Setting to Success 2014 Challenge

CrysMelis

HairCare Enthusiast
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Got myself some 1 3/4" magnetic rollers today!!! I'm sooo hype because although I usually use the 2.5" gray ones, I am going to do a set where the results will be fuller and curlier. My normal weekly set is boring now because it's for straighter styles. But with these I will have so much more bounce and fullness!!!

Sidenote: I always only buy the shiny magnetic rollers. The dull ones don't give your hair as much shine. These rollers do for me what wrapping your hair in Saran Wrap does for shine.
 

coilyhaircutie

Well-Known Member
Flat iron attempt #3 after a pony-tail rollerset:
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It came out okay. Much better than the first and second time. My hair isn't as poofy, and it's flat at the roots. But the ends aren't perfect.
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I need to keep working on my roller technique. I did a ponytail rollerset last night. I DC'ed for an hour, rolled for 2.5 hours, and sat under the dryer for an hour. I fell asleep, exhausted, in my rollers and airdried for an additional 7 hours. It took me 3 hours to flat iron this morning. This was a looong process. I will not be doing my hair for another 2-3 weeks.

PlainJane my hair was 90% dry after an hour under the Andis soft-bonnet dryer. I would say it only takes 1-2 hours to get your hair 100% dry. It's also soo convenient and comfortable. I sat on the couch, put the dryer on a little side table, put on the bonnet, and I was good to go. I can't imagine a better set-up. Glad I bought it and no longer have to use my table-top dryer. I'm also glad I didn't spend all my hard-earned money on a Pibbs because I wouldn't be able to sit on the couch if I bought that either. I can blowdry my hair on my bed if I wanted to with this Andis dryer. I am very happy with my purchase.
 

coilyhaircutie

Well-Known Member
Here's a pic of my ponytail rollerset. I put the maximum number of pictures in the last post. Also here are the tools I used. I have retired my Denman brush. It's a little too rough on my hair. I'm going to start trimming 1/8-1/4" of hair every month. My goal for 2015 is going to be healthy, juicy ends.
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Not going to lie, when I took out my rollers, my hair was frizz city. Ugh. So busy. Next time, I will use end papers or paper towel on my rollers.

Here's a comparison of my rollerset hair next to my flat ironed hair. Curly, frizzy roots like nobody's business
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Also fyi- I did purchase those CWK plates back over the summer, but sadly the inventor had to stop production of the plates. Apparently someone claimed they had the idea first and threatened legal action -- which in my opinion is B.S. ETA - First of all, as my grandmother used to say the only original ideas came from Adam & Eve. Second of all - even if this person did supposedly come up with the idea first, then why isn't this product already on the market? I think whoever is suing her probably just didn't want to see the CWK plate-maker become successful. Anyways, all of this to say, I never got the CWK plates in the mail and I was reimbursed my money (yes!) buuut I won't get to try them out or share my results with them here on the forum. So that's a bummer. Til then, I'll have to keep working on my flat iron technique.
 
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Prettymetty

Natural/4b/medium-coarse
My curls were really tight and full of body. I wore a curly bun today. Tonight I'm sleeping with my curls loose under my satin bonnet so that they fall a bit more. One more day until I get my hair set at the salon. I'm ready :yep:
 

Lelebug88

Member
Flat iron attempt #3 after a pony-tail rollerset: It came out okay. Much better than the first and second time. My hair isn't as poofy, and it's flat at the roots. But the ends aren't perfect. I need to keep working on my roller technique. I did a ponytail rollerset last night. I DC'ed for an hour, rolled for 2.5 hours, and sat under the dryer for an hour. I fell asleep, exhausted, in my rollers and airdried for an additional 7 hours. It took me 3 hours to flat iron this morning. This was a looong process. I will not be doing my hair for another 2-3 weeks. PlainJane my hair was 90% dry after an hour under the Andis soft-bonnet dryer. I would say it only takes 1-2 hours to get your hair 100% dry. It's also soo convenient and comfortable. I sat on the couch, put the dryer on a little side table, put on the bonnet, and I was good to go. I can't imagine a better set-up. Glad I bought it and no longer have to use my table-top dryer. I'm also glad I didn't spend all my hard-earned money on a Pibbs because I wouldn't be able to sit on the couch if I bought that either. I can blowdry my hair on my bed if I wanted to with this Andis dryer. I am very happy with my purchase.

