Sooo is this too often for flat ironing my hair?

[jgirl3]

I'm not super consistent in when I was my hair; it really depends on if life gets in the way. Currently I do it every one to two weeks (mostly two weeks), and I'm trying to up the frequency to once a week.

I flat iron on 280 F with every wash, right after a moisturizing DC that follows a protein treatment (Joico Kpak mixed with nunaat Brazilian Keratin Intensive Mask). I have gone from sitting under the dryer to airdrying 100% of the time now, so the only heat I have is my flat iron. Would doing the air dry + flat iron every week be too much?

 

[bronzephoenix]

How is your hair responding so far?

Sent from my iPhone using LHCF

 

[jgirl3]

Well as of right now, with flatironing every two weeks, it's ok. However, after a week it gets to that "ick" stage where I really feel like I need to wash my hair again. But I've been too afraid to use more heat on it, so I just kinda hold out with my bun for another week.

I think I need to DC some more, and my hair isn't really suffering from heat at this point in time, but I don't know if weekly heat (even though I air dry) is a bad thing or not

 

[jgirl3]

Oh and I should add that rollersetting is not an option for me. I've tried it; it's waaaay too much manipulation in my hair. It caused me more problems with breakage than just flatironing. I try to not do any type of serious combing with my hair when it's wet

 

[CaraWalker]

if your hair starts to break off, it is. otherwise i dont think theres any arbitrary rule about how much heat one persons head could take. i cannot flat often my hair often. i keep thinking maybe its changed but every time id do a sew in, id get the leave out all broken off from flat ironing, so i know its just not an option for me.

 

[Blairx0]

You can Rollerset without combing. I do

 

[Crystal22]

I think it will eventually cause problems or more common....cause your hair to remain at the same length forever because of needing to trim often because of the frequent heat usage which is what I've noticed with my hair and all the women I've ever known going to the salon weekly.

This hair thing is hard when you try and have your cake and eat it too. I find that when I Flatiron I don't want to moisturize or seal so it doesn't defeat the purpose of the flatiron job I just did and if you're flat ironing frequently you're not getting enough moisture in(apart from dc) This has been my experience anyway. I need to leave the flatiron alone for a long time.

 

[krissyhair]

Is that 280 Celsius or Fahrenheit?

 

[jgirl3]

280 Fahrenheit.

Well I guess then I should stick to the once every two weeks? I'd really like to up the frequency but I guess maybe I shouldn't deviate from what has been working. I have had steady progress, but not 100% optimal. But that is because I don't protective style all the time, and I'm ok with that.

If I test this out (upping the frequency) how long should I wait to see if it is working or not for me? I'm really bad at figuring out if something is just really damaging my hair before it's too late. The only reason I know that flat ironing once every two weeks isn't too bad for me is because I have seen growth (through pictures) and even my stylist has commented on how healthy my hair is

 

[DoDo]

3-6 months is a good gauge for most people. If you have average retention, you should see an inch and a half retention in 3 months and 3 inches in 6 months. That is pretty significant and the lack or presence of progress should tip you off as to whether it is still working out for you.