STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

kmd · Kate Spade

has anyone relaxed their curly hair?

nunzi182 · Kate Spade

I used to get my hair relaxed every three months. After about a year or so my hair broke off in a huge chunk near the root from overprocessing it so I stopped after that. After about two years I decided to get Japanese Thermal straightening which is so overpriced in my opinion. I don't know how curly your hair is and how resistant it is when you give yourself a blow out, that will factor in to your results. My hair is extremely "crazy". It takes me forever to blow it out and when it's dry it's not straight. More like a puffy wavy mess, I then have to go over it with my flat iron to get it sleek looking. I also have hair that has to be washed every other day so I can't get much out of a blow out.

That being said, after I relaxed my hair (with both types) I still had to blow it out with a brush and use a flat iron in some parts. It was much easier, but still very time consuming. Also, getting touch ups can be very expensive and growing it out is a b&tch because the top gets curly and kinks up while the rest of your hair is kind of just hanging there.

I don't know if that answered any of your questions, but I'd be happy to answer any more that you may have

tri_sarah_tops · Marc Jacobs

I've had the Japanese Thermal straightening as well. My hair is more wavy than curly, probably a mix of 2c/3. The process did absolutely no damage to my hair and it worked really well. My hair was really long though, and after having it straightened I couldn't get it to hold any sort of body - it was so limp and flat. After a couple of months I chopped it to chin level and then I liked it much better - it was super straight, obviously but I could still get volume. It was the easiest hair ever - I could just get out of the shower and literally do nothing to my hair and it looked great.

I like my long hair much better wavy, but if I cut it I'd consider having this done again.

kmd · Kate Spade

How do you figure out what type of curl you have? I find it kind of confusing... maybe I'm not getting something.
My hair is really thick, kind of wild, curly, but not spiral curls. Some are looser kind of waves- when I straighten it or blow it out, it still has a lot of body. Do you think it would be possible to get it relaxed to just waved rather than dead straight? I am kind of worried about what it would look like when it starts growing out, but would like the option to have it wavy and straighten when I feel like it. Too much to ask? Would you dare do it yourself??

tri_sarah_tops · Marc Jacobs

It sounds like you might be a 3a/b combination. I go by the guide at naturallycurly.com.
http://www.naturallycurly.com/hair-types

In their forum they also have boards for each curl type so it's a great place to reference pictures, etc.

I'm not sure if you can relax it to make the curl just a bit looser, but I don't know why you wouldn't be able to. If it will make your hair more manageable, go for it. I found this on yahoo answers, but I have no idea how accurate the response is.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090125155910AAKxefK

nunzi182 · Kate Spade

You can reduce the curl without making it super straight. My salon does this through a cold process, rather than heat. The heat makes it straight and the cold one just reduces the curl to a wave. I wouldn't recommend doing it yourself, from what I understand if done wrong, it can be very damaging.

kmd · Kate Spade

Thank you so much, ladies. You've been a HUGEEEEEEEE help!!! I just don't think I can go another summer with a big hair poof. evileye