The treatment of hair fibers with relaxer creams for a duration of 15 to 20 min leaves hair fibers considerably damaged, dry and rough in tactile feel. The damaging effects of relaxers are discussed below. Most relaxer creams are comprised of active ingredients like sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, lithium hydroxide or guanidine two-component system. During the process of relaxing, one-third of the cystine bonds are modified permanently to lanthionine bonds, which decrease the elasticity and tensile strength along with cuticular damage done to the surface of the hair.
The stress-strain curves show the degree of loss of elasticity and tensile strength in Figure 3 due to the treatment of relaxer creams. The damaging effects of hair relaxer creams are not limited to a significant loss in elasticity and tensile strength; they include other damages such as osmotic swelling. Generally, this swelling is out of control.
The hair ruptures and develops cracks both longitudinally and radially as shown in the electron micrograph in Figure 4. Over a period of time, these cracks are further prone to insult by the bristles of the styling brush or teeth of the styling comb. The removal of cuticles is not only seen by SEM micrographs but can also be quantified by using a modified technique of Sandhu et aI, where loss of cuticles is measured as hydrolyzed protein via the Lowry Spectrophotometric Assay.
Other damaging effects of relaxing creams are an increase in hair porosity, a decrease in the moisture content of hair and a rough, tactile feel of hair after the relaxing process. The elimination or alleviation of all the various damaging effects have been the objective of this study. The following techniques are employed to reduce these damaging effects.
Here, a relaxer formula containing cationic polyamines of high molecular weight , to 1,, was compared to a control formula without the cationic polyamines. The formulas are shown in Table 1. Twelve-inch long hair fibers of similar diameter microns were obtained from DeMeo Brothers, New York. Each fiber was then cut in half and crimped into 30mm sections using a crimp press.
The hair section closest to the root was designated as the control,and the section downstream was used for the experimental relaxer. The tensile strength of the treated fibers with control relaxer without cationic polyamine was determined under wet conditions using a tensile tester.
The experimental group was treated with relaxer containing cationic polyamine. The tensile strength of these fibers was determined in exactly the same manner as in the control group. The data for both groups of fibers is shown in Tables 2a and 2b. The swelling studies were done using a laser micrometer that measures the major and minor axis of the fiber simultaneously. Again, Caucasian hair from DeMeo Brothers was used because of its relative uniformity compared to excessively curly hair, which tends to be highly irregular in its diameter as shown in previous studies by Syed et al.
These fibers were then immersed in relaxer for 18 min. After 18 min, excess relaxer was gently removed, and the diameter measured again. The diameter measurements were continued through the rinsing phase. Figure 5 shows a graph comparing hair fiber swelling in hair relaxer without any de-swelling ingredients vs. Hair fibers treated with the control relaxer without any deswelling ingredients exhibited a swelling of Hair fibers using cream relaxer with starch hydrolysates swelled to Therefore, hair fibers treated with relaxer containing starch hydrolysates and other de-swelling ingredients exhibited significantly less swelling compared to relaxer without de-swelling ingredients.
When cationic polyamines and starch hydrolysates are used together in hair relaxers, they leave hair visibly and measurably healthier. The tensile-strength results of hair treated with relaxer containing these ingredients vs a control without these ingredients are shown in Tables 4a and 4b. Figure 6 shows a scanning electron micrograph of a hair fiber treated with relaxer containing polyamine and hydrogenated starch hydrolysate.
The cuticles lay flat and there are no visible cracks in the upper surface of the hair due to de-swelling. Combing force: An exact amount 6 g of hair relaxer without cationic polyamine was applied to 2 g of hair for 18 min. The tress was next rinsed with water and tested for ease of wet combing using a combing device set at parameters described in Table 5. This tress was then shampooed using 1 ml of non-detangling, neutralizing shampoo and tested again for ease of wet combing using the combing device.
The area under the combing curve was calculated for determining the work done in Joules to comb hair in each ease. The above experiment was repeated for the experimental hair relaxer, which contained 1.
