Managing natural kinky hair can be tiring, painful, and boring. Do you wish to try out new styles with your hair and get different? Combing is painful, you would gladly jump at anything to make it less painful but you don’t want a relaxer on that kinky? This will interest you!
A texturizer is probably all you need to make that change to your hair. Here’s all you need to know about a texturizer before you try it out.
A texturizer is a chemical process, it smoothes your hair without taking out the natural curls, texturizer allows you to keep your natural curls while it makes your hair a little loose, shiny, and of course, beautiful.
Surprisingly, the texturizer has been around for a long while, dating back to the 1990s, it is most used by African American women. The texturizer does have a permanent effect on your hair, however, it doesn’t completely straighten your hair. The texturizer is also known as a “mini relaxer”.
Is the texturizer the same as a relaxer?
- Perfect for: Naturally, tightly-coiled hair.
- Suitable for: All natural curly hair types.
- Use as a gentle texturizing treatment
- Use as a curl re-arranger
- Stretches natural curls. Improves manageability for tight curls.
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Although a lot of people with natural hair want a product that will soften their hair, they do not want their hair straightened totally, hence the question; Is the texturizer also a relaxer? Although a texturizer and relaxer have slight differences, they are still different.
A texturizer isn’t the same as a relaxer and that is for the following reasons.
A relaxer straightens the hair, while the texturizer only loosens the curls and makes it soft. The composition of the relaxer is quite different from the texturizer, hence its name “mild relaxer”. They are both chemical processes that have an effect on the hair permanently but the texturizer doesn’t last on the hair while the relaxer takes longer on the hair.
The relaxer damages the hair more than the texturizer does. The texturizer is formulated to be left on the hair for about 5-10 minutes, while the relaxer is to stay on the hair for about 15-20 minutes to completely straighten the hair.
What are the benefits of a texturizer?
- It makes the hair soft: you’ll agree that the most important reason everyone is running after the texturizer is so that they can have softer and easier hair to comb. We all love our natural kinky hair but we’ll give almost anything to have them soft and still not straightened out. Texturizer will leave your hair curly and most importantly soft.
- It makes your hair longer: the texturizer makes your hair longer due to the stretching effect in the texturizer, your hair doesn’t just stay curly but longer too.
- Less harsh chemicals: many people with natural hair choose to stay that way even though it’s sometimes painful because of the harsh chemicals that have been discovered in the relaxer. However, the texturizer has less harsh chemicals than the relaxer. So you get almost the same result for less harmful chemicals.
Before going ahead to purchase a texturizer
It is important to also check for the negative effects before making the decision to purchase and use one.
- Chemical processes : whether harsh or mild, chemicals are bad for the hair. They have negative effects on the hair in the long run. Chemicals alter the natural makeup of the hair and cause breakage and other issues.
- Weak hair strand: as you add chemicals often, your hair strands become weak over time, because it has been stripped of its natural oil which will then cause breakage.
- Dry scalp: generally using chemicals on the hair will leave the scalp dry and flaky. Moisturizing the hair before the application of the texturizer will prevent it from getting really dry.
- Hair color: the hair color is likely to change, this can happen from frequently applying texturizer to the hair.
- You cannot have texturized hair and still claim to have natural hair. If at all, you want to have that kinky hair back, you either cut your hair and start all over or you trim your hair gradually as your hair grows.
Texturizers have proven to be good and helpful for a lot of people who have gotten frustrated and bored with their natural hair. The next time you’re faced with the option of what to do with your natural hair, consider trying out a texturizer.
Read next: How to Stop Natural Hair From Breaking And Shedding
