Even before Randall got his big chop, he cut down on relaxer touch-ups to twice a year instead of every few months. As a result, she started becoming more aware than ever of her natural texture peeking out from the roots, and realized that she didn’t actually know what her natural hair actually looked like.
The four women we spoke to started taking relaxers as children or teenagers, but spent decades disconnected from their natural textures. Eventually, curiosity was reason enough to meet that version of ourselves again. Wiley, Forser, Randall, and Richards also noticed that as we get older, we care less about what people think of us. “As I approached menopause and went through a lot of physical changes, I was getting really tired of performing in front of people, but I decided to just be myself,” Wiley says.
Richards has spoken of his desire to remain intact in his later years. “I always told my son, ‘When I’m 60, I’m going to cut off all my hair, dye it blonde and buy a convertible,'” she says. “As you get older, you don’t need to fit in. You’re more accepting of how you look and feel, compared to when you were younger and trying to follow trends and have long, beautiful hair.”
How do menopause and aging affect relaxed hair?
Hair damage caused by relaxers is not limited to people over 50. However, the negative effects of chemical straighteners can become more pronounced with age. “When a woman enters menopause, a phenomenon called downsizing occurs,” he says. Yolanda LenziMD, Massachusetts board-certified dermatologist. “That’s when the hair follicles become smaller.” She explains that this is caused by the significant decline in estrogen and progesterone that occurs during menopause. As a result, the hair becomes sparse. Adding relaxers to the mix can make your hair look even thinner. “Relaxers break down the disulfide bonds in your hair and straighten your curls. However, perming your hair when you’re already experiencing hair thinning will reduce the density of your hair,” she says. “Even if you have the same amount of hair, a perm can make your hair look less voluminous than your natural hair.”
Ms. Richards recalls having an experience exactly as Dr. Lenzi described. It is hair thinning caused by a combination of natural micronization processes and continuous perms. Wiley also noticed that his hair changed as he got older. My hair became even drier and more brittle, and the relaxers I’d had no problem getting for years suddenly no longer suited my hair. “I’ve never had hair this beautiful, long, flowing, relaxed. My hair was very, very short, broken and damaged.” Eventually, she had to ask herself, “Why am I doing this?”
Dr. Renzi explains that hair density isn’t the only thing that changes with age. “I’ve certainly seen changes in skin texture with aging and menopause,” she says. “If your hair was very coarse when you were younger, but now it’s thinner and looser in texture, continuing to relax your hair can cause some problems.” Dr. Renzi adds that the main risk of continuing to loosen your natural hair, which is becoming thinner and looser in texture, is that it loses density.
Source: Allure – www.allure.com
