1 year after the BC and just as confused as day 1

Hello everyone!

First I want to say i've really enjoyed myself on this forum, im more of a reader than a poster..
I've had a few questions that I haven't found answers for yet so figure why npt ask the questions. The ladies (And gents?) seem to know their hair stuff.

I always hear people talk about how their hair likes or dislikes something. How can you tell if your hair is taking to something?

I've been washing with A Wen knock-off from Sally's and it seems to be going okay.. but I can't tell if my hair likes, or if it's I like it because of it's simplicity.

Secondly, With my hair birthday coming up tomorrow, I'd like to straighten my hair so that I can do a seek and destroy mission on my SSK's. Boy those buggers are really annoying! Im almost collarbone length in the back and nearly chin length in the front.. W&G's were my staple til i started stretching and doing more Braid outs, I think the Wash and Go's are the culprit.

I haven't used heat in over a year, and im scared I'll fry my hair and damage my curl.. My hair is thick, and not too unruly, but I fear once i pick up that flat iron, old habits will set in.

Is there a safe way to flat Iron? What is a good heat protector to use on natural hair?

Im just lost. lol

I'm pretty new to the whole natural thing myself, since I just BC'd back in May, but I've learned that when certain products work on my hair that my curls are very defined & my hair will become very soft & rich in color. And when a product doesn't work on my hair usually it will feel dry or brittle or the curls won't define at all. Recently I tried using shea butter on my hair to do a braid out & it left my hair dry, brittle & the curls were non existent, so I had to shampoo my hair to get all of it out.

I haven't flat ironed my hair yet and haven't used any heat since October 2009. And like you said, I'm scared to use it myself, but I have researched it some and have found out a couple of tips. For one, I found out that grape seed oil is a great heat protectant since it can withstand high temps. Many naturals have used chi silk infusion and said that's a great heat protectant. And many recommend using a professional flat iron to get the best quality. And it's important to deep condition and to moisturize your hair before blow drying (which is recommended to be on low heat) and flat ironing to protect the hair from heat damage. And to shampoo or clarify so that your hair is free from product build up. Some naturals also twist their hair and let it air dry before flat ironing, so then they don't have to blow dry & it helps prevent tangles and your hair is already in sections to flat iron. A good example of this is taren916's method of flat ironing. She even uses a fine tooth comb to comb through her hair before flat ironing to get it as straight as possible. Here's the vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZcQbs4l0bg

Another natural, niasopurdy has a 2 part video about heat damage too:

PART 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WH2MkmDd4I8
PART 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAqUB8tz7MM

Hope this helps answer your questions!

Great advice Ashlei!!! I'm feeling the same way about the heat because I don't think I ever flat ironed "safely" in the past. I didn't even care how much heat I put on my hair so I don't know how it will go when I do finally put a flat iron to it. I like the idea of doing twists to air dry and flat ironing it from there but I am also a little skeptical that you can get heat damage from a blow dryer. It's just hot air right? *shrugs* I'm not completely sure about that, in fact I would presume that the combing is more damaging than the hot air because most of us encounter hot air just walking outside! But I digress (because I'm not even answering your question lol)

You can tell if you hair likes something if it responds how you want it to respond when you're done styling. Which means that only you can know what works! Products can't make your hair curl if it doesn't already curl; products can help retain moisure and should be able to keep your hair soft. Just don't compare your natural hair to relaxed hair because they are CHEMCIALLY different!!!

bholmes87 wrote:Great advice Ashlei!!! I'm feeling the same way about the heat because I don't think I ever flat ironed "safely" in the past. I didn't even care how much heat I put on my hair so I don't know how it will go when I do finally put a flat iron to it. I like the idea of doing twists to air dry and flat ironing it from there but I am also a little skeptical that you can get heat damage from a blow dryer. It's just hot air right? *shrugs* I'm not completely sure about that, in fact I would presume that the combing is more damaging than the hot air because most of us encounter hot air just walking outside!

Thanks! And yea I like that idea too & will most likely implement it when I finally decide to straighten my hair for the first time. But that will probably be in a year or two, cause right now I want to retain as much length as possible. I don't know if blow drying does contribute much to heat damage, maybe if used on high heat or if used frequently on high heat? Not sure but I know it shouldn't even be as damaging as a flat iron turned all the way up. But I'll probably try to stay away from it if I can. I might try mahonganycurls method of roller setting with the only heat source being a dryer first to see if I can still get some good results that way. I dont know if it will work as well though since i'm in the 4a range and I think her's is probably 3b/3c so I guess I'll see how it goes!

Thanks for the input! I ended up chickening out. I never thought straightening my hair would be so... anxiety inducing, but it was!

maybe i'll give it 6 months and try again.

I have a knot question now, Do i HAVE to get rid of my SSK's? I mean, are there ladies around who don't snip them?

Is there a way to cut them without straightening?

You can do search & destroys to get rid of the ssk's.