TRYING ON WIGS - WHY RELAXING YOUR HAIR IS DANGEROUS
Click the image to go to my video :)
I have been natural for a good 4.5 years now and although I have some good and bad days dealing with my natural hair I will never go back to relaxing it. The thought of putting all those chemicals on my scalp terrifies me today.
In addition to not relaxing my hair, I also stay away from hair color. With that said, I have grey hairs sprouting in the crown of my head and in my hairline! I have thought about trying those natural hair color brands but I have read many bad reviews. I almost bought henna but who has time to sit for 4-6 hours so it can process? Not me! So what’s a girl to do? Wear wigs!
I used to be anti-wigs…for many years I was the weave queen. But since my leave out began to break (due to flat iron usage) I knew that I had to either give the weaves up or take an extended break. While on my extended weave break wigs have been amazing for my hair growth, my edges and my sanity.
Check out the wigs I recently purchased from Wigtypes.com!
Model Model - Jina $18.94
Janet Collection - Helen $17.94
Model Model – Breezy $34.44
So how safe are relaxers, really?
Not very safe at all in my opinion. I remember watching “Good Hair” and when Chris Rock interviewed a scientist about the chemicals present in relaxers he was shocked that women would put that mess on their scalp. Of course the scientist was a Caucasian male and could not know the struggle black women have faced when it comes to maintaining our hair and the pressure many of us have felt to keep up with societies standard of beauty.
Just before going natural in 2011
The main reason why we should not be relaxing or coloring our hair is because the chemicals are absorbed directly into our largest and more porous organ…our skin. Once absorbed into our skin the chemicals go right into our blood stream and into other organs in our body. This happening over time…once every 6 weeks is not good for our over all health.
And don’t be fooled by the trigger words in relaxers these days “Olive Oil Hair Relaxer” “Coconut Oil Hair Relaxer” “Argan Oil Hair Relaxer”. This is similar to what the industry does with food. Stick a “healthy” trigger word into the title and all of a sudden it become healthy for you. Don’t fall for this tactic.
My afro is poppin' in 2016!
You know, I also get the plight of women who do choose to relax their hair... our hair is out crowning feature. It plays a role in our self confidence and its a personality statement also. However, it makes no sense for us to sacrifice our health for beauty. We have wigs! And there are so many talented YouTubers teaching us how to manage our unruly hair.
Whatever you do, be vigilant about what you are putting on your scalp, read the label and always think about your health for the long run.
Thank you for reading…and don’t forget to watch my YouTube video trying on the wigs pictured above.
Check out these articles on the dangers of relaxing your hair:
http://www.reverseskinaging.com/hairbiology7.html
http://www.afrostateofmind.com/are-relaxers-as-dangerous-as-cigarettes/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3746223/
