Consultants advise going to a salon for a texture launch service (any remedy coping with chemical compounds which have the potential to burn you is greatest left to the professionals), however it’s potential to purchase an at-home equipment. Most, like this one from Avalon, include a bond-breaking lotion together with a shampoo, conditioner, and a neutralizing resolution.
What’s the distinction between a texture launch and a relaxer?
Texture releases (that are additionally known as texturizers however we’re utilizing the time period texture launch all through this text) are much like relaxers in method — the distinction is the quantity of energetic ingredient used. Conventional relaxers use extra energetic as a result of the objective is to get curly hair bone straight. Texture releases use much less as a result of the tip recreation is to not straighten the hair, however moderately loosen the curl. “After I was engaged on formulating relaxers, we might simply put a decrease quantity of energetic in a texture launch product and alter the directions to say, ‘do not go away it on the hair as lengthy’,” says Douglas.
There are not any set rules round what degree the energetic ought to be in a relaxer versus a texturizer, however Douglas says texturizers use roughly 35 to 50 p.c much less calcium hydroxide or sodium hydroxide than a regular-strength relaxer. The quantity varies by model.
Although stylists have been utilizing relaxers to carry out texture releases for years, each Douglas and Michaella Blisset Williams, hairstylist and proprietor of New York Metropolis-based hair studio [Salon] 718, warn towards utilizing an at-home relaxer equipment to attain a texture launch. Doing so dangers inflicting pointless injury to your hair since you received’t be capable of correctly gauge the period of time to go away the combination in — it’s not so simple as leaving it in for a shorter time frame since you don’t know a lot of the energetic product is current, Douglas provides.
As for upkeep, Williams suggests shoppers are available in twice a 12 months for a touch-up on a texture launch to verify new development on the root matches the remainder of the curl sample. As a result of relaxers change the hair texture so dramatically, they require extra frequent touch-ups, with about eight weeks in between every remedy to straighten out the roots.
Do texture releases injury the hair?
Any remedy that entails completely breaking the disulfide bonds within the hair will trigger some injury. (Breakage and thinning are the commonest kinds of injury associated to texture releases and relaxers.) On the subject of a texture launch, it is about inflicting simply the correct quantity of injury to attain the specified consequence. “Breaking bonds within the hair to loosen your curl sample may make the hair weaker,” Douglas explains. However “you haven’t essentially broken the hair. You will have modified the biology or chemistry of your hair,” she provides. When carried out accurately, a texture launch could make tight curls and coils extra manageable with out compromising the well being of the hair dramatically. You possibly can minimize down on styling time, and warmth kinds like silk presses will final so much longer.
