Treating Relaxer Burns

For me, there is nothing like the feel of a fresh relaxer. I love the way my hair falls and moves. How the breeze lifts the strands and tickles my scalp. Mostly I love how I can loosen up my regime for a few days and just wrap and forget my hair. It’s no fuss styling for slugs like me. At the end of the long road called stretching, I see my relaxer as a reward for weeks of effort. One of my recent relaxers though, was more torture than treat.

That day everything that could’ve gone wrong, did. The first error was that the stylist only based the front half of my head, and I didn’t even notice. As the chemical began to do its thing, I could feel a tell tale tingle near my nape and was surprised because I’m usually sitting at the sink when that happens. I said nothing until the smoothing process began, and the tiny tingle became something more persistent. That was the second mistake; remaining silent instead of speaking up right away. The stylist liberally sprayed some oil sheen on my nape which did help to cool the area down, but the feeling lasted mere moments. That was mistake number three; the cream should’ve been wiped away from my scalp since that was what was causing the pain. I had to insist on being rinsed with only minutes to go, even though the stylist wanted me to wait. My scalp was on FIRE and the pain was something out of this world. Now that’s saying something considering I’ve given birth naturally twice; without drugs! When the cool water finally ran over my head I almost wept in relief.  Who knows what would’ve happened had I held out for a few minutes longer. As it was, burns littered my scalp like land mines, exploding with pain every time my hair moved. And the breeze that once tickled my scalp now felt like a poking finger on my burns.

I hadn’t had a burn in years, and nothing of that magnitude. Some of the other clients offered their burn treatment tips like hairspray, hair grease, and hair gel. I wanted to treat my burns safely without further damage to my scalp or hair, and found these suggestions to be uniformed wives tales that wouldn’t offer me relief. Gel and hairspray have alcohol in them and other drying agents that can irritate wounds, creating greater pain. Why would you want to further inflame your already hurting skin? And hair grease or other petroleum based products seal in the heat from a burn, which can create damage under the scalp. This is how people wind up with bald patches, because they have damaged the tissue from where the hair grows.  In my cupboard at home I found the only two things I would use to heal me: Aloe vera gel and vitamin E oil. The aloe was to soothe the superficial burns along my hair line and prevent my skin from hyperpigmenting. The Vitamin E oil I used twice a day on my scalp burns, rubbing it in to soften scabs and to help speed healing of the broken skin. The scabs itched like crazy, but I had to resist picking at them. Opening the wounds would’ve created a breeding ground for bacteria and infection. Within a few days the aloe cleared up the minor burns, leaving no marks. After a week of using Vitamin E my scalp was without any tenderness or redness, and there were only two spots that still had scabs, both of which fell off on the tenth day while brushing my hair.

Let’s face it, I was lucky because it could’ve been worse. And unfortunately for many others it has been worse.  But burns can be treated safely to prevent further damage and help you enjoy your hair again.

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