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Ten Reasons Not to Buy Lye or "No Lye" Relaxers for Children
The Damages of Chemical Relaxers. By Talibah Newman

1) Self Hatred is a deadly disease.

• Through continuously straightening an African American child’s hair to make it more manageable one could be placing a seed of hatred in the child because the new look is one of a European standard of beauty. Most African American children are not familiar with what their natural hair looks like and neither do their peers so they are not taught to respect and love it.

2) Lye Relaxers are subject to cause alopecia areata and male patterned baldness in 60% of men women and children who use Lye Relaxers on a normal basis say once every four weeks.

3) A child's head is not strong enough to handle a
lye relaxer such as Dark and Lovely, Just For Me, Motions, Empress,
African Gold, African Pride, Bantu, Soft and Beautiful & Cream of Nature.
• These relaxers are formulated with Sodium Hydroxide. They are also referred to as 'alkaline relaxers' because they contain alkaline caustics, which can cause chemical burns similar to those a person would get if they came in contact with a strong acid.
• The pH levels are higher than no-lye relaxers. the pH is of 12-14, which is extremely high and these relaxers are formulated with Sodium Hydroxide.
• The higher the pH the greater risk of damage and hair loss.
• The “no lye” relaxers are formulated without Sodium Hydroxide and instead are created with calcium hydroxide, guanidine carbonate, and ammonium thioglycolate to make guanidine hydroxide.
• The ingredients found in Relaxers such as the Sodium Hydroxide are found in drain cleaners, bleach, oven cleaners, toilet cleaners, and other household cleaning supplies
4) Though the combination in “no lye” relaxers results in less scalp damage than lye relaxers the damage to the scalp can potentially be the same if not used properly.



5) The FDA lists hair relaxers and hair dyes among its top consumer complaint areas.

6) Lye and No Lye Relaxers can cause severe burns when irresponsibly placed on the scalp of a child.
• Dr. Gary Wasserman, chief of the medical toxicology section at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, MO., still recalls an incident from thirty years ago in which a two year old boy got a taste of a caustic cleaning agent similar to these relaxers and suffered burns in his esophagus and stomach to the point to where he had to get a new esophagus and stomach using a portion of his bowel.
• Scarring is the ultimate concern of the chemists and doctors testing these products because some of the scarring can only be removed through surgical procedures.

7) The hair is made up of protein and this protein is necessary to promote the growth, strength, and health of the hair.
• Hair relaxers and perms destroy the protein that makes up the hair by rearranging and breaking the bonds that hold the hair in its natural shape.

8) Hair Relaxers are expensive and the price paid for using them incorrectly is non refundable and irreversible in most cases.
• Most visits to the beauty shop cost approximately $50 to get a perm and most people who use perms get them at least 13 weeks out of the year, thus accruing a beauty bill of nearly $700.

9) The time, patience, and treatment of a child with alopecia areata damage caused from extensive use of permanents is immense and oftentimes discouraging.
• The FDA and Board of Cosmetology have not done enough extensive research to explain and warn of the dangerous effects of hair relaxers due to the capital boom of the cosmetology industry and the high demand dollars that particularly blacks spend on hair care.

10 ) The period of age 5-12 is a very crucial time for child development and when a child has low self esteem due to poor self image during this time the results are often times difficult to reverse.
• More than 40% of African American girls have a case of hair loss or alopecia areata by the time they reach the age of 16 and are forced to thus wear wigs and weaves for the rest of their lives to cover up the damage.

INFORMATION TO KEEP IN MIND:

Sodium hydroxide is the strongest of the three relaxers and will provide the most dramatic results. Sodium hydroxide is a caustic type of chemical that actually softens hair fibers. The chemical also causes the hair to swell at the same time. As the sodium hydroxide solution is applied to the hair, it penetrates into the cortical layer and breaks the cross-bonds.

The cortical layer is the middle or inner layer of the hair shaft that provides the strength, elasticity and shape of the curly hair.

Depending on various factors and the condition of the hair to be straightened, the strength of the sodium hydroxide solution may vary anywhere from 5 to 10 percent.

Guanidine hydroxide relaxers are referred to as the "no-lye" relaxers and they tend to be less damaging than sodium hydroxide relaxers. These products, however, still may do some damage to the hair. It can definitely de-fat the scalp.

Guanidine hydroxide relaxers usually require conditioning treatments before and after. These relaxers are a mixture of calcium hydroxide cream with guanidine carbonate "activator" solution.

Ammonium thioglycolate (nicknamed "thio relaxer") is much less drastic in its action than the sodium hydroxide and even, in some cases, the guanidine hydroxide. It acts a little differently by softening and relaxing overly curly hair through changes to the hair's cystine linkage.

Thio works on the same formulation principles as thioglycolate permanent waves. With a pH of 9-9.5, these are also considered to be less damaging, yet still require a neutralization step. Thioglycolate relaxers are usually in cream or gel form and can be preceded by a pre-softener.

Thio relaxers are considered much milder, thus the risk of hair damage is also reduced by comparison to the sodium hydroxide, EVEN THOUGH NO RELAXER IS THE SAFEST WAY TO GO.

Please give as much thought about what you put on your head as you do your body.


By Talibah Newman Published: Sep 01, 2006
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Shugsweet. this is a good article for sure. I will pass it on al so. But this article shares good info.

Thanks for sharing, it was a good article. I copied it to send to my daughter. She made me mad one day when she put a motions perm in my grand-daughters hair and it broke her out around her edges and took some of her hair out. Her head was sore for a while, but I took care of it until it got better. I still do her hair now everyday. I told her she better not put another one in her head. She is only six years old and she didn't need one from the begining.

way to go nasalaya, play the moma card!! i do it all the time. your grandbaby will thank you.

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i found this video which is by the same man who wrote '400 YEARS WITHOUT A COMB'. it is a bit outdated but it is a good visual companion to this post.

I think that the article and the video are great information. As a woman that works in hair restoration and replacement, I see the effects of hair loss and scalp trauma every day. It has horrible effects on self-esteem and sometimes ability to be successful in an adult's chosen career, much less the social aspect for children. Thank you for helping to spread information to help other people from making these types of mistakes. I learn something new every time I log in here and hope to keep the information flowing!