I've been without relaxers for 8 months and instead I've been pressing my hair. For me, my hair is 100 times stronger. I don't have shedding and breakage like I used to.
when i was usinng relaxer i noticed that i was having a bad dandruff problem and my hair was shedding a lot but since i have been pressing it all that has calmed down 10x as much. no more dandruff and a lot less shedding. so pressing is the best thing.
I decided to press my hair about 7 months ago. My hair has a healthier look to it. Like the other responses before it shedded a lot with a relaxer, now that I press it to me it is much healthier. I also use hair oil called wildgrowth. If you are interested look at the website of www.wildgrowth.com. I like it. Good Luck!