Naturals: Are You Just Flat Ironing or Blowdrying Before Flatironing?

[Melody.Monroe]

@Melody.Monroe
Beautiful hair-how often do you flat iron?

I flat iron once ever two months now...if that. Used two flat iron once biweekly.

 

[CurlsBazillion]

I blow dry when I don't have patience to air dry. When I do blow dry I'm trying to get my hair dry and slightly stretched, I only do it on medium heat.

 

[PittiPat]

Cosigning on oil and airdrying. I oil my hair in sections with grapeseed oil. I have about 6-8 sections and I band the length of the hair. By the morning, my hair is completely dry & stretched. My hair comes out nicer when I do this as opposed to blow-drying first. I also find that blow-drying takes me forever and I end up getting lazy with the flat ironing, so my results are not as nice.

I'm banding/flat-iron challenged ... can I get you to do a youtube video on this?

 

[ebsalita]

Great thread.

I blowdry weekly after my DC and wash. Then I normally flat iron although this evening, I decided not to flat iron as I'm going to do a bantu knot out. I don't normally use my heat protectants every single one I tried either weighed my hair down leaving it sticky or produced lots of smoke.

Nonie thank you for the tip - your recommendations so far have been on point - I think our hair must be very very similar. I will give the JF heat defeat a try as I'm unimpressed with the 2 protectants that I bought recently.

 

[LadyPBC]

Nonie TaraDyan

do you add anything to your hair prior to installing the curlformers (before you flat iron)?

 

[TaraDyan]

Nonie TaraDyan

do you add anything to your hair prior to installing the curlformers (before you flat iron)?

LadyPBC: I always add my leave-in conditioner mixed with a tiny bit of coconut oil to my hair before I put in my Curlformers. My goal isn't to keep the curls intact; I only use the Curlformers to stretch my hair before flat ironing, so I never use any kind of setting lotion like Lottabody. I think if I did that, my hair would be too crunchy once I started flat ironing.

I also use the biggest size Curlformers so I can get maximum stretch without making them too curly (see pics below).

 

[Nonie]

Great thread.

I blowdry weekly after my DC and wash. Then I normally flat iron although this evening, I decided not to flat iron as I'm going to do a bantu knot out. I don't normally use my heat protectants every single one I tried either weighed my hair down leaving it sticky or produced lots of smoke.

@Nonie thank you for the tip - your recommendations so far have been on point - I think our hair must be very very similar. I will give the JF heat defeat a try as I'm unimpressed with the 2 protectants that I bought recently.

ebsalita, I hope you don't use any other product when you flat iron; all moisturizing should be done during conditioning during your wash. Other leave-ins besides the protectant are the only thing I see producing smoke and smelling weird.

 

[Nonie]

@Nonie @TaraDyan

do you add anything to your hair prior to installing the curlformers (before you iron)?

No I do not LadyPBC. I do not think your hair should have anything on it before you flat iron besides protectants. I get all my moisture from the DCing I do before flat ironing. I put Curlformers on bare hair after ACV rinsing and let it airdry bare. I use about 80-100 CFs...so I stretch narrow sections. Once dry, I removed each Curlformer, and then wet each now dry area with JF Heat Defeat making sure the strands are wet so each strand is coated (That's why I want the hair fully dry so I can be sure the wetness is from hair meticulously being covered by heat protectant). Pass the iron once....and continue that way with each CF section till all have had one pass of the iron. Then I start again from the back taking the same small sections, apply heat protectant serum by JF coating every inch then pass the iron over it again to seal. Because I have nothing on my hair to burn, I don't get any burnt smells and my hair does not revert till I wash it.

 

[BotanyGrl]

I always blowdry with a comb attachment, then flatiron my hair. I tried airdying in both braids and twists before flatironing and my hair came out looking a mess. If you want your natural hair to look relaxer straight and last for more than one day I don't think you should skip that step.

 

[DKO]

I blowdry in sections using my denman brush then braid each section to reduce the bulk further until I flat iron.

If you do not get your hair fairly straight before flat iron you will have to use more passes of the flat iron to get it straight.

IMPORTANT - if you do not flat iron and get your hair straight, you will break off your hair when combing and you will see little hairs on the floor. That is an indication you need to straighten your hair more and its either the roots or ends. Use heat protectant and don't be afraid to use more than one. I use 3 different leave-in heat protectors before I blow dry and 2 more before I flat iron and I've had no problems w/heat damage or growing my hair.

 

[jesusislove1526]

I stretch either with braids or banding and air dry before flat ironing. I just feel like blow drying before flat ironing would be too much heat for my hair, but to each her own. I flat iron once a year and blow dry once a year six months apart.

 

[Channy31]

Always used to stretch my hair but I get better results for, blow drying on a medium heat, then flat ironing with GHD's

 

[CaliiSwagg]

I blow dry and then flat iron.

