Do Hair Relaxers Go Bad?

Do hair relaxers go bad?

I had been all over the internet with this question and I never got a straight answer. I did find lots of useless suggestions such as “Just check the expiration date!” (there are no expiration dates on hair relaxers), and scary urban myths such as  “A friend of mine used an old perm and all of her hair fell out!”  I couldn’t find anything from a reputable source, but I did find one good piece of advice- call up the company and ask them. So world,here is what the nice lady at Soft Sheen Carson told me: Perms can’t go bad if you never mix the activator. She asked for the invoice/product number and let me know that the H (for example, if the product number is 30H2517) meant it was made in 2011 and it should be fine.

I live in Japan, and Japan doesn’t sell things that are common place in America – Cool Whip, Splenda, deodorant, and so many other things. As a result I usually stock up on deodorant, toothbrushes (I have never found a toothbrush as fancy as an American one), razors (American ones are way better in my opinion), and of course black hair care products. I usually stock up on relaxers while I am in the states and buy myself more than enough to get through the year and then subsequently buy more the next year. As a result the older relaxers get pushed to back of my closet as I use the new ones because they are easier to reach. I found a couple of boxes of relaxers from a few years ago and I wondered if I would be able to use them. The scene from What’s Love Got to Do With where Tina Turner tries to relax her hair and it starts falling out in clumps in the sink began to flash in my head. I’m glad to know that the year-old relaxers won’t do that my hair.

Hair Dye Fiasco

Ready to hear a funny hair dye story? Well here goes.

Back when I was 25 I was waitressing/bartending in Osaka Japan and was very much into Japanese pop culture- super cute hair, cute bright make-up, very cute clothes and everything pink.

Two of my girlfriends rocking stuffed animals as fashion way before Lady Gaga.

A shop I passed by on my daily commute sold colorful hair extensions and I thought it would be fun to get a couple of blond and pink ones to give myself a cute hairstyle. I put them in and my boss, friends, and just about everyone else loved them! I decide to take it a step further and add more- but to do this I would need to dye a section of my hair blond to give it a more realistic base. Lots of naturally dark haired Japanese people dye their hair a shade of blond/ gold so I figured I’d be okay. I bought a box of bleach put it on a section of my hair and…
It turned neon orange!

I ran to the drug store and got a box of brown dye and dyed It looked … better.

I was not feeling the brown hair

After a week I couldn’t handle it and bought a box of black hair dye which subsequently turned my hair a reddish purple and about an inch of my hair fell off. Needless to say, it was not cute.

I hope you all got a good laugh. But having my hair fall off led me into getting a weave for the front part of my hair which led me into a five year and counting love affair with weave.

I have done relaxed hair, I have done the natural style, but weave has definitely been the best style for me.

And I will never dye my hair again!

Hearing a Memory

I think we have all heard the concept that smell is the sense most tied to memory. I wish I could say that I understand this concept but I have a horrible sense of smell. It has its drawbacks- I have eaten rotten food a couple of times without knowing it, but it comes in handy being a preschool teacher- poopy diapers are never a problem.

I have always wondered what it meant to smell something and connect it to a memory. The sense I most connect with memory is hearing. If I hear a few chords of a song it can instantly takes me back to a memory where I can clearly recall the features of a room and even the positioning of the sun at the time.

Masa and I were talking about what music we wanted our ceremony musicians to play and he came up with the brilliant idea of Final Fantasy music. We are both huge Final Fantasy fans and we both think Nobuo Uematsu, the composer, is brilliant. His music is so expressive and listening to it makes me remember all the fun hours I had playing the game.

This will be our recessional song:
Final Fantasy Theme

I have been listening to classical music a lot lately. My love for it was rekindled when I saw the viral video for the choral and orchestra version of Call Me Maybe . Watching the video made me remember all the fun I had being a band student- the strong sense of community, the whole band going into crescendo together, and the feeling you have when you lose yourself in music.

How did you choose your music for your ceremony?