Ace the Kentucky Cosmetology Exam 2025 – Flaunt Your Skills with Flair!

The main ingredient in most hair relaxers is calcium hydroxide. Hair relaxers are chemical formulations designed to straighten curly or wavy hair by breaking down the protein structures in the hair shaft. Calcium hydroxide acts as a strong alkali, which helps to alter the hair's natural curls by chemically relaxing the bonds in the hair, allowing it to be reshaped into a straighter form.

While sodium chloride, ammonium thioglycolate, and hydrogen peroxide are used in various hair treatments, they do not serve the primary function of relaxing hair in the same way. Sodium chloride is typically used as a thickening or binding agent in some hair products but not as the main active ingredient in relaxers. Ammonium thioglycolate is commonly used in perm solutions, not relaxers, and serves a different purpose by breaking down protein structures to create curls rather than straightening. Hydrogen peroxide is primarily utilized as a bleaching agent and is not suitable for relaxing hair. Thus, calcium hydroxide is recognized as the key active component in hair relaxers for its effective ability to transform the hair's texture.