Straightening Your Natural Curl without losing it!!!

Like most curious curlies I have been getting that itch to want to see my tightly curly hair in a straight form. Now I know a lot of you have heard the horror stories of natural hair being altered do to flat ironing. I have some helpful tips to helping you achieve that look without losing your natural glory!!!

Please take into consideration that all hair textures are different and respond to heat differently

Tools that are healthy but affective:
Ceramic flat irons produce a health heat sources ( if you have an adjustable gage keep the heat mid to mid-high).
Roller sets – always a safe beat can’t go wrong gives incredible body and great shine
Blow Dryers – can be use but not always necessary to get hair straight enough to flat iron.

When straightening your hair PLEASE USE A HEAT PROTECTION! This is the most important part of straightening your hair!!!


List of good heat protection’s:
Mizani – Has a silkening wax that is awesome ( can be very heavy..use sparingly)
Redken – has a lot of great heat protectants..they are neatly place in red bottles to indicate they are safe to use with heat
Design Essentials – has a product that I use regardless if I use heat or not…it is call HCO Blow-drying lotion…I use when I wet style Love it! It helps with detangling as well.

Please Note that all products SHOULD NOT be use with heat…this could cause frying and extreme damage to your hair… hence loss of curl pattern!

My routine when straightening my hair:

I condition wash comb thoroughly and apply my design essential HCO mixed with Design Essential Compositions. I also use Moroccan oil for the added shine and softness. I then braid my hair into four or six large braids. Let air dry, when completely dry I then take down one braid at a time and comb gently each small section I am going to straighten…I use a Chi Straighter and proceed in straightening my hair…I use a comb and straighter trick. I hold a fine toothcomb in front of the iron before passing it over my hair this allows my hair to be stretched and lessen the amount of time I have to pass the heat over my hair. This is a tricky skill at first but it gets easier with repetition.

Now once I straighten my hair I try to keep my heat tool usage at a minimal. I use satin covered sponge rollers and or wrap my hair.

Hope this helps…Thanks Again Nikki for the meet and great in St. Louis I truly enjoyed myself and learned soooo much!!!

P.S. Sorry it took me so long to get this over to you…I have been so busy with travels and the holidays, had this saved in word since 12.21.09…funny what a snow day can get accomplished. If you would like me to talk about anything else just let me know!!!

Thanks for this info, I posted a long note under flat ironing about my recent fiasco with a beautician on just yesterday. I am going to wait a good while to let my hair recover, but I will definitely try this technique.

I used Janelle's Beauty. It's all natural. It doesn't get my hiar bone straight but it works wonders. Not like a relaxer, a healthy straigthener.

There was an article about it on naturally curly store.
http://www.janellebeauty.com/shop/shopcontent.asp?type=hair

from tight curls:
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to this after Janelle's Beauty:
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Next time I do a length check I will use more coconut oil to seal it.
I also used a Hai Ceramic Flat Iron, and blow dried on low heat.

silk elements is also a good heat protection spray