It all starts with a dissatisfaction of our natural hair. Every time you look in the mirror, you wish that your natural hair was better. And in the pursuit of having the perfect hair, we apply all sorts of products to get our hair looking the way we think we want it to.
Relaxers, texturizers, hair sprays and even some hair creams could be extremely harmful to your hair. On the surface, those products seem to give the results that you have been looking for but at the expense of the health of your hair. They contain several harsh chemicals like sodium hydroxide (lye), calcium hydroxide or guanidine hydroxide (no-lye), and hydrogen peroxide to get your hair to behave in the nature and style that you desire. But leaves the health of your hair in a very bad state.
These chemicals can be so harsh for our delicate hair because they negatively affect the pH level of the hair. The continuous application of these harmful hair products would continue to destroy the hair.
Here are some of the reasons why chemicals are bad for your hair.
- Chemicals will stunt hair growth
Our hair needs the right environment, pH level and moisture to grow. Using these harsh chemical in your hair products, especially relaxers and texturizers, go deep into the scalp. It strips the hair of its moisture.
The worse part about chemicals most especially the ones in hair relaxers is that the chemicals used to relax the hair also inhibit its growth.
- Chemicals will thin your hair
The continuous application of perms, relaxers, texturizers and other chemical-based hair products will wear our hair out. At each application, the chemicals start to weaken the hair strands and most times it leads to having split ends. When you apply a relaxer, the part that suffers the most is your natural hairline. The front of your hair gets so thin that it could start to break which could damage the hair-line severally.
- Chemicals will lead to breakage and hair loss
These chemicals can also lead to overall hair breakage and loss. The chemicals in hair products can make your hair lose its elasticity which will make your hair fragile and cause it to break.
- Chemicals can burn your scalp
Ladies believe that when they leave a relaxer or texturizer longer in their hair, they’ll get better results. Especially if they have very coarse hair like me (I have a 4c type hair). The truth is that the longer you leave those products in your hair, the more your scalp burns. This will cause serious pain from the burn or irritation. The pain gets worse when hair products that contain alcohol are applied to your hair.
With all these problems, the best decision you could ever make is to go natural and stay natural. I have not applied any form of chemical on my hair for over a year now and I can’t remember the last time my hair was this healthy.
My hair is full, strong and growing quickly and beautifully. I must confess, the journey to falling in love with my natural afro hair has been long and hard. It took seeing how lovely my daughter’s natural hair is, to get me to transition to natural hair. But I am happy I have finally embraced it. It is very difficult to maintain my natural hair. It is quite dry and does not retain moisture easily, so I like to have it in a protective style for as long as possible, and rock my fancy wigs. But as soon as my hair grows to the desired length I am after, I would start to style it a bit more.
What do you think of these harsh chemicals in hair products?
Hey Girl Great post!
I totally agree with you! 💯
Hugz, Miss B.💋
Thanks Miss B x
You’re welcome Dear! 😀😄💋
Interesting post – I chose to stop washing my hair as often to give it more of a break from chemicals and it’s really helped the condition.
Ah nice Claire.
I think that they’re horrible as well and lead to so many problems.
Yea they usually do.
I agree with you that chemicals can do a lot of damage to the hair. It’s really important to embrace what you have, and be happy with it
Yea it is Zena.
I totally agree with you. I try to leave by hair at least 3 days inbetween washing. I use products from my hairdressers they use. Meaning there shampoo conditioner and weekly treatment.
The colour my hair is in the avatar of me is no more I had it like that for 9 months. Bleaching is bad is your hair.
I still have it coloured (greys will not be seen on me) however the colours are natural
Yea natural products are the best.
Its so true, I rarely use products because my hair is very susceptible to being brittle. Your natural hair is lovely xx
Thanks Ana xx
Totally agree, I totally try and avoid products with chemicals in because I loose a lot of hair
Yea me too.
I agree. Honestly, I used to relax my hair all time, but I realized it was damaging my hair. So I stopped.
Ah good you stopped.
I have to say, I’ve put my hair through a lot of chemicals – I bleach it before dying pink. But I try to use more natural styling products to counteract it!
Yea natural products are the best.
My hair is very damaged by chemicals and heat. I bleach my hair and straighten it a lot. I’ve recently started to take a lot better care of it x
Ah good. You will notice an improvement soon am sure x
My mummy is guilty of using hairspray every once in a while, but she doesn’t use straightners and washes her hair once a week, so I suppose it’s everything in moderation. x
Yea I guess that is the case for many x
Yes chemicals are so bad for your hair – I have been natural hair for almost 4years now and my hair is down my back! Its amazing how fast it grew when I stopped putting perms in my hair! Good Luck with your growth, beautiful!
Oh wow. I can’t wait for mine to grow longer. Thanks Candice.
I must admit since adding ombre to my hair, it hasn’t been in such bad condition. It bleached a bit beforehand. Now it is thinner, frizzier and just constantly knotting even straight after brushing. Just had a hair treatment at hairdresser today, and hope it will get better. Even the products they suggest for colour treated hair is bad for you. There is not enough information about what is actually healthy for your hair. It’s all sell, sell! Fab post :)x
I hope it gets better soon Jodie x
Beautiful post. Very true tips. Thanks for sharing. Love you.
Thanks Osime. Glad you like the post.
I completely agree. I have never used harsh chemicals in my hair (ok, there was a brief stint in the early 90s where a considerable quantity of hairspray was used, but that’s it) and as a result my hair has always been in really good condition. Same with my skin. I only use water to clean my face, and a light simple moisturiser in the morning, and I’ve never had any problems. Keep it natural. 🙂
Ah nice. The more natural, the better..
So many of my friends have beautiful, natural afro hair and it looks so, so good! They also swear by not using any harsh chemicals on their hair so you’re definitely doing it right!
Thanks Elodie..
Good stuff. My mom never let me get a perm when I was young. I have actually never had a perm and I appreciate posts like this. I will share this info with other friends who are considering going natural.
Oh good. Please do.
I agree, we need to love our hair, sometimes we also don’t have the patience to style, especially when it’s very coarse and thick. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for reading Shelly.
Wonderful article 🙂
I also have a similar one. You can check here – https://thefashiondesert.wordpress.com/2017/01/04/hair-fall-rescue-part-1
If you like it please Follow me , I will follow you back also 🙂
Good day dear !
I found this post really interesting, I’m definitely guilty for using chemicals in my hair more than I really should! x
Glad you found it helpful Emmie.
Great post!!! I think you have hit the nail on the head with what chemicals do to our hair.. damage, burn, weaken… I too didn’t realise how beautiful and strong my natural hair could be until I gave it a chance. It’s a great and healthy decision to be natural. Not just for your hair but for accepting all of yourself the way you are!! Thanks again for the post 🙌🏾🎉😍
Thanks for reading..I am loving how healthy my hair is now.
Chemicals are Chemicals! That’s how they can destroy your hair! You may want to try this Natural and Chemical Free Hair Shampoo! Check this out!
Thanks. I will.
Nice post! Going natural is not just good for your hair its good for your soul too!
Yes it is.
This is v informative!!! Really interesting 🙂 x
Thanks Ema x
Very helpful post, love it.
Glad you found it helpful.