There are different ways to temporarily and permanently make tight curls looser. With different styling creams, styling techniques and even chemical relaxers, someone with tight curls has the ability and some tricks to gain more control over her curl style. Styling products and techniques will cause minimum damage to no noticeable damage to your hair. More permanent resolutions, such as treating hair with a chemical relaxer, can significantly damage hair if it is not healthy before the treatment begins.
How to relax tight curls
Use a heavy styling product. A heavier styling product such as curling cremes and pomades versus gels and mousses will pull your hair down with the weight of the product, which will relax the curl. Products such as these will last in your hair for up to a day.
Loosen curls with different hot styling tools. You can re-create curls by using a 1 to 1.5-inch barrel curling iron. Take 1-inch sections of hair and clamp the hair at the root. Run the curling iron down to the tip of your hair, then wrap the hair around the barrel. Hold it for 30-45 seconds. This will not only loosen the curl, but will create uniform, relaxed barrel curls.
Do a chemical relaxer for a permanent loosening of curls. You can either purchase a chemical relaxing kit at your local drugstore or you can have it professionally done by a hair stylist. If you have never done chemical relaxing at home, or you are not sure about how loose you'd like your curls to become, you may want to seek professional advice from a local hair salon before trying it. Chemical relaxers give your hair a long-term solution to tight curls until new hair grows in from the root.
Warning
While the idea of loosening your curls permanently may seem like a tempting idea, chemical relaxers can cause permanent hair damage such as brittleness, hair loss, hair thinning and hair breakage. Be sure to check with your local salon to see if a chemical relaxer is best for you.