Long and Straight hair

Long and shiny African hair
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Q: I have used several different no-lye chemical straightening products from stores like Sally Beauty Supply store. I find the product Soft & Beautiful hair relaxer in regular formula the best so far. My hair usually looks good (like white female's loose hair) once I get the cream off in the shower, but once it dries (this is always the problem) it is still straight, but it's frizzy and my hair shrinks up in length greatly.
 
My hair, when the chemical comes off in the shower, and I immediately dry it with my towel, looks loose and sexy, but not when my hair dries. I noticed a lot of African-American females that get their hair chemically straightened, always seemed to wear their hair with a hair pin in the back. They don't really let their hair loose like white girls.
 
Here's my curiosity. A long time ago, I was given this African-American female's phone number from a co-worker of mine. She says she is a great hairdresser, who works from her home. So, I called her, and she came over to my home to do my hair. Now, I noticed immediately that this hairdresser had long super straight (like an American Indian girl's hair) shiny hair. Her hair reached past middle of her back. I told her that I wanted my hair to look like hers.
 
I don't know what product she used, but she said she got it in Detroit. When she was done with my hair, it looked long, straight and shiny. Here's the good news: even when my hair completely dried out, it still was long and straight. My hair did not get frizzy or shrink up a great deal like it normally does when it dries out. It looked like the models who wear hair extensions to get great long straight hairs, but mine was all natural.
 
This lady only did my hair once, and then she moved away to another city (which I don't know) because her husband got a different job. I have been to a number of different hairdressers in their salons, but none of them can duplicate the hair that she did at my home. I also live in a small city, where there's only one African-American hair salon, which isn't very good. Even if I get my hair done at salons, I get the same result that I can get when I do my own hair at home using chemical straighteners like Dark & Lovely or Soft & Beautiful.
 
My question is, I have been searching to get that same hair style that my hairdresser did at my home. I want my hair to stay long and straight even when my hair dries out after washing getting chemicals out from the shower, and towel drying my hair. So, what product do I need to get to do just that?

 
A: I'm afraid to say that this falls under the heading of "Hindsight is 20/20". It is important as a person who may opt to use a different stylist on a recommendation that you keep a record of all the services and products you have used on your hair from a given stylist. This allows you to be better able to duplicate results with a new stylist when necessary.
 
I'm afraid that there's no way I could begin to tell you what product to use, since I have no clue what the product was that gave you those results initially.
 
I have read reviews of both the Dark & Lovely and Soft & Beautiful products that have claimed the type of results you mention, and I have used Motions' brand relaxing products with similar results. However, most of these products are usually geared toward specific needs of the hair type in question. For all I know, the product that the stylist used (the one you liked so well) contained an added step that made for the end results you found so popular.
 
Perhaps the results you want are more a factor of aftercare and conditioning than of the product used? Have you considered using a deep conditioning agent regularly to make sure your hair is fully hydrated and soothed?
 
Perhaps a hydrating deep conditioner used weekly, along with daily leave-in conditioners would help to keep the hair soft, loose and pliable after the relaxing treatment. Furthermore, for cases where the hair seems excessively stiff and dry, consider at least
 
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See also: The special needs of African-American hair
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