question for ladies with long natural hair who flat iron

[velvet]

what do you use to keep your hair healthy? heat protectants, leave-ins- any recommendations?

This question is especially for those ladies who straighten their hair weekly. I ask because I think that it would be easier for me to keep my hair straight, pulled back in a braid or bun- but I absolutely cannot relax my natural hair because it's too thin with a relaxer.

BUT I also am finding it increasingly difficult to manage my long (waist-length) natural hair in a cold climate, because when I wet it it takes forever to dry.

 

[babyanjel]

I'm a natural but my hair isn't as long as your's and I wear my hair straight pretty regularly. In summer I alternate between curly and straight weekly and In winter (I live in Toronto) I usually wear it straight or in a curly bun sometimes.

I wash, condition and apply a leave in and air dry. I then flat iron with either a traditional heat-protectant or an oily serum. For maintenance I'll keep applying whatever I used for flat ironing and sleep with my hair in a cross wrap or a ponytail w/ grey rollers in it.

For me, my success with heat is that I only use it once for that week, if my hair gets puffy from working out or I get rained on, so be it....sucks for me because up in a bun it goes.

My sister blow dries and flat irons her BSL hair so frequently that the family didn't even know she transitioned to natural...if you're going that route I suggest you do protien treatments at least once a month. Since I've been doing that to her hair it's stopped breaking as much. HTH.

 

[remnant]

bump bump bump!!!!!

 

[velvet]

babyangel- what serum and heat protectant do you use? also what protein treatment?

i'm going to the us next week and want to stock up on whatever works, because i can't buy it here!

 

[Nightingale]

bumping, great topic!

 

[babyanjel]

babyangel- what serum and heat protectant do you use? also what protein treatment?

i'm going to the us next week and want to stock up on whatever works, because i can't buy it here!

Ha ha this could be tricky....I switch up lines quite regularly. However one thing remains the same Nexxus KerapHix is always used for protien. My hair has never liked alot of protien.

as for the serums and that I have used Humectress as a leave in and Nexxus Botanical Oil to flat iron. But I can't find that anymore.

I've used:
~RedKen Heat Glide (Really Liked it)
~Paul Mitchell's Super Skinny line....straight works & Gloss Drops were my fav
~plain old CD Healthy Hair butter (kinda greasy, smelt yummy though).
~Mango Butter ...left my hair a tangled, hard messed when wash time came.

the Latest...KeraCare's leave in & Silken Seal (very nice finished product) but I had to apply the headdress daily and by the end of the week my hair wasn't flowing like it should have been. Best possible replacement, that Silken Seal is no joke!

Out of all I loved my results with the Nexxus products the best because of the outcome and the scent. They say they haven't changed a thing but something is definately different about their products & they don't even have the Botanical Oil anymore. Maybe you could try the Heat Protexx I've heard alot of great reviews about it. I'm actually going to try it some time before classes start back and if I like it I'll be going back to Nexxus.

Sorry about all the products but I've been on a mission trying to find products more readily available to replace the Nexxus Line that I've been using on my hair since I was little.

 

[velvet]

okay- I made a list, and I'm definately going to try some of these products when I get home.

You're right about the silken seal- it's fantastic, and I can order it in Europe!

One last question for you babyangel . . . what hotcomb do you use, and what do you do to get rid of residue from the products?

 

[Crissi]

okay- I made a list, and I'm definately going to try some of these products when I get home.

You're right about the silken seal- it's fantastic, and I can order it in Europe!

One last question for you babyangel . . . what hotcomb do you use, and what do you do to get rid of residue from the products?

Since your in euruope you could try www.salonlines.co.uk for nexxus and paul mitchell products. Hth

 

[Vshanell]

I usually use heat bi-weekly. Like you I find it hard to wear my hair natural in the colder temps because my hair takes a long time to dry and I'm not walking around in cold weather w/ wet hair, just not gonna do it, lol. So when winter comes around I find that straightening my hair is easier.

I use Fantasia IC heat protector serum or Beyond the Zone heat protector. Sometimes I use Tresseme if I want a light, non-oily heat protector. The protein treatment I use is Motions CPR.

 

[velvet]

Crissi- see here is the thing . .. I need to know exactly what to buy, because I am the opposite of a product junkie- a product minimalist?
So, what do you recommend in the PM and Nexus lines? The only thing I will not part with is my shampoo. We have serious chalk in the water here that makes my hair super hard if I don't clarify.

Pokahontos- Thanks for the recommendations. A wet, freezing head is exactly my problem. It even takes my hair all day to dry in the summer here. If it's in a braid or ponytail, that can be smelly.

Oh and I just ordered my Maxiglide. I hope it works. I'm still using a Gold n' Hot pressing comb.

 

[Vshanell]

Crissi- see here is the thing . .. I need to know exactly what to buy, because I am the opposite of a product junkie- a product minimalist?
So, what do you recommend in the PM and Nexus lines? The only thing I will not part with is my shampoo. We have serious chalk in the water here that makes my hair super hard if I don't clarify.

Pokahontos- Thanks for the recommendations. A wet, freezing head is exactly my problem. It even takes my hair all day to dry in the summer here. If it's in a braid or ponytail, that can be smelly.

Oh and I just ordered my Maxiglide. I hope it works. I'm still using a Gold n' Hot pressing comb.

Your welcome. Let us know how you like the maxiglide. I love that thing!!

 

[Poohbear]

I have a question about flat ironing natural hair...

How do you get your hair smooth and straight with the flat iron???

One day, I attempted to straighten my hair with a flat iron and it just flatten my coils instead of straightening them out. Do you get the picture? I had already blowdried it out and combed through my hair. Maybe my hair is heat resistant and has TOO much shrinkage and is TOO tighly coiled to flat iron straight and smooth.

Any thoughts?

 

[babyanjel]

I have a question about flat ironing natural hair...

How do you get your hair smooth and straight with the flat iron???

One day, I attempted to straighten my hair with a flat iron and it just flatten my coils instead of straightening them out. Do you get the picture? I had already blowdried it out and combed through my hair. Maybe my hair is heat resistant and has TOO much shrinkage and is TOO tighly coiled to flat iron straight and smooth.

Any thoughts?

For me the MaxiGlide worked well with combating that...but I feel that I lose to much hair with all those little pins.
So when I use my regular flat plate ceramic I run a fine tooth comb over the section with the iron following directly after it....if that makes any sense....this gets the hair straight. Then I usually make one more pass with just the iron to make the hair "flatter" since I use a low setting.

 

[Poohbear]

For me the MaxiGlide worked well with combating that...but I feel that I lose to much hair with all those little pins.
So when I use my regular flat plate ceramic I run a fine tooth comb over the section with the iron following directly after it....if that makes any sense....this gets the hair straight. Then I usually make one more pass with just the iron to make the hair "flatter" since I use a low setting.

I've tried the Maxiglide before when I was trnasitioning from relaxed to natural and I didn't like it. It was too bulky and hard to manuver, plus, it didnt straighten my new growth either.
When I attempted to straighten my all natural hair, I used my mom's Gold n Hot flat iron. It didn't do anything either. My hair is to thick and densely compact to run a fine tooth comb through it first. I dunno, Ill probably just leave the heat alone all together. My hair probably needs a pressing comb to straighten it and I'm afraid to do that right now.