a question for evil damanage

[bubblyredhead]

I have this 2 inch section in the front of my hair that kinda spirals on the last 3 inches and I was wondering which would be worse doing a " mild" relaxer on just this section or using a flat iron on it ?

[HintOfMint]

Conventional wisdom says a flat iron is the lesser of two evils, though I do not have any personal experience with relaxers.

This may not be the answer you want to hear, but could you just leave it? Random ringlets are cute and I love it when I get a spiral, same place you do.

[sfgirl]

I think a chemical straightener would be worse. You're actually changing your hair on a molecular level. Relaxers can even damage the scalp if left on too long, and sometimes if those are damaged back enough the actual follicle is permanently damaged. I say straightening on the lowest setting (get a straightener with an actual temperature thing on it!) would be less damaging, because you could just pin it back some days (which would be good to do a lot of the time), and on the other days use a low heat setting. I think if you stay in the low to mid 100's it should be fine. eventually once it gets longer, you could even micro trim off any damage that occurred. :)
Just my 2 cents :)

[Katze]

I used to use a curling iron (before flat irons were widespread) to straighten my nape hairs so they hang under my length instead of poofing out under it. they never grew long, the consistency was always dry and crackly, and these hairs broke off a lot.

Now I put more leave-in on those areas and get spiral ringlets.

Many more people besides you and I have mixed hair types, and following LHC wisdom - gentle care, knowing your hair type, and doing less damage - we find ways to deal with it.

It might be that if you do things like CO wash, leave-in on those areas, and so on, that you will find you like your waves!

[bubblyredhead]

I try to deal with it but its long enough where it flips weird compared to the rest of my hair, its only about 3 inches or so shorter than the rest of my hair so its not that it is to short or anything it just hits on the umm girls and makes it curl strange. When it frustrates me enough I use my flat iron at 150 and it does the trick for the most part. I think this is more the part of me that wishes I could just wake up with perfect hair... time to kiss fantasy goodbye and deal with the short end curl . Thanks guys