Relaxer Nightmare

by Alexis
(NJ)

Hi, I'm 16 years old and when I was younger I had EXTREMELY curly hair that I didn't appreciate as much as I would now. They were really pretty and long curls and my hair was really healthy.

Well, about 5 years ago I got my first relaxer. I was told it would be "perfect for my hair and leave my curls looser and less to handle". When it was wet, the curls looked nice, but when it dried it was SO big and not curly and really gross.

Then I got a different relaxer, and I'm not sure if I remember if it was worth it because I got a different one short after. So far that's a total of 3 different relaxers in less than a year. The 3rd relaxer probably was the worst. I went to Manhattan to get it done, and it took 6 hours because I was a hair model and got my hair done in front of a bunch of stylists. It did the worst damage to my hair.

Then I cut my hair to about my shoulders to get off all the dead hair. BIG MISTAKE, because my hair has not grown back since. It's been the same length for 3 years.

Then I started consistently getting my hair relaxed by one I've used before, and then I changed hair salons. I was with someone I've known my whole life and TRUSTED. I started using another different relaxer not as strong and that one was definitely the best. Even though the chemicals did well on keeping my hair easy to tame, after a few months it would wear off.

So, over the 5 year period I basically damaged my hair in a BIG way. It's been the biggest regret of mine to get my hair relaxed, not just because my curls will never be the same, but my hair is so damaged it won't grow.

But, good news! I haven't relaxed my hair in over a year! Instead I've been getting a deep conditioning process called the Keratin. Let me tell you, after having my hair through just about everything the Keratin has REALLY helped to repair my hair. It's also helping it grow longer. It hasn't grown that much, but my stylist has told me that there's only an inch left of my hair from the old relaxers which is GREAT. Just yesterday, I decided to stop straightening my hair. 3 years non-stop straightening is really bad for my hair, and if I want my hair to grow I HAVE to stop. Well, that's my storyyyy! I'm trying different things to make my hair grow, so hopefully it will!