Final answer:
A relaxer helps redistribute the relaxer on the hair strand and reform the bonds to achieve a new straighter position.
Step-by-step explanation:
When a relaxer is applied to the hair, it helps redistribute the relaxer on the hair strand and relax and reform the bonds to achieve a new straighter position. This process involves disrupting the disulfide bonds in the hair using an oxidizing agent, such as hydrogen peroxide, and allowing them to reform in their new positions. When a relaxer is applied to hair, it redistributes on the hairstrand and helps to relax and reform the bonds to a new, straighter position through a chemical process. This process involves the temporary breaking of disulfide bonds within the hair's keratin structure, predominantly those formed by cysteine residues. Chemical straightening or relaxing, akin to a perm, utilizes a reducing agent that disrupts these disulfide bonds allowing hair to take on a new shape. Once the hair is straightened or wrapped around forms, an oxidizing agent, such as hydrogen peroxide, is used as a neutralizer to reform disulfide bonds in their new configuration, thereby setting the hair in its new form. This change persists until the hair grows out and is trimmed away, as new hair growth will have the natural texture before the treatment.