Ok… my idea for today has gone horribly wrong! Well, I take that back. Just the result of my research is not what I expected. I heard [read] about a method of relaxing [or texturizing] hair that is chemical free. Of course that peaked my interest. So my first thought was “How does that work?!”
What I found is that it is chemical free [not according to my standards]… but I think it is more appropriately classified as no-lye. The company [Phyto] claims the active ingredients in their Phytorelaxer are derived from egg and soya. How so? Those ingredients are waaaaay at the bottom of the list! I guess that doesn’t really matter… I did however find guanidine carbonate in the ingredients list. Guanidine carbonate is derived from mushroom salts. It is listed in other no-lye relaxer treatments, but I have never seen it stand alone. It is usually accompanied by some sort of hydroxide (calcium hydroxide for example). Knowing this, I am skeptical about how this relaxer can be effective without the aid of some other base…
In defense of the product [this was not meant to be a product review… see horribly wrong!] it has received rave reviews by those who use it. It has a reputation of being much gentler and more nourishing than the more widely known relaxers. This may be due to all the extra steps included in the kit, but who really cares… it works right?!