Natural hair is stress; every naturalista can attest to this. From its coarseness to the products and styling required to maintain it, if you aren’t ready to be in for this, just stick to relaxed hair. Speaking of styling, there are many hairstyling methods to keep your hair looking good. One of such is straightening. And to enjoy the most of it, you have to know how to straighten your natural hair without damaging it.
Straightening your hair is a skill that always comes in handy. If you don’t know how to straighten your natural hair properly, you may end up damaging it through the heat from the styling equipment.
That’s why, many hair care experts recommend that you reduce your usage of styling equipment or keep the heat at a minimum while at it.
If you love to give your hair new looks all the time, straightening should be an option for you.
Therefore, you shouldn’t be held back by the fear of damaging your hair. Give your hair a beautiful look by following these tips on how to straighten your natural hair without damaging it.
How to Straighten Your Natural Hair Without Damaging It
1. Use a Heat Protectant
Before styling your hair with any heat equipment, you should use a heat protectant. This will mitigate the effect of straightening your hair with a blow-dryer or flat iron. If you don’t have any heat protectant, natural oils like coconut oil and shea butter can serve as heat protectants.
2. Blow-dryer Rather than Flat Iron
To straighten your hair without damaging it, you have to use a blow-dryer instead of a flat iron. Although both are good heat styling appliances, a blow-dryer is better because when you use it, you hold it few inches away from your head.
On the other hand, when you use a flat iron, you fix your hair in between two hot metal plates. And this means that your hair could get damaged in the process.
However, if you must use a flat iron, let it be one that has either plates that cause less damage or a digital temperature reader so you set it to a particular degree.
3. Ensure the Heat is Low
When you’re blow-drying or flat-ironing your hair, resist the urge to increase the heat. This is because when you turn up the heat too much, you cause your hair to shrink and burn. You wouldn’t like to sacrifice your hard-earned healthy hair for some short-term glow, would you?
To prevent this, ensure the heat doesn’t go higher than 350-450 (°F). Although this doesn’t guarantee you won’t get heat damage, doing this will help you play safe.
4. Don’t Use Heat
This sounds contradictory, quite alright, but it’s the truth. If it’s possible for you, don’t use heat on your natural hair. This is the best way to prevent your hair from getting damaged.
This doesn’t mean you can’t straighten your hair. It just means you have to find another method; a harmless one at that.
A good way to straighten your hair without using heat is the African threading method. Although your hair won’t look straightened once you loosen it, it will still blow out.
Following these tips on how to straighten your natural hair assures you of a beautiful and healthy hair always. If you’d like to see a video showing you how to straighten your natural hair without damaging it, watch this one below:
