Should I Highlight My Hair?

Question by FashionJunkie: Should I highlight my hair?
So today will be the first time I’m highlighting my hair. But I haven’t had a relaxer in a month, and I have new hair growth. SO should I highlight my hair first and blow dry it out and THEN put the relaxer in? Cause I really need a perm.
Is this a good idea?

Best answer:

Answer by Sur La Mer
No.
Relaxers & other chemicals are damaging to hair, specially your kind of hair, together may cause instant hair loss. Playing with chemicals is not like playing with clothes, there are penalties for playing chemicals in the lab. Even hair color experts at the salon are not rocket scientists, they do a bang up dye jobs to their clients or their own hair. Google the FDA website & search for Hair Dye & Relaxers.

I wouldn’t recommend them. There are many brands of hair straightening out there and they call them anyway they want to get your attention. Coco is another name brand. Some Japanese hair straightening processes can damage the hair and leave it flat and lifeless.
None is better than the other.

Keratin are not approved by the FDA. Visit their website & search for it in their web. If you’re thinking about the Brazilian treatment, there’s a danger about using formaldehyde, a chemical that causes cancer. The FDA does not restrict the use of that chemical in cosmetics.

A hairstylist in Portland, Or. is blowing a whistle on the treatment.
“A big red flag: About a month after she started using Brazilian Blowout on clients, Scrutton had the first nosebleed of her life.”
(Type it in if they moved the page. “After hairstylist becomes suspicious of Brazilian Blowout, tests find formaldehyde”.

Canada had issued a public health warning regarding Brazilian Blowout and has stopped the distribution of their salon product; Ireland has also issued a recall. ~ Also published in Vogue Feb. 2011.

Stylists and clients often wear gas masks or other protective equipment and still may feel the ill effects of this potentially fatal gas.

Many customers and stylists do not know that this Brazilian treatment often contains high concentrations of formaldehyde, a cancer-causing chemical.

Relaxers are for permanent, but they are damaging to hair.

Go to the FDA website & type in permanent or relaxers so you understand what are the side effects.

Here’s the newest news:
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently seized tens of thousands of bottles of “Rio” hair relaxer products after determining they can cause severe hair loss or turn hair green.
http://blog.taragana.com/business/2010/0…

The FDA have warned consumers not to use “Rio Hair Naturalizer Systems,” a product imported from Brazil and sold through television infomercials by World Rio Corp. of Los Angeles.

The official complaints against hair straightening products range from serious hair breakage and hair damage to serious scalp burns that may require an emergency room visit.

Examples of what one suffering severe hair loss after Japanese Hair Straightening from YA HAIR:
I got my hair rebonded back in March and have lost more than a third of it since then. Everytime I run my hands through my hair, I lose 7-10 strands on average!
In the shower I lose clumps after shampooing and conditioning.
Bald spots are showing up in my hair.
I used to have beautiful thick hair, ho can I get it back?

Another ex: I used to have very curly, beautiful hair..and then i got it chemically straightened..DONT DO IT! when it started growing out, it was mess and even more difficult to work with than before. and once it was completely grown out, my hair was no longer curly..it is now this aweful wavy mess, and only certain spots are still curly.

Another example: I don’t recommend it. Hair went back to normal even before 4 months (it stated that the Keratin would stay on for 4months). Soft rebonding would be the better choice. I think the KeraStraight was a scam. Even the KeraStraight shampoo/conditioner did no contribution. It was a complete waste of money :/ However it was straight for awhile. But not very long.

Source(s):
I know hair. I have 4 decades of hair know-how. I have silky, shiny, soft, smooth very healthy hair down to my knees. Previously damaged by perming & dyeing in the 80’s & 90’s. I’ve known people in their 30’s whose hair stopped growing from ironing their hair in the 70’s.

Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!