What heat setting did you flat iron on? Were you trying to get a bone straight look?
 

coilyhaircutie

Well-Known Member
Lelebug88 I use a ghd flat iron, which doesn't have adjustable heat. On the box it says it styles hair at a temperature between 350F - 365F. I would like my hair to be close to bone straight, but not too flat. I want it to come out like her hair in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQV5QKjtRdo

The problem is, whenever I flat iron my hair, my strands "stick" together. You see how in that video, when she combs her hair up, it tumbles down and there's a lot of movement and her strands flow? My hair does not move freely like that- when I shake my head, my hair moves in clumps LOL. There's movement, but alll of my hair moves together. My strands are kind of stuck together. When I comb through it, the comb gets stuck at the bottom. Some people say the comb-chase method gets your hair straighter and can eliminate this, but that method does not work for me. It pulls out my hair. This time around when flat ironing, I lost less hair, and my hair has a lot more movement than when I tried the comb-chase method the last time. So I'm thinking maybe my problem is my roller-set method. I thoroughly detangle my hair before adding the rollers, but for some reason after I dry, when I take the rollers out my hair still somehow managed to curl/kink up. So when I flat iron it the ends are not perfectly straight. I don't know... Do you have any ideas?


What heat setting did you flat iron on? Were you trying to get a bone straight look?
 

ElevatedEnergy

Rooted Yet Flowing
coilyhaircutie

What's your full flat iron product list & steps from beginning to end? Also, if I remember correctly you had great success with curlformers right? They would probably get your hair smoother than the rollers because of the tension. When I used flexi rods to stretch versus rollers, I got the best results. Minimal products with clean moisturized hair, smooth hair prior to flat ironing gets the best results for me.
 
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coilyhaircutie

Well-Known Member
lulu97
Thanks for reaching out to help! here is what i use:
1. Wash hair with As I am Cowash
2. DC with KeraCare Humecto for an hour under Andis dryer
3. Set hair with water and two pumps of Jane Carter Wrap & Roll per section. I made about 10-12 sections for my ponytail rollerset.
4. Dry hair under Andis dryer. Remove rollers & ponytail holders.
5. Flat iron hair with zero product. ETA - I flat iron in small, 1-inch sections

I don't use heat protectant because it usually makes my hair sticky or wet, and it feels like the product is either causing more damage or ruining the style. My curl pattern always comes back after washing w/o heat protectant.

You're right, I do get smooth, shiny hair and flat roots with curlformers but for some reason when I flat iron my hair afterwards it is always without fail a disaster. I don't know what it is. I think it might be because my ends aren't completely straight in the curlformers and there are always tangles that I have to comb through before I pass the flat iron through my hair. It's so annoying. My ends do not like to be straightened out. They prefer to curl, kink and break off. That's why I'm trying to up my trimming and flat ironing game this upcoming year. I need to be able to get my ends as straight as possible, if I want to see any major length retention.

What steps & products do you use to get the best flat ironing results lulu?

coilyhaircutie

What's your full flat iron product list & steps from beginning to end? Also, if I remember correctly you had great success with curlformers right? They would probably get your hair smoother than the rollers because of the tension. When I used flexi rods to stretch versus rollers, I got the best results. Minimal products with clean moisturized hair, smooth hair prior to flat ironing gets the best results for me.
 

ElevatedEnergy

Rooted Yet Flowing
coilyhaircutie

My flat iron process is the following:

1) Wash hair with Elucence Moisture benefits shampoo.

2) Steam Treatment for 20 minutes with Silk Elements MegaSilk olive oil treatment. Sometimes I will rinse it all out then add a small amount of Curl Junkie Beauticurls argan & olive oil conditioner. Sometimes I will rinse about 90% of the DC out & just use what's left it my hair as a leave in.

3) use around 13-15 Flexi rods to stretch hair. These thangs gets my roots, length & ends so straight. I also keep a spray bottle filled with water close.

4) Spray 2-3 spritz's of Silk Elements MegaSilk heat protection spray per flexi rod. Flat iron on 350-375 & chase the flat iron with a soft boar bristle brush. I go for bone straight. I ain't bout to waste my time using heat nor risk damaging my hair for kinky straight hair...I want some relaxer type swanging bone skraight hurrrrr! lol

Here are my results.
 
