The teCsture Encyclopedia · Straightening · China, Hong Kong and Taiwan
Chinese straightening terms
China's straightening vocabulary maps onto treatments this guide already covers: lizi tang — the "ionic perm" — is the mainland's classic name for permanent rebonding-style straightening; fu lizi, "negative ion", is Hong Kong and Taiwan's version of the same; la zhi, "pull straight", is the everyday colloquial for any straightening; rou shun is the softer smoothing tier.
The ions were always marketing; the chemistry was always thio.
Also known asIonic perm (lizi tang), negative-ion straightening (fu lizi zhi fa — Hong Kong and Taiwan), pull-straight (la zhi — the everyday colloquial), plus rou shun — the soften-smooth service.
Level of change
The Zoltan teCsture Scale™ runs from 1, the tightest pattern, to 10, straight — one ladder, ten levels. What a treatment does is move you a number of rungs. That distance is the job, and it is what the work should be priced on: the level of change, not the bottle.
The words map onto distances. Lizi tang and fu lizi are permanent — four to seven levels. Rou shun is the soft tier, about one. Ask for the distance and the vocabulary stops mattering.
Two very different jobs sharing one menu. The name does not tell you which one you are booking.
Work out your own code first
Before any of this is a booking, it is a reading: what your hair is, what it has already had, and how much change it can carry. The Zoltan teCsture Scale™ gives you one code for all three.
The terms, one by one
离子烫 LIZI TANG — IONIC PERM. Born in the early 2000s when ion-technology irons were the marketing miracle of the moment, lizi tang became the mainland's standard word for permanent straightening — chemically identical to hair rebonding: softener, iron, neutraliser. The name survives on every menu in China while the ionic part means precisely nothing about the bottle.
負離子 FU LIZI — NEGATIVE-ION STRAIGHTENING. Hong Kong and Taiwan's parallel branding of the same era and the same chemistry, still the default phrase for pin-straight permanent work across Cantonese-speaking salons.
拉直 LA ZHI — PULL STRAIGHT. The colloquial umbrella — what people actually say. It can mean any straightening tier, so the real conversation starts after the phrase: permanent or soft, flat or with volume.
柔顺 ROU SHUN — SOFTEN-SMOOTH. The gentler tier: milder chemistry aimed at manageable, natural-falling hair — China's cousin of smoothening and the Japanese straight perm. Increasingly the young-market default as poker-straight fashion softens.
Imported vocabulary rounding out modern menus: hanshi la zhi 韩式拉直 — Korean-style straightening, i.e. magic straight and volume magic — and rishi 日式 for the Japanese precision tier.
Names and native script
- Mainland China
- 离子烫 lizi tang (ionic perm); 拉直 la zhi (pull straight); 柔顺 rou shun (soften-smooth)
- Hong Kong and Taiwan
- 負離子 fu lizi (negative ion); 離子燙 lizi tang; 拉直 la zhi; 柔順 rou shun
- Imported on modern menus
- 韩式拉直 hanshi la zhi (Korean style); 日式 rishi (Japanese style)
- Japan
- 縮毛矯正 shukumo kyosei — the precision tier the word rishi points at
- Korea
- 매직 스트레이트 magic straight — what hanshi la zhi books
Who each term suits — and safety
The mapping does the work: wanting permanent pin-straight — lizi tang or fu lizi, with every rule from the rebonding page applying verbatim (strand tests, chemical history, no bleach adventures, thio-family pregnancy postponement, roots-only touch-ups). Wanting soft and natural — rou shun, with the smoothening page's tier questions. Wanting straight with life — ask for the Korean style by name.
In the chair
- Identical to the parent treatments: softener, then processing with checks.
- Rinse.
- Iron work.
- Neutraliser, then finish.
- Three to five hours for the permanent versions; under two for rou shun.
- The 72-hour no-wash rules travel with the classic chemistry, regardless of language.
What can go wrong
Everything on the rebonding page, plus one China-specific trap: assuming the ion-era names describe modern technology. They describe 2003's marketing. Judge salons by diagnosis, strand tests and honest strength conversations, in any language.
Free guide
The five things that ruin a treatment
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What it looks like
Three images: the same brief booked under three different words. Photographs coming soon.
Zoltan's note
I have been doing this since 1999 — trained by Yuko Yamashita herself, the first in Europe allowed to do the system outside their Academy, and later teaching it for them — and I still get caught out by names.
So do not book the word. Tell me what you want the finish to be: permanent and flat, soft and natural, or straight with some life left at the root. Then tell me honestly what your hair has already had. Those two answers settle it in any language.
The trap on this page is worth repeating. The ion-era names describe 2003’s marketing, not modern technology. Judge a salon by whether they read your hair before they open a bottle.
Questions
What does lizi tang actually mean?
Literally "ion perm" — early-2000s marketing for ion-technology irons that became mainland China's permanent name for rebonding-style straightening. The chemistry is standard thio softener, iron and neutraliser; the ionic branding outlived the technology it advertised by twenty years.
Is fu lizi different from lizi tang?
Same treatment, different region: fu lizi — negative ion — is the Hong Kong and Taiwan phrasing; lizi tang is the mainland's. Both book you a rebonding-family permanent straightening. Regional vocabulary, identical bottles.
What should I actually ask for in a Chinese salon?
Skip the era-names and describe the finish: permanent pin-straight (the lizi tang tier), soft and natural (rou shun), or Korean-style straight with volume (hanshi). Then ask the universal questions — which chemistry, what strength, strand test — that this whole guide exists to arm you with.
Is rou shun the same as smoothening?
Same idea, different flag: milder chemistry for natural-falling, manageable hair rather than mirror-flat. India calls the tier smoothening, Japan calls it sutopa, China calls it rou shun. Read the smoothening page's tier questions before booking any of them.