While some naturals decide not to straighten their hair at ALL during their natural hair journey, some, like myself still straighten their hair every once in a while to switch it up or for a length check.
The truth about using heat though is that it can be EXTREMELY detrimental to hair health if used incorrectly or too often. If you decide to straighten your hair, follow these tips to keep your hair as healthy as possible and minimize damage.
Deep condition before and after
When using heat, the keratin in our natural hair weakens. To keep your hair at optimal health, do a protein treatment before you straighten your hair. Tropic Isle has a great JBCO protein treatment because it helps strengthen hair without leaving it hard or brittle. Leave the protein treatment on for an hour max before washing it out.
When you’re ready to wash your hair again and bring those curls back, use a moisturizing deep conditioner. You may notice a dry scalp and dandruff after leaving your hair straight for one – two weeks, so a good deep conditioning treatment for an hour will help restore moisture.
This is VERY important and can make the difference in how your hair turns out. There are a ton of heat protectants out there, but choose one that works well for your hair.
Don’t use a heat protectant that is too watery or too thick, because it can overheat and you will hear your hair sizzling. If you don’t feel like searching for the perfect heat protectant your favorite oil may be a good substitute.
Grape seed oil, coconut oil, and olive oil all have high melting points (400 or more), so they will keep your flat iron from totally drying out or damaging strands.
Stretch hair without heat
It may not seem like much, but blow drying your hair is just more heat and manipulation being added to your natural hair. If you have the extra time, you can stretch your hair in advance before you straighten to avoid the extra step. There are a few ways to stretch your natural hair without heat, here are a few examples:
Braids
Buns
Banding
After washing your hair, seal with a small amount of leave in conditioner and do one of the three styles above. Let it set for a few hours or overnight- just let your hair dry fully. Afterwards, apply your heat protectant and begin straightening!
Create Sections
Honestly, if you don’t create sections when doing your hair, you’re making life WAY harder on yourself. Make sure to separate your hair into sections before straightening and keep those sections separated.
You don’t want to risk straightening the same piece 100 times or even missing pieces. Make sections that are the right size for your flat iron- too big means you’ll have to pass the flat iron through more than once and too small means you’ll be straightening your hair all day.
Flat iron ‘correctly’
Just because a flat iron has a maximum heat of 500 doesn’t mean you should use it that temperature! Although straightening your hair on high heat can lead to sleeker hair and shorter straightening time, it’s not good for your overall hair health. Flat ironing constantly on high heat is a guaranteed way to damage your fragile strands.
Also, try to avoid passing the flat iron over the same section of hair more than once. It may seem like you’re getting it extra straight, especially on low heat, but this winds up giving you heat damage as well!
Try not to re-straighten often
The truth is that your natural hair is not going to stay straight forever. Your hair may start to revert from rain, sweat, too much steam from the shower, and a list of other things that us curly girls are used to. Even so, try not to re-straighten your hair too often.
At night, preserve your hair by wrapping and setting it with bobby pins and a silk scarf. Don’t try to sleep out normally on a cotton pillowcase, because it’s probably not going to work. Keep your hair tied up so that it can last a few days or more. Try to avoid adding any more heat to your hair until the next time you decide to straighten it.
Our natural hair is very versatile, but we still need to take care of it every time we decide to try a new style. Although heat damage is unavoidable unless you stop using heat altogether, there are a few things you can do to keep your hair healthy every time you straighten. Try them, and you’ll worry less about your curls reverting back the next time you wash your hair!
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