I gave myself a perm. The shampoo and the neutralizer are in the same bottles so I made the mistake and used the shampoo, when I noticed. Right away I used the neutralizer but it did not help. my hair feels like straw. Its unmanageble when I shampoo. I've conditioned it. no good. I'm an african american woman with a problem. I'm 56 and I've always done my own hair. The hair grade is not corse at all. The perm is to get the curls out. By the way its very long and breaking off.