Answering a Reader Question #38

Anonymous Wrote:

I really love this blog you have! You have helped so many people! I have a question though.

I'll give a little unnecessary back history lol (you can skip it if you want to to the last paragraph).

I'm 15, I was a little kid model/actress, but my mom wanted me to focus on school. She's now letting me decide for myself if I want to pursue it again. I've decided that because of my height (5'10ish) that I should model (which I love to do) and transition into acting (which I also love to do) when I get older. While I work on my inches (I'm about 3 inches off on my hips and waist), we're also wondering what to do with my hair. I've had it relaxed before, but stopped when I was eight and have gotten it straightened for awhile now.

I'm African-American, so I was wondering do you suggest getting my hair relaxed or straightening it?

Sorry for how long this is.

Thank you for the kind words and never apologize for the length of a question. As you can see, I have a bad habit of writing really long posts and responses lol. As far as your hair goes, I would recommend choosing the method that is more convenient for you and is the best for the health of your hair. If straightening is what you've been doing then you should stick to it. I heard a recent horror story of a young lady who wanted to try relaxing her hair after using straightening as her method for years. Unfortunately, she had a bad case and lost a lot of hair due to the chemicals...even though she used to get it relaxed back in the day, for whatever reason her hair did not take well to the process at all. For that reason alone I would suggest being very wary of introducing your hair to relaxing chemicals. I have been relaxing my hair for many, many years so my experiences have been good because that's all my hair has known (plus tons of deep conditioning treatments!).

However, if you do choose to relax, go to a pro at a salon and get someone you trust to do it for you...maybe do a test strand first and see what happens. It's better to be safe than sorry, especially when it comes to your hair. But if you've had successful results with straightening then stick to what you know best.

Hope that helps and good luck on your future endeavors with getting back into the industry!!!