Vigorol
Before the perms, the braids, the texturizers, and yes, a weave — I had natural hair. This weekend I read Good Hair: For Colored Girls Who’ve Considered Weaves when the Chemicals Became too Ruff.
I spent some time sitting in front of the fireplace laughing out loud in the last few days. I remember getting my hair washed and combed — the pain, the pain. My weekly press & curl with a hot comb straight from the stove. And yes, the ubiquitous stocking cap.
My chemically altered hair ride began when I was in fourth grade. I had something done to my hair called a Vigorol relaxer. From my memory, I believe the relaxer was supposed to be less damaging to the hair than a lye relaxer. It worked, I had bouncin’ and behavin’ white girl hair. But there was a little catch . . .
When it rained, my hair would emit an awful, shall we say, sulfur smell. There I was, day after day, lined up outside of my catholic elementary school in the Brooklyn rain. This is when I learned what women did for fashion.
About five years ago I went back to my natural hair and haven’t looked back. But the short ‘fro is getting old — so now I’m looking forward for new things to do with my hair that doesn’t involve chemicals. Given the billion dollar industry of black hair care products, I imagine that it’s going to be difficult to explore the alternatives. All the hair magazines that I pick up tout the latest and greatest product to approximate white hair. I haven’t yet found anything that celebrates natural hair and guides us on taking better care of what we have, naturally. There’s natural food, organic clothing, but nothing for organic, natural hair.
I’m going all the way with organic living and this should be no different.
foleydog
Vortigern
You just made me think of all the hair-dos I see during the day and how the current styles for the younger group (white girls) seem to be limited to long and straight, long and wavy, or short and stylized. Now I really *do* wonder what everyone’s “natural” hair looks like…
Please, don’t remind me of those Vigorol perms….
I would like to loose the curl in my hair. I don’t want a straight relaxer look anymore. I have cut all my relaxed hair off to start over. When my hair grows back I want to know what can do to loosen but not totally relax the curl. If it helps. My hair is thick, coarse and when it grows,at the scalp you can feel like a wave or s pattern. Your assistance would be appreciated.
Hey:
I want to say thanks. I will continue to have my
six year baby girl’s hair french braided and
twisted.
I recieved a perm in the second grade and lost all my hair. I heard about vigorol on one of the days when I was to tired to think about her hair.
I’m now back to realty and will remember whated happened to me in the second grade.
Posted by: Hazel D. May 24, 2004 5:45 PM
I read your comments and also understand how it feels to go back to the natural healthy look. I haven’t had a relaxer for about three months. I hesitate putting in a perm because since I’ve gone natural, I have less breakage. My hair is growing and it’s soft with of course many curls. I too, am looking for something to loosen the curls so I don’t have to put a lot of heat to it. I’ve considered twists but it’s not my style. I may try it for the summer, but I’m afraid they will have to be cut out if I decide I don’t like them. It’s amazing what we do to ourselves to look like societal freaks! I say we need to quit all of this madness and look out for ourselves. Recently, at Sally’s I observed a white women’s hair damaged, and I do mean damaged. Her hair was dry, brittle, uneven, and she had split ends with tracks all up in the mane. She was looking for the latest hair, so she could have her weave sewn it this time instead of the glue. So I tell you sistahs, it’s not just us. It’s the freakin industry. We all watch TV and videos, wanting to look like them. We must realize that it’s only TV, do you ever see any of those women looking that flawless on a day to day basis? NO! Remember, they can have any and everything done to their hair. We also must remember, we don’t see the aftermath? You ever wonder what EVE’s hair really looks like, Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Tisha Campbell, and others.
lol. Would you believe at the age of 43 years old, I’m still using the vigorol liquid relaxer. I went to the beauty supply store yesterday looking for my fix (vigorol)–I asked the young lady that works there, if they had the product? She said, yes and showed me where it was. However, I noticed that they had the relaxer and neutuarlizer but they didn’t have the rinse refresher (which eliminates the odor). The young lady commented, that she had never heard or seen that before. I told her to smell the vigorol, which she did and she couldn’t believe that, that’s how it smelt. I’m not going to tell you what she thought of the smell. So I say all this to say, where can I find the rinse refresher. Over all, I continue to use the product, it leaves my hair managable, soft and less frizzy and I can also straighten my hair with the straigtening comb (pressed) and it looks wonderful or I can go with the natural styles. But it does have a smell, however, I have no other choice for I have eczema which does not allow me to use stronger relaxers, so I’m left with using vigorol and it’s the closest thing to being natural.
Please advise.
I’m so glad I found this spot. I was about to put a vigorol relaxer into my hair, instead of getting a touch-up with the perm I used. All of your comments are appreciated, especially about the “rinse” which I had never heard of before.
I too used vigorol when I was younger, although in my teens. If I remember correctly, it worked well, but the smell was horrendous. Now that I’m in the midst of menopause and the hormonal changes it brings, I need something that will take out some of the curl, but not break my hair off. The lack of estrogen, if that’s the case, is doing pretty well all by itself.
Suffice to say, if I find the rinse, I’ll try vigorol again. If not, I may have to resort to curling my hair with a curling iron and praying for less humidity.
Thanks to you all.
Does anyone know where to get the rinse or who make it.
I was seriously thinking about getting a vigorol in my hair but i’m kind of sscare it will take out my hair like a regular relaxer would can somebody please write me back and tell me more about the vigorol.