less percentage the same risk is associated.

2. Base your scalp! Its imperative that you put base (Sensitive Scalp is an excellent one) all around your edges, on your ears AND part your hair and base between the parts.

3. Relaxer is not suppose to be on 1. Your ends (unless its a virgin relaxer) and 2. Your scalp. If you're relaxing your hair--follow the directions. The chemical can cause damage to your skin and dry out the hair that's been previously relaxed.

4. 15-20 minutes means just that! Leaving relaxer in for an hour, using a dryer, and other methods of "straightening" your hair until it's bone straight is damaging. No hair is going to be BONE straight. If you're relaxing to the point where its sticking to your head--that's entirely too long!

5. After you rinse the relaxer out. Put conditioner on--not neutralizer unless you're really burning. What happens is, the relaxer opens up your cuticle and by using conditioner first, its like pouring the conditioner directly into the hair shaft, giving you moisture and overall better hair. Rinse the conditioner, then neutralize at least 3 times to seal the cuticle, bring the hair back to a normal ph and ensure that all the chemical is out.

Always wear gloves! Be careful! And please--if you have children or know someone with children--please don't think that there is a such thing as a "kiddie relaxer"! NO child should be using a relaxer. Take her to a natural salon or stylist who can help!