We consider several classes of knotted objects, namely usual, virtual and welded pure braids and string links, and two equivalence relations on those objects, induced by either self-crossing changes or selfvirtualizations. We provide a number of results which point out the differences between these various notions. The proofs are mainly based on the techniques of Gauss diagram formulae.• P n and SL n stand for the (usual) sets of pure braids and string links on n strands, and the prefix v and w refer to their virtual and welded counterpart, respectively; • the superscripts sv and sc refer respectively to the equivalence relations generated by self-virtualization and self-crossing change.