A Different Take on "Traning" Natural Hair

[newbeginnings2010]

My stylist is natural, and she is fully supportive of me transitioning to natural. We were having a great talk about going natural, protein and moisture balancing and how your hair should feel, how to handle the breakage as I get further into the transition, Crown and Glory combing/brushing method, etc (she has NEVER heard of LHCF OR the Crown and Glory method, and she was telling ME this stuff!). Funny thing is that she said that she learned all of this in school, so it leaves me wondering about my past stylists...but I digress.

Anyways, she suddenly started talking about "training" my natural hair, and for me this was a RED LIGHT. I don't plan on using heat much at all as a natural. I told her that I don't want it trained because I would lose or alter my curl pattern. But her definition of "training" natural hair is to DC, dry under the dome dryer to about 80%, and then VERY lightly blow dry and detangle the natural growth thoroughly with a paddle brush every 2 weeks, NOT heat training. She talked about how this would keep my natural hair from matting and dreading, and it would help my natural hair lay down as it grows instead of being a huge, unruly fro (although I thought that had more to do with the length of your hair and gravity) Have any transitioners or naturals heard of this method of "training" hair and, if so, does my stylist have a valid point about this? I thought that this much brushing might rip out my natural and relaxed hair. How often do you naturals/transitioners comb/brush your hair?

 

[BostonMaria]

I think she means stretching the hair to avoid knots and tangles, not letting it air dry (wash and go). I do this by rollersetting, but unfortunately I haven't mastered it to the point where it looks curly. I would have her show you how to do it. I don't think that her method would be a bad thing. Some people do this with curlformers and the flexi rods to get the natural curly look without letting it air dry.

As long as she's not blow drying or flatironing your hair to death to make it a different texture I think you should be ok. Honestly though try doing it yourself.

 

[Bublin]

Just so i get this straight.....she wants to leave the DC in the hair, set it somehow ie braids, rollers and then put you under the drier?

 

[Nonie]

I agree with BostonMaria, she's talking about stretching your hair. Most 4Bers keep their hair stretched all the time. And heat isn't necessary for that, but you can use it if you want. I personally prefer to keep my hair stretched with braids. If I didn't use S Curl when wearing my hair out but used something like an oil, my hair would not curl up but would just look like it does here where has just been taken out of a braid and has no product on it:

I love that my hair has texture. If my hair was blown out straight, I would not be able to wear it like this:

It'd hang down and out lazily. Blowdrying my hair all the time would rob it of the moisture it has and brushing all the time might rip the cuticles off the strands. (I think brushing is the reason people find splits in the middle of their strands. And I imagine if you're trying to get it straight, you'd have to do some major brushing. I'll pass.)

I don't think blowing out hair is bad, but I'd do it as minimally as I straighten my hair. Too much of anything is bad IMO, especially if you're one with weak hair like mine.

 

[KurlyNinja]

It actually sounds like a good concept. I wish I could find a stylist that I trusted with my hair. She sounds like she knows exactly what she's doing though.

 

[hopeful]

Lightly blowdrying on low or cool while still maintaining most your natural texture is not a bad thing IMO...As long as the goal is to stretch the hair to avoid tangles, etc. Just make sure she's not trying to get it straight or make it behave or look like relaxed hair.

 

[loshed]

The detangling 80% dry 4b hair hair with a paddle brush is giving me pause. Do you think your hair can take that? I feel like she should at least finger detangle before going in with the paddle bush.

 

[ms.blue]

doesn't really seem bad to me at all.

 

[nikolite]

I've had success stretching my hair by just roller-setting it and letting it air dry overnight or sitting under a hooded dryer on low for an hour. I think that would be a safer way to do it.

Either way, nothing will "train" the hair. That terminology is weird to me. Its still going to grow out of your scalp the way it was intended.

 

[hopeful]

The detangling 80% dry 4b hair hair with a paddle brush is giving me pause. Do you think your hair can take that? I feel like she should at least finger detangle before going in with the paddle bush.

I'm a wee bit concerned about the paddle brush as well.

 

[localhost]

I had this very question about training natural hair. I plan on keeping my hair twisted with extensions until I reach the volume and length I need to have twists of my own. But I definitely feel that I need to do something to train my hair and to loosen the coils for styling. The only style I know how to do myself is the shruken fro with a headband

 

[Bun Mistress]

I think the paddle brush woud be ok, I honestly only use it on dry hair that has been detangled first with a comb in small sections.

 

[Nonie]

I had this very question about training natural hair. I plan on keeping my hair twisted with extensions until I reach the volume and length I need to have twists of my own. But I definitely feel that I need to do something to train my hair and to loosen the coils for styling. The only style I know how to do myself is the shruken fro with a headband

I don't think you need to "train" your hair to wear other styles. Stalk albums of people like Mwedzi, Mandy, NappyRina, and you'll discover you can wear your hair in more ways than one without "training" it.

 

[localhost]

Thank you Nonie, I will check out those albums

 

[newbeginnings2010]

I think the paddle brush woud be ok, I honestly only use it on dry hair that has been detangled first with a comb in small sections.

To answer a few questions from posters, she did do this. Sorry I didn't mention it. I sat under the dryer for 15 min with DC in my hair, and then she detangled in small sections while wet with a large toothed comb, rinsed the DC out, I sat under the dryer until 80% dry, and then she did the detangling.

 

[NaturalPath]

To answer a few questions from posters, she did do this. Sorry I didn't mention it. I sat under the dryer for 15 min with DC in my hair, and then she detangled in small sections while wet with a large toothed comb, rinsed the DC out, I sat under the dryer until 80% dry, and then she did the detangling.

I think this is a pretty good method, seems like it would aide in the process of helping you to retain length.

How did she style your hair afterwards. I am assuming that after she detangled your hair she washed it out?