Hello Mamas,
About 2 1/2 weeks ago, my husband took our daughter (4 years old) to the barber shop and stepped out while they were working on her hair. When he came back, the lady was using a hot comb on her beautiful curls :'(. I won't digress into my opinion about all this but simply say straightening her hair was not our intention. Despite washing her hair multiple times, her perfect ringlets are not back. She had very curly hair which is now limp and only wavy in some parts. Can a hot comb permanently damage hair?
ETA: I meant her hair is curly again just not as curly as it was before.
Thanks in advance!
The owner of the salon is an old friend of my husband's so he didn't leave her alone, per se, but, yeah, we had words. She was there to get her hair braided only - I am a big advocate of natural hair. It was for our wedding. I figured it would make her feel more included since I was getting my hair done too etc.
Right now we use mixed chicks - shampoo every one or two weeks and condition evey couple of days. We also use their leave in condition. Maybe it looks more dramatic because I have never seen her hair half up for a long period of time (from the braids)... thanks for all the feedback and info! I'm trying not to care about this and y'all are making me feel better :)
Forget about the missing curly curls....who leaves a four year old alone with strangers? You could have a missing child. Dad was not thinking. Hope this was a lesson for him.
I say count your blessings, not go overboard with messing with her hair too much. Go to a kids salon or a place like supercuts, get her a nice hair cut and it will probably grow out as curly as ever.
I let my daughter, 15, get her hair straighten at the salon. It remained straight for so long it was crazy. When I washed it, it was still more straight than curly. I had to ask her and make sure the lady didn't relax her hair! After 3 washes her curls came back just like before.
Hairdressers have better technique than most. They also tend to add product that helps hold it longer. Her hair should be fine.
Good Luck.
Nope.
Curly hair shafts are SHAPED differently than straight hair.
I'm fairly sure what happened is that the oils in your daughter's hair are protecting the hydrogen bonds from reforming after having been denatured. The bonds break every time the hair gets wet, and then reform as it dries. When using a flat iron on curly hair (or blowing it out, or both), the hydrogen bonds are aligned straight. When the bonds get wet again, they break, and reform as curls. If the bonds can't get wet, though, because of the oils covering them... it will take them A WHILE to rebreak and reform again. (That's also what silicone humidity-protectant straightening products do... NOT relaxers which actually alter the bonds. The silicone cover the hair shaft protecting the hydrogen bonds between the proteins from getting wet.
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I have ringlets with a VERY strong curl pattern. I straighten my hair as a rule with a flat iron every day (I LOVE running my fingers through my hair). especially when it's cold out. When I switch back to being curly for a bit (summer)... unless I rock it out (process follows)... it's slightly less curly for about 7 washings (I wash my curls daily, or they dreadlock, I'm talking serious white-girl-curls). Then I'm back to the stupid stupid ringlets. I DO occasionally want those stupid curls back on day 1, though:
The process of rocking it out means TOTAL saturation (longer than a quick shower) to totally break all the hydrogen bonds, including washing twice (to strip it of the oils, which can block the hydrogen bonds from getting wet and reforming), then conditioning it and leaving it, then brushing while wet with conditioner in it, then twisting each curl, then rinsing, then gel (to help the hydrogen bonds reform AND not look like Mufasa), then twisting again.
All it does is ringlet me back up in a day instead of a week (Or, in your case... a day instead of... yike: 14 weeks if you're only washing every other week). Takes about 45 minutes. It's a pain. But I'm shirly temple'd up in an hour instead of a week.
I use VERY high heat, plus mild straightening chemicals, as long as I'm not doing actual relaxing (which takes over an hour, unless your husband was gone for a LONG time, then they didn't do that. ALSO costs about $400, so I'm pretty sure you'd notice)... and bam. It's back. Either in a single time of coaxing the hydrogen bonds back into their natural positions... or after a week of washing.
My sister's hair LOOKS as curly as mine, but she has a very WEAK curl pattern. When she straightens it (flat iron, not chemical), her hydrogen bonds don't reform as quickly. Even when she's all ringlet'd up... if she BRUSHES her curls, instead of spinning them, she's got wavy/straight hair. If your daughter has a very weak curl pattern, and quite a lot of oils in the shaft... it could concievably be months before all the bonds break and reform.
For a cheap gel option to help protect and reform those hydrogen bonds, I've had rather a lot of luck with Aussie Sydney Smooth... which is NOT a "curl" gel, but a slippery one... or with Garnier Fructis Curl Construct Mousse. If you want to spend a LOT of money there are better gels out there ($30-$60)... but for just getting the hydrogen bonds back in position, either of those 2 options- following some serious washing with a "clarifying" shampoo to bare the hydrogen bonds- should set you up.
I wonder if some of the shampoo that I use for curly hair would help. Pantene has one and so do many other brands. I would use some hair gel or mousse too to scrunch in when her hair is wet. Then let it dry naturally. Just to see if it is curlier when it is left with something on it to protect it a bit.
I would be talking to the place where she got this done. They need to do her hair for free and use their own product to make her hair curly again.
I am so sorry. I have a four year old girl with beautiful curls and I would be so MAD at Dad and the salon. Who uses stuff like that on kids??
Anyway, I suggest taking her to a different salon (not a barber shop) to see if they can help or at least reassure you. Use curly and hydrating shampoos and conditioners. If could be the cut is bad for curls too and with a little growth it will pop back.
My stylist told me (I have fine thin stick straight hair) that curls come from the shape of the hair follicles, so the shop may have damaged her grown hair permanently, but the new hair should be as it was when it grows out. I hope it recovers. Those ringlets are so beautiful!!
Here's a link and quote I found:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1020...
That shape depends on the shape of the hair follicle. This tiny structure guides the hair fiber up a sort of tube as it grows. The inside of the tube determines if the hair is curly or straight — ovals produce curly hair and circular tubes yield straight hair.
"If you think about gift wrapping ribbon, when you try to make it curly, you take the scissors and you pull it on one side, so you kind of flatten the one side and it curls. So you're changing the shape of one side compared to the other," says Mirmirani. "When it's oval, one side is curved and the other side is flat, which makes it curl."
Her hair needs retraining, it will be hard. I use these products to restore my hair. However, I will suggest testing it on a strand of her hair. You might want to just co-wash (conditioner wash, no shampoo).
I am so sorry that happened.
interracial issue--neither Caucasion nor afro-type hair... Little research on that hair makeup
