A relaxer is a type of lotion or cream generally used by people with afro textured hair, which makes hair less curly and also easier to straighten by chemically "relaxing" the natural curls. The active agent is usually a strong alkali, although some formulations are based on ammonium thioglycolate instead.

Hair relaxing, or lanthionization, can be performed by a professional cosmetologist in a salon, or at home with relaxer kits. As with hair dye, the treated portion of the hair moves away from the scalp as the new growth of untreated hair sprouts up from the roots, requiring periodic retreatment (about every 6–8 weeks) to maintain a consistent appearance.

The relaxer is applied to the roots of the hair and remains in place for a "cooking" interval, during which it alters the hair's texture by a process of controlled damage to the protein structure. The hair can be significantly weakened by the physical overlap of excessive applications or by a single excessive one, leading to brittleness, breakage, or even widespread alopecia.

Kelly Wood (born 8 April 1981 in Dundee) is a Scottish curler who has represented her home country and Great Britain and Northern Ireland on an International and Olympic scale.

Wood made her curling debut at Letham Grange Ice Rink in 1999 competing in the World Junior Curling Championships. Playing as a second curler the team finished a respectable fifth position. She has competed in numerous European and World championships and has been skip of the curling team four times.

Scotland's curling dominance over the two other host nations of Great Britain secured its place at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. Wood was shortlisted along with nine other female curlers to be considered for a place on the women's Olympic team and became successful to travel to Turin to defend Rhona Martin's Olympic gold that Team GB won in Salt Lake City in 2002. She joined Rhona Martin, Lynn Cameron, Jackie Lockhart and Debbie Knox. As in her other international games, Wood played second throughout the Olympic competition. However, despite beating U.S. 10-4 after only six ends, Team GB's Olympic hopes were shattered as Canada beat Denmark in a nail-biting match in the final end. A win over Canada by Denmark would have enabled Great Britain to go into a playoff to compete for the last semi-final position. When interviewed after the game Kelly conceded Team GB's loss was "gutting" but added "we [Team GB] have to take the positives out of this." Being only twenty-four years of age is likely to stand Kelly in good stead for entering future Winter Olympics.