 

[LadyPBC]

Thank you for the feedback Nonie - I have had several failed attempts at trying to flat iron and I don't want the extra heat of blow drying. Now I have just a few more questions:

• please tell me you are a type 4a, b, c (something)?
• where can I get the JF products - drug store or grocer? I have a ton of products but not much in the way of products to defend against heat.
• I am afraid of flat ironing wet hair, do you think that is key to your success?
• I can't see any of your pictures though I'm sure they are beautiful - what can I do (I get the box with the red X in it)

No I do not @LadyPBC. I do not think your hair should have anything on it before you flat iron besides protectants. I get all my moisture from the DCing I do before flat ironing. I put Curlformers on bare hair after ACV rinsing and let it airdry bare. I use about 80-100 CFs...so I stretch narrow sections. Once dry, I removed each Curlformer, and then wet each now dry area with JF Heat Defeat making sure the strands are wet so each strand is coated (That's why I want the hair fully dry so I can be sure the wetness is from hair meticulously being covered by heat protectant). Pass the iron once....and continue that way with each CF section till all have had one pass of the iron. Then I start again from the back taking the same small sections, apply heat protectant serum by JF coating every inch then pass the iron over it again to seal. Because I have nothing on my hair to burn, I don't get any burnt smells and my hair does not revert till I wash it.

 

[Nonie]

Thank you for the feedback @Nonie - I have had several failed attempts at trying to flat iron and I don't want the extra heat of blow drying. Now I have just a few more questions:

• please tell me you are a type 4a, b, c (something)?

LadyPBC My hair is 4b.

• where can I get the JF products - drug store or grocer? I have a ton of products but not much in the way of products to defend against heat.

John Frieda products can be found at the drugstore. I get mine from CVS.

• I am afraid of flat ironing wet hair, do you think that is key to your success?

This is a tricky one. I have always found it to work for me and cannot imagine straightening dry hair. In the past I always straightened bare hair that was damp with water, for my first pass then I'd add serum and pass the iron over narrow sections again for a second pass. I DON'T DO THAT ANYMORE. But I still do wet-to-dry. Instead of water, I use a HEAT PROTECTANT THAT IS WET. The directions on John Frieda Heat Defeat are:

Spray on damp hair and blow-dry straight. For ultra-straightening, spray on small sections of dried hair immediately before using a flat iron.
​

In other words you are supposed to use the flat iron immediately after spraying it ie when hair is wet with it on. The reason I first completely airdry with Curlformers (or braids) is so that I can be sure when I spray the heat protectant that every inch of my hair is wet from the protectant--meaning my hair is well covered and thus protected. Now that I know about bubble hair, I am not too comfortable using heat on hair wet from water. I suspect heat protectant sits on the hair rather than penetrating hair like water does so I feel safer using it as my "wetness" rather than water.

• I can't see any of your pictures though I'm sure they are beautiful - what can I do (I get the box with the red X in it)

Fotki's Data Center where my photos are hosted was partially hit by Sandy Storm and a lot of our photos are missing (hence the X's). According to Fotki they are safe and they are in the process of moving to a new data center and so our photos will return when the offline servers where our photos are stored are back online. IIRC, it should be happening in a couple of weeks or so.

 

[Healthb4Length]

I blow dry then flat iron. I've tried stretching via braids/twists and lately with bands. While the bands did stretch my hair, it was torturous flat ironing b/c I still had too much tangles. I've finally found a spray heat protectant (Nioxin thermal bliss) I use when I blow out my hair. The Nioxin + a good comb attachment (Solano 2 in 1 universal blowdry comb)= fluffy, soft, smooth detangled hair. I then use my favorite serum and flat iron with nice results.

 

[nemi95]

If I blow dry and flat iron my hair feels like straw. I use my leave in moisturizer and do a braidout to stretch on wet hair. The next morning I use my CHI spray heat protectant or Carols Daughter blowdry cream and re-braid. Once that dries I use my ICE heat protectant serum. Then I flatiron in sections. I sometimes use a pressing comb to get my edges or I'll just tie down the edges with a scarf.

 

[naturallygoldie]

I've been blow drying on warm (I can put the blow dryer close to my skin and its warm like the breeze on a late spring day) then flatiron at 260.

I let my hair air dry til about 60% - 70 % dry (with my leave in and heat protectant in) before blow drying.

This is a new regimen...so far soo very good!

 

[shortt29]

I blow dry then flat iron. I've tried stretching via braids/twists and lately with bands. While the bands did stretch my hair, it was torturous flat ironing b/c I still had too much tangles. I've finally found a spray heat protectant (Nioxin thermal bliss) I use when I blow out my hair. The Nioxin + a good comb attachment (Solano 2 in 1 universal blowdry comb)= fluffy, soft, smooth detangled hair. I then use my favorite serum and flat iron with nice results.

Where did you find Nioxin Thermal Bliss? I thought it was discontinued!!! I need some!

 

[Nonie]

Where did you find Nioxin Thermal Bliss? I thought it was discontinued!!! I need some!

shortt29 Not sure if this is what you're looking for but Amazon has something with those words in its name: http://www.amazon.com/Nioxin-Bliss-Thermal-Protector-Ounce/dp/B000R8UET2

 

[Healthb4Length]

Shortt29, I found it at a local Asian store. I also stock up online, I won't pay too much b/c sometimes online vendors are ridiculous!

 

[shortt29]

Thanks ladies!

 

[daviine]

What a great thread! So happy to have found this thread because this is the exact info I needed today!