Last week, I stated I would share more of my permed-to-natural hair journey with you as well as some of the health and general benefits of making the switch. And in order to do so, the easiest way for me to highlight some of the noteworthy positives to natural hair is to identify some negatives to permed hair. With today’s blog post, I thought I’d go deep into a discussion on one particular drawback to getting my hair permed. I think that listing one of the negative aspects of my perm will obviously bring out how positive going “natural” truly is.
So, here’s one of the major drawbacks I experienced, regarding my permed hair:
Damage to my Scalp
Every time I was getting my perm retouched (redone), I would go through some level of “scalp burn”. What is “scalp burn?”, you might ask. Well, I was literally having layers of skin damaged because of chemical burn when the perm treatment was applied to my hair.
Now, I had a great hair stylist — one of a kind, but she could only do so much to prevent the chemical burn. After all, it’s a chemical that is changing the natural makeup of the hair. And when I look back on it, I should have really contemplated the negative ramifications of applying something to my body (that was changing its natural appearance), where the professional conducting the application had to wear gloves. Yes, that is correct. Anyone who deals with chemical hair treatments knows that gloves are worn as a protective covering to keep the hands from being exposed to the chemical. Yet, I regularly allowed my hair to be treated with that very same chemical. And just think: my scalp was adversely affected by the perm treatments. It makes me so very thankful that my brain hasn’t suffered from any aftermath. Well, at least I don’t think it has, anyway. Hee! Hee!
Again, I had a great hair stylist. She was just doing her job. It wasn’t her responsibility to talk me out of getting a perm. Perming hair was one of the areas she was professionally qualified to perform and she did her job very well. She always managed to put that mother-like touch to every visit we had, which made my time in the “chair” enjoyable. And she did the best she could with me and my fingernails-to-scalp action. She would caution me to remember not to scratch my scalp before coming for a treatment, because that action would inevitably leave the scratched areas of my scalp raw and open to be exposed to the chemical burn.
And, here’s the simple mechanics of the hair straightening process in a nutshell. The chemical application of the perm had to go directly on the hair shaft, where the new growth of hair formed since the last hair retouch (treatment). Why? Well, because the new growth hadn’t been tamed. It hadn’t been wrangled into the permed effect yet. This new hair was like a new puppy that had to be trained how to behave so as to be in accordance with the rules of the household. And at the time, my rules for my hair care regimen were to straighten up, literally. I wanted straight, easy-to-manage-and-maintain hair. So, I was willing to expose my hair and, consequently, my scalp to permed basic training. NEW GROWTH, GET YOURSELF UNDER CONTROL!
Before the treatments would start, sometimes my hair stylist would ask me if I scratched and I would usually respond with a “yes”, because my scalp would get to a point where it would get pretty itchy right before I’d come to see her again. I was unaware at the time, but I think the itchiness was actually a result of the perm drying out my hair and my lack of properly moisturizing my hair in between visits. At the time, I tended to believe that the itchiness was actually my sign to go back and get another retouch, which would of course lead to the itchiness all over again. Do you see the recurring cycle I succumbed to? Anyway, no matter how many times I would pray for relief from the impending scalp burn, I already knew that I was in for it. After all, it was my fault. I knew the consequences of scratching my scalp before a treatment. BURN!
However, there was one saving grace in the form of a base compound that my hair stylist would apply to my scalp even before applying the chemical perm. The “base” was to help provide somewhat of a protective coating for the scalp from the chemical, because the whole purpose was to apply the chemical to the hair shaft to straighten the new hair growth (not the scalp). But the problem was that the hair shaft was right up close-and-personal with the scalp. So, what’s a girl in need of a straightening to do? Well, I took my punishment from scratching like a champ and just dealt with it. The “base” helped somewhat, but there was usually some form of burning every time, without fail.
I often wonder how much damage I did to the layers of skin under my hair shaft over the many years I got my hair permed. If scalps could talk, I’m sure mine would have a story or two to tell. But no use in dwelling over missed opportunities in the past. My opportunities in the here and now tell me to keep pressing on with my natural hair and to think about all the healing that has taken place in the transition. I damaged my scalp over the course of several decades, so I’ll take the rest of the years I have left to work on its repair. Again, if scalps could talk, I’m sure mine is thanking me right now.
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