His hair straighten cream was found accidentally when trying to find a solution to ease friction on sewing machines in his tailor shop.
Regardless of formula, relaxers are always alkaline to some degree, so it is prudent to neutralize or even slightly acidify the hair with a suitable shampoo immediately afterward.
Garrett Augustus Morgan observed that it is possible to change the basic structure of the hair shaft when certain chemicals penetrate the cuticle layer.
On application, the caustic "lye cream" permeates the protein structure of the hair and weakens its internal bonds, causing the natural curls to loosen out as the entire fiber swells open.
No special deactivation step is required after washing the lye cream out, other than the routine pH adjustment and hair-conditioning.
In this instance, the "base" refers to a preliminary coating of petroleum jelly onto the scalp to protect it from being irritated or burned by the lye cream.
Because of increasing awareness of the potential dangers of sodium hydroxide found in traditional relaxer formulas, many women have begun abandoning them.
The last of these is not pre-formulated, but rather is generated at the time of use by combining a cream containing calcium hydroxide (slaked lime) with an "activating solution" of guanidine carbonate.
Perm salt is a chemical reducing agent which selectively weakens the hair's cystine bonds instead of disrupting the entire protein, but strips out the natural oils even more thoroughly than the alkali hydroxide products.
[3] A Down Perm (Korean: 다운 펌) is a type of hair relaxing product used in Asia with its origins in South Korea.
Phthalates from cosmetic products can be inhaled or absorbed by the skin and these have been shown to have estrogenic effects in cell models and experimental animals.
[7] A potential causal link between relaxers and breast cancer was found by researchers associated with the Black Women’s Health Study [1] The Food and Drug Administration is proposing a ban on using the chemical formaldehyde as an ingredient in hair relaxers, citing its link to cancer and other long-term adverse health effects.