Lately, I've been on a straight hair kick. I did some research on how I could wear my natural hair straight without getting heat damage, breakage and split ends. I just don't have the time (energy? patience? All or both, lol) to deal with my hair everyday and after I did a henna (post about that coming soon) I've been needing to moisturize my hair everyday and that was just not going to to work.
My Before Straightening Regimen:
1. Shampoo- I shampoo my hair with Garnier Fructis Pure Clean Shampoo. This is sulfate-free and gets my hair clean. I usually use shampoo bars but, when I straighten I need my hair oil free and the shampoo bars I make contain shea butter, mango butter and such that gets left behind after rinsing.
2. Condition- I skip this step and go straight to the Deep Conditioner
3. Deep Condition- ORS Olive Oil Replenishing Pak. To get my hair relaxer straight I need my strands to be moisturized deeply. This is not the time for homemade deep conditioners, I need proteins, moisturizers and other chemicals to protect my strands...usually words I can't pronounce.
4. Dry- I dry my hair with a t-shirt until it is about 75% dry. Sometimes I dry my hair stretched sometimes I don't. I see no difference usually.
My Straightening Technique:
1. Blow Dry- I have used my Denamn brush, a round bristle brush and the comb attachment on my dryer to dry my hair and I prefer the round bristle brush. The comb attachment seemed to pull out a lot of hair. I dry section by section as straight as I can get them. The straighter you get your hair while blow-drying the straighter your end results will be. Gold N Hot Blow Dryer from a random BSS.
2. Heat Protectant- I use Garnier Fructis Anti Frizz Serum. No complaints and smells nice too!
3. Flat Iron- I turn my flat iron to about 400 degrees (yeah I know... I like to live on the wild side sometimes) and use a small rat tail comb to in front of the iron to get my end straight as possible. 1-2 passes is all it takes. GVP from Sallys- some exact iron pictured below.
Take me about 45 mins. to 1 hr to flat iron my hair with this new method. It used to take 4 hrs. to blow dry and flat iron my hair and it would revert in 5 mins.
I wear my hair straight for about 2 weeks in buns, ponytails and other lazy low manipulation styles. To keep my edges tamed and ends feeling soft, I apply Shea Avocado Butter to the length of my hair every night or morning.
That's all folks!
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