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ElevatedEnergy

Rooted Yet Flowing
coilyhaircutie

Sorry for the multiple posts but yall know this lhcf app needs a lil work & updates. lmbo

1. Wash hair with As I am Cowash

***I would replace this with an actual shampoo


2. DC with KeraCare Humecto for an hour under Andis dryer

**** I would keep this step

3. Set hair with water and two pumps of Jane Carter Wrap & Roll per section. I made about 10-12 sections for my ponytail rollerset.

**** I would replace this with a small amount of creamy or liquid leave in depending on what your hair likes as well as use another method for setting that provides ultimate stretching or just continue to work on perfecting your ponytail sets. The picture you posted looked fine to me.

4. Dry hair under Andis dryer. Remove rollers & ponytail holders.

*****Keep

5. Flat iron hair with zero product. ETA - I flat iron in small, 1-inch sections

*****I'm not a fan of using zero product so I would at least use a few pumps of a Serum for heat protection.
 

Lelebug88

Member
I agree with everyone else. I use flexi rods to stretch my hair opposed to big magnetic rollers. They are great because they really get the roots but don't require tiny sections. Also, proper detangling before hand is a must. Beyond that, make sure you have a good ceramic flat iron, a bad quality flat iron can lead to puffy hair.
 

coilyhaircutie

Well-Known Member
lulu97 Thank you sooo much for your in-depth answers! I tried responded to you yesterday, but every time I hit "reply" LHCF kept freezing up and saying there were maintenance issues.

I had a couple of questions about your regimen:

3) use around 13-15 Flexi rods to stretch hair. These thangs gets my roots, length & ends so straight. I also keep a spray bottle filled with water close.


Is your hair dripping wet when you set, or is it just damp? Do you use a small-tooth comb or a denman brush to detangle?

4) Spray 2-3 spritz's of Silk Elements MegaSilk heat protection spray per flexi rod. Flat iron on 350-375 & chase the flat iron with a soft boar bristle brush. I go for bone straight. I ain't bout to waste my time using heat nor risk damaging my hair for kinky straight hair...I want some relaxer type swanging bone skraight hurrrrr! lol


LOL I'm going for that relaxer-type swang too girl! It doesn't need to be flat on my head, but I want it swanging and bouncy. I like straight hair with soft curls at the ends. When you flat iron, how small are your sections? Do you flat iron a whole flexirod section?

I think I'll buy the KeraCare shampoo. The conditioner worked well in my hair. The KeraCare Humecto smells soooo good, and the scent lasts! I washed & DCed my hair on Friday and my hair still smells fresh and flowery like the conditioner. It's fading a little now, but I like the fact that my hair has smelled good for a solid 6 days.

For step #3 I'll try using up my kinky curly leave-in, think I still have half a bottle. My worry is that leave-in conditioners may weigh my hair down, and that's why I used the JC foam wrap. But I can try KCKT. I won't know until I try!

As for flat ironing with a serum, I'm going to first make the two changes above (shampoo & leave-in), see if they work. If my hair needs a little more "oomph", then I'll buy a serum too. I've been trying to go minimal on the products these days (and save money bc of the holidays) so I'll save that suggestion for last.

Once again, thank youuu! I appreciate your and everyone else's help on this forum. There is so much support here. I love my hair journey sisters! :heart:
 

ElevatedEnergy

Rooted Yet Flowing
coilyhaircutie

*kisses* we are here to help each other!



Is your hair dripping wet when you set, or is it just damp? Do you use a small-tooth comb or a denman brush to detangle?

My hair is dripping wet when I apply the flexi rods. The wetter my hair, the smoother I can get my hair to lay on the roller. I do the heavy detangling with my fingers beforehand in the shower when rinsing out my DC. Any additional kinks get smoothed out with my small tooth comb right before I add the flexi rod.

When you flat iron, how small are your sections? Do you flat iron a whole flexirod section?

I let the flexi rod be my guide. I spray the heat protectant on my hands then apply it to the entire section of hair that was on that one flexi rod. When I flat iron, the hair usually gets divided in 4-5 sections per flexi rod.

