We Aim To Slay

How I straighten my hair

It’s the eternal hair conundrum – if you have curly hair, you wish it was straight, and if you have straight hair you wish it was curly.

Over the years, I’ve experimented with all sorts of hair styles, lengths, and varying degrees of curly and straight. Ever since committing to the natural hair journey in 2017, I’ve tried to limit the amount of heat styling I inflict upon my tresses. But in the last few months I’ve embraced the “it’s just hair – it’ll grow back” mentality.

Before I even consider applying heat to my hair, I prep my locks in a way that will lock in moisture and protect it from the heat I’m applying. My curls are a mix of 3B, 3C, and 4A curls, so no matter what I’ll need to blow out about 90% of the curl before I even start flat ironing. 

Prepping the hair

I always start with clean hair, achieved by using the Mielle Rosemary Mint Strengthening Shampoo and the Not Your Mother’s Naturals Tahitian Gardenia Flower & Mango Butter Conditioner. This shampoo has a subtle smell, a good lather, and doesn’t strip the hair of too many natural oils. The only caveat is that I still like to use a clarifying shampoo every few washes, in order to fully cleanse my scalp.

I’ve been a long time cheerleader of the Not Your Mother’s Naturals line, and this conditioner is one of my hair’s favorites. It’s formulated to be a curl defining conditioner, and it’s one of the highest strength conditioners in their line. This product has a very pleasant smell, and leaves my hair smooth and supple.

After cleansing I’ll apply my current go-to leave in – the Mielle Pomegranate & Honey Leave-In Conditioner. I stumbled onto this product about a year ago and I have to say this is in my top two for favorite leave-ins. To apply, I’ll split my hair into a center part, and rake the product through my hair, starting at the ends and working up towards the root. When I’m straightening my hair I’ll use a heck of a lot less product.

This is the point where my curly routine differs from my straight routine. When straightening my hair, the next product I’ll apply is the It’s A 10 Miracle Blow Dry Styling Balm. If I have some, I’ll also apply a spray protectant such as the KMS Thermashape Hot Flex Spray.

Regardless of what I’m doing with my hair, once my leave in is applied, I’ll wrap my hair into a hair towel; there’s no particular brand that I prefer, so I’ll link all of the options available on Amazon.com. These towels help remove excess water, without stripping too much moisture from my hair.

Let’s Get Started

**Full disclosure, I prefer to wash and blow out my hair on one day, and then flat iron the following day.**

Because I don’t do a lot of heat styling, I haven’t done a ton of research into the best styling tools on the market. I am currently using (a much older version of) the Sutra Accelerator Blow Dryer (with a concentrator nozzle) and the Infiniti Pro by Conair Rainbow Flat Iron with one-and-three-quarter inch plates. The other “tools” I’ll be using are clips, a scrunchy, a paddle brush, a smoothing brush, a one inch round brush, and a comb.

The most important aspect of this project is to work in small sections. Some people swear by using a comb to make the sections uniform, I prefer to free form it using my nails, and then I’ll touch up my roots as I keep going.

I’ll start with the bottom most portion of my hair, breaking that into additional small sections. First I’ll use the paddle brush to detangle and then I’ll switch to the smoothing brush in an effort to get the ends as smooth as possible.

Starting at the root, I make sure to apply tension to my hair as I roll the round brush through to the ends. It’s important that I get the roots and ends as straight as possible during the blow out process, as those are the sections that usually give me trouble while flat ironing.

Most recently, I had separated my blow out into two sections which I braided to go to sleep. Because of this, I had my hair split in half down the center part, and began flat ironing small sections from each braid, one at a time.

Using the exact same methods as blowing out my hair, I’ll run the flat iron over my small sections, working from the bottom most layers up to the crown. As I’m making my way through each section, I’ll often go back through to see if there are any pieces that need another pass with the flat iron.

I like to secure the already straightened pieces with a clip, so they don’t get tangled with the section I’m working on presently, and I brush through these sections each time I add more straightened hair.

And once I’ve straightened both sides, I finish off by applying the Garnier Fructis Sleek & Shine Moroccan Sleek Oil Treatment starting at the ends and working up the strands towards the roots. 

Make it Last

I always have trouble protecting the integrity of my hair style while I’m sleeping, whether my hair is natural or straight. I’ve tried wrapping (a technique I’ve never quite mastered), using a bonnet, the pineapple, and even braiding. For my straight hair, I’ve really been enjoying using the Kitsch Satin Heatless Curling Set, and I secure it with a satin bonnet. The only downside for me is that these curls tend to fall very quickly, but that could be because of the hairspray I’m using – I don’t currently have a hairspray preference, so any suggestions would be welcome!

Because I’ve been working out more consistently, I’ll be using Batiste Dry Shampoo to maintain my roots. To apply, I’ll break my hair into bigger sections, spray the product onto my roots, and then zhush the roots until the powder is no longer visible. I’ll finish off with brushing through my hair, and adding a bit of oil to the ends if they’re looking frizzy.

The one downside to wearing my hair straight is that I’m not as creative with styling straight hair as I am with my curls. For some reason, maybe because curls are a tad more forgiving visually, I’m able to make simple hairstyles look really interesting by adding a simple clip or barrette. But I recently created a look that focused on textured, achieved using braids and barrettes!

And Back to Curly

When I’m ready to wash away my straight hair, I make sure to cleanse and condition, before finishing off with the Briogeo Don’t Despair, Repair! Deep Conditioning Mask. I’ll use this product as my leave-in conditioner, styling my hair up or down.

Do you prefer to wear your hair straight or curly/curled? Let me know in the comments section below! I hope you all have a great rest of your week, and remember to SLAY!