The results of this experiment are shown in Table 6. The hair relaxer containing cationic polyamine makes hair combing easy, as evident from the percent decrease in comb work shown in the last column of the Table 6. If it is chemically damaged, it absorbs more water as compared to healthy, undamaged hair. Many specialists of hair care equate the degree of damage with the magnitude of porosity of hair. One widely used method for determining porosity is described by E.
Three tresses were treated with hair relaxer containing cationic polyamine and hydrogenated starch hydrolysate for 18 min each. Before creating hair relaxers, he invented many objects we use for public safety, such as three-position traffic signals.
He also invented safety hoods and smoke protectors. The idea for hair relaxers came from working on sewing machines in his workshop. He found that chemicals used to repair sewing machines relaxed the curls of kinky hair. His first live test subject was an Airedale dog, a breed that has naturally curly hair.
The same results occurred when he tested the chemicals on his own head. In , Morgan founded the G. Morgan Hair Refining Company. Hair relaxer?
Yes, hair relaxer. Is this what is equated with Black History Month and all of the empowering connotations that are supposed to be packaged with the term?
It seems to me that if a national supermarket chain wanted to profit off this most un-commercial holiday while at the same time being culturally sensitive, the display would be more appropriate in maybe the peanut butter aisle.
But instead of choosing to market something without even putting it on sale that evokes educational images of black people in history, ironically the only thing being marketed is a toxic chemical concoction, which was originally promoted in the late 19th century as a way for black people to diminish their African roots to assimilate with White culture. Today, one of the most talked about and politicized aspects of Black women, of all things, is hair.
There are magazines, multi-billion dollar corporations and polarized political debates. The last thing I want to add to the exploding politically-charged debate about the wrongs and rights of chemically-relaxed hair versus natural hair is another indignant opinion piece, but in order for the rest of society to understand just how frustrating such a sign is to this writer, there needs to be some background black history of how the relaxer came to be popularized.
In an attempt to assimilate into white society, black women in 19th century America found that the more European traits they had, the higher class they could be. The less apparent their African roots were — the more bleached and straightened their features were — the more refined less savage they could be considered.
It soon became popular culture to straighten kinky hair with greases, oils, straightening combs and hellish amounts of heat after a chemical hair relaxer was discovered and then marketed by an African American man named Garrett Augustus Morgan in the early 20th century.
The contemporary use of hair relaxer is marketed to and used predominantly by black women. The process in the past few decades has become so prevalent that most black women have not considered its origins. Relaxer has been so normalized into American culture that many women no longer consider it a way to diminish their African roots in order to assimilate; they simply consider it the way to manage kinky hair.
Some black women are in favor of relaxer because they say it simply makes hair more manageable. But because most of us are raised in a culture where it is normal to spend so much money and time on the straightening of hair, I suppose I can see why no one else seems to think twice about such an insulting sign.
The more money a black woman makes, the more she is able to spend on her hair and so financially successful women show off their prosperity with the status symbol of salon-straightened hair. His hair straighten cream was found accidentally when trying to find a solution to ease friction of sewing machine in his tailor shop.
Can you get cancer from straightening your hair? Scientists at the National Institutes of Health found that women who use permanent hair dye and chemical hair straighteners have a higher risk of developing breast cancer than women who don't use these products.
The study published online Dec. What is a natural hair relaxer? It's a gentle natural hair relaxer, and hair strengthener, not straightener. It does not permanently alter the structure of the hair. Are no lye relaxers safe? Research has shown that this combination in "no lye" relaxers results in less scalp irritation than lye relaxers, but the same safety rules apply for both.
They should be used properly, left on no longer than the prescribed time, carefully washed out with neutralizing shampoo, and followed up with regular conditioning. What is permanent hair straightening? Permanent hair straightening treatments are a form of chemical processing for your hair. These treatments work for several months or more, usually lasting until new hair grows in to replace the hair that was treated.
For this reason, these processes are called permanent hair straightening. What does ammonium Thioglycolate do to hair? A solution containing ammonium thioglycolate contains a lot of free ammonia, which swells hair, rendering it permeable.
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