I think the Kinky Curly is a good option as a leave in. Just make sure you use a small amount. I use maybe a quarter size amount of leave in for my entire head. The Keracare detangling shampoo is good too. My stylist uses that and it smells so good and leaves my hair soft like a conditioner.
 

CrysMelis

HairCare Enthusiast
Magnetic set with my 1 3/4" black shiny mags.

Rinsed out the DE Transitioning Mousse, poo washed with Loreal SF, 2-Min Aphogee for 2 mins, DC'd with Salerm Wheat Germ Mask (yummy! So worth the $25 for this little a$$ tub of conditioner) for 1 hr no heat, Alfa Parf Cioccolato leave-in, magnetic set: Mohawk style.

Pics to come!!!



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Fotchygirl

Well-Known Member
lulu97 you are a star! Thank you for all the knowledge you share with us. You have made me ready for my first roller set. I will do it after my relaxer in December cos right now my hair is a mess, tangle and ssk city since I'm 11 months post.
 

girlonfire

Well-Known Member
Im kinda worried again about my shedding. I combed my hair yesterday and got a pretty decent sized clump similar to this pic andd then this pic is what I got today. I finger comb my hair before I wash it (meant to wash yesterday but no time) but then it got matted again so I combed it again so I'm wondering if anyone gets hair balls 2x this big after not combing for a week. Thanks. My hair is wl if that helps
 

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Lilmama1011

Well-Known Member
Im kinda worried again about my shedding. I combed my hair yesterday and got a pretty decent sized clump similar to this pic andd then this pic is what I got today. I finger comb my hair before I wash it (meant to wash yesterday but no time) but then it got matted again so I combed it again so I'm wondering if anyone gets hair balls 2x this big after not combing for a week. Thanks. My hair is wl if that helps

Since your hair is WL, it can look like double the amount of hair for a shoulder length person. As long as it's not over 700 hairs, I wouldn't worry. Yes I know it's crazy to count but to estimate though is fine. girlonfire
 

girlonfire

Well-Known Member
Since your hair is WL, it can look like double the amount of hair for a shoulder length person. As long as it's not over 700 hairs, I wouldn't worry. Yes I know it's crazy to count but to estimate though is fine. girlonfire

how does one estimate that? Lol who has time to count that?Not I, said the girlinfire!
 

Fotchygirl

Well-Known Member
Sorry ladies, I meant yo say 11 weeks post! I'm currently visiting my Parents and am struggling to find rollers where they stay. The only ones I'm finding are the ones with spikes and Velcro rollers which are both no, no's according to LHCF ladies. Oh well Ii will keep looking.
 

ElevatedEnergy

Rooted Yet Flowing
I used magnetic rollers for this roller set. I had plans on flat ironing the roots but I really didn't need to. It's now in a traditional wrap which took me about 15 mins of fighting because I only used my fingers. I'll post pictures of that whenever I comb it down sometime next week.

Gonna make this set last for 2 weeks then I'll be flat ironing for my annual length check, so this will be my last magnetic set of the year.
 
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Lilmama1011

Well-Known Member
Wednesday set. It took me 3 hrs lol . The ponytail roller sets come out cool but I don't feel it comes out as straight because it s more hair put into a roller and it takes longer to dry. But I think next time I will do 12 ponytails instead of eight

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Blairx0

Well-Known Member
Hi Ladies.

Forgive my long absence. i have been truly neglectful of this thread and my hair.
I flat ironed for thanksgiving, but i have been neglecting all of the things that really helped my hair flourish: deep conditioning with heat, cassia, and regular setting. I still set every other week, but without the full routine of cassia, dc w/ heat, and rollers in small section it just isn't enough and my hair is suffering.

I plan to recommit myself to my hair as soon as I wash this flat iron job out. I plan to restock on cassia and buy some conditioners via cyber Monday sales. I hope having new things to try as well as old staples will help get me back into the hair game.

I took a small step and whipped some shea butter and oils for heavy sealing now that the cold weather is here.

Basically, I miss this thread and my health hair. I am recommitting in 2015 and plan to create a thread for all of you who want to stay on the setting wagon or jump back on.

Thanks for the constant inspriation!
 

faithVA

Well-Known Member
I've been working on my ends so haven't been doing any rollersets. But last night I did a flat twist updo and used the small white perm rods for the twist and the curls. It came out better than I was expecting. This style definitely gives me some options until I get some more length in the back.


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