Consultants advise going to a salon for a texture launch service (any remedy coping with chemical compounds which have the potential to burn you is finest left to the professionals), however it’s attainable to purchase an at-home package. Most, like this one from Avalon, include a bond-breaking lotion together with a shampoo, conditioner, and a neutralizing answer. 

What’s the distinction between a texture launch and a relaxer? 

Texture releases (that are additionally known as texturizers however we’re utilizing the time period texture launch all through this text) are much like relaxers in method — the distinction is the quantity of lively ingredient used. Conventional relaxers use extra lively as a result of the aim is to get curly hair bone straight. Texture releases use much less as a result of the tip sport is to not straighten the hair, however reasonably loosen the curl. “After I was engaged on formulating relaxers, we’d simply put a decrease quantity of lively in a texture launch product and alter the directions to say, ‘do not go away it on the hair as lengthy’,” says Douglas. 

There aren’t any set rules round what degree the lively needs to be in a relaxer versus a texturizer, however Douglas says texturizers use roughly 35 to 50 p.c much less calcium hydroxide or sodium hydroxide than a regular-strength relaxer. The quantity varies by model.

Although stylists have been utilizing relaxers to carry out texture releases for years, each Douglas and Michaella Blisset Williams, hairstylist and proprietor of New York Metropolis-based hair studio [Salon] 718, warn in opposition to utilizing an at-home relaxer package to realize a texture launch. Doing so dangers inflicting pointless harm to your hair since you received’t have the ability to correctly gauge the period of time to depart the combination in — it’s not so simple as leaving it in for a shorter time frame since you don’t know a lot of the lively product is current, Douglas provides. 

As for upkeep, Williams suggests purchasers are available in twice a yr for a touch-up on a texture launch to ensure new development on the root matches the remainder of the curl sample. As a result of relaxers change the hair texture so dramatically, they require extra frequent touch-ups, with about eight weeks in between every remedy to straighten out the roots. 

Do texture releases harm the hair?

Any remedy that entails completely breaking the disulfide bonds within the hair will trigger some harm. (Breakage and thinning are the commonest forms of harm associated to texture releases and relaxers.)  In terms of a texture launch, it is about inflicting simply the correct amount of harm to realize the specified outcome. “Breaking bonds within the hair to loosen your curl sample may make the hair weaker,” Douglas explains. However “you haven’t essentially broken the hair. You have got modified the biology or chemistry of your hair,” she provides. When completed accurately, a texture launch could make tight curls and coils extra manageable with out compromising the well being of the hair dramatically. You possibly can reduce down on styling time, and warmth kinds like silk presses will final quite a bit longer.