Are there any naturals retaining length using low/med heat blow outs regularly?

[AHeadOfCoils]

DayDreamist

What you described is Longhairdontcare's regimen and it seems to be working for her! She NEVER air-dries her hair.

I blowdry/flatiron my hair whenever I feel like it - might be every 2 weeks, might be 8 weeks. I also blowdry/press all three of my daughter's hair whenever they want. They have TBL/WL/BSL hair.

But, in the end, you have to do whatever your hair likes - I guess some hair doesn't like any direct heat and other hair can grow to very long lengths utilizing it regularly. You'll just have to monitor any changes in the condition of your hair once you start using heat. Good luck!

@ the bold. I just watched her video and she said that she completely airdries her hair and then she blow dries it to stretch it.

 

[CurlsBazillion]

^^^thanks for the link I was literally looking for her older videos right before I came here...she mentions the rest of her hair already being "heat trained", i know I won't be taking it that far. I learned a few tips and next time I will try air drying then blow drying.

 

[ChristmasCarol]

@ the bold. I just watched her video and she said that she completely airdries her hair and then she blow dries it to stretch it.

AHeadOfCoils

Thanks for the clarification.

 

[ImFree27]

anymore tips? I'm thinking about blowdrying this weekend, I haven't blow dryed in years, too lazy.

 

[yaya24]

2012 I am turning up the heat.
Planning on blow drying 1-2xs a month.

The last time I blowdried, I got really great results after DC overnight.

 

[silkii_locks]

I'm on a pretty high heat regimen as well. Before I BC'd, I would wash every 10 days, DC, blow dry (I'm not very good at blowdrying my own hair so most of the time I air dried over night) and flat iron.

It worked really well for me. My hair is very coarse and very prone to SSK's. When I started my HHJ, I cut heat out completely. Cold turkey. 5 months later I decided to straighten and suffered the setback of all setbacks. The SSK's were soooooo bad that I could barely get a comb through the last 5-6 inches of my hair.

I learned a valuable lesson; HEAT IS NOT THE DEVIL! Improper use of heat, or being ignorant of how to effectively use heat to retain length/maintain healthy hair is the real issue.

Sorry my response is so long. I just feel like heat gets such a bad rep around these parts sometimes. It's really not the enemy. So by all means, incorporate heat into your routine. Just make sure you pay attention to your hair and adjust accordingly.

I couldn't agree more!

 

[30something]

I'm also on a high heat regimen (well by LHCF standards).. I have been on it over a year. Even though my hair grows slow (from genetics) I'm pretty much retaining as much as I grow.. with out missing pieces and dry damaged hair. In fact my crown area which as been absent during my relax days is actually filling in and retaining length too.

One advice I like to give people is to only start a heat regimen only if their hair is already in a top or good healthy condition. I been on the bad side of a heat regimen (back when i was relax and not doing so good) and it wasn't pretty.

 

[AmyRose92]

Sooo I experimented with a blow out on low/cool on Tuesday. Now it's Friday and I felt like I had to do a co-wash because even though I was moisturizing and sealing my ends, my roots felt CRUNCHY. I couldn't stand the dryness so I left some Suave conditioner and I'll be rinsing it out, adding my moisturizer, twisting my hair, and slapping on a wig as usual 'cause I could not deal with the dryness.

Is there a way to maintain a blow out (as in no reversion/shrinkage) AND keep it moisturized at the same time? Because I feel like I have to choose one or the other (and moisture is definitely key in my regimen, since my strands are prone to dryness :/)

 

[CurlsBazillion]

I'm also on a high heat regimen (well by LHCF standards).. I have been on it over a year. Even though my hair grows slow (from genetics) I'm pretty much retaining as much as I grow.. with out missing pieces and dry damaged hair. In fact my crown area which as been absent during my relax days is actually filling in and retaining length too.

One advice I like to give people is to only start a heat regimen only if their hair is already in a top or good healthy condition. I been on the bad side of a heat regimen (back when i was relax and not doing so good) and it wasn't pretty.

THis is the best heat advice, I am very aware that things can go sour and if my hair is already in bad shape, it will only get worse.

Sooo I experimented with a blow out on low/cool on Tuesday. Now it's Friday and I felt like I had to do a co-wash because even though I was moisturizing and sealing my ends, my roots felt CRUNCHY. I couldn't stand the dryness so I left some Suave conditioner and I'll be rinsing it out, adding my moisturizer, twisting my hair, and slapping on a wig as usual 'cause I could not deal with the dryness.

Is there a way to maintain a blow out (as in no reversion/shrinkage) AND keep it moisturized at the same time? Because I feel like I have to choose one or the other (and moisture is definitely key in my regimen, since my strands are prone to dryness :/)

Sorry to hear this! What products did you use as a leave in/ heat protectant? I ask because I didn't have that problem and that my be because I air dried most of the way after M&S then added heat protectant and did the tension method on med heat. I did not suffer from crunchy ends doing it this way.

 

[AmyRose92]

DayDreamist: I used my shea butter leave in (mixture of SheaMoisture Raw Shea Butter Conditioner, aloe vera juice, and castor oil) and applied Beyond the Zone heat protectant to each section. I let it air dry until it was just a little damp. I blow dried some sections using the tension method, others with a comb attachment. My ends didn't feel as bad as my roots though. They were dry beyond belief! I didn't want to end up M&Sing so that it would revert and shrink back up but it ended up happening anyways. Could it be because I'm in Miami and that it's still fairly warm here?

 

[Bublin]

Have a misunderstood some of what you are all saying???

You are using heat say, once a month to keep tangles and ssk's at bay but you wash your hair once a week. So how is using heat just once a month (or not at every wash)reducing ssk's?
If i was to re-visit heat for these reasons i would have to blowdry once or twice a week and there is no way i'm doing that.

 

[CurlsBazillion]

AmyRose92 I wouldn't blame Miami weather for dry hair...the only difference between how we did our blow outs was that I used a light leave in (giovanni direct leave in) and I didn't use much of that. I wonder how your hair would come out if you spritzed your hair with aloe juice, applied a light leave in, sealed with castor oil, let dry till damp, apply protectant, then blew out...this is just an idea of course.

 

[CurlsBazillion]

Bublin For me personally I won't be washing weekly anymore because your right it does defeat the purpose. Now if my hair starts feeling desperately dry and nothing I do helps it (which I doubt I'll be able to tell with my hair being in cornrows) then I'd cowash.


Side-note: Biweekly washes have been working better for my scalp then I thought!

 

[AmyRose92]

@AmyRose92 I wouldn't blame Miami weather for dry hair...the only difference between how we did our blow outs was that I used a light leave in (giovanni direct leave in) and I didn't use much of that. I wonder how your hair would come out if you spritzed your hair with aloe juice, applied a light leave in, sealed with castor oil, let dry till damp, apply protectant, then blew out...this is just an idea of course.

I'll try this method and see how it goes next wash day. For the rest of the week, I'll just stick to what I know best: wigs

 

[ajoke]

DayDreamist There are a couple that I've made.

1) You have to know which kind of heat protectant works for you. They are not all created equal. I've tried TONS of them. I find that serums (Chi Silk Infusion, Fantasia IC, etc) tend to weigh my hair down. Serums leave my hair greasy looking and limp. I get very little "swang" when I use them. Then you have the liquid kind or sprays.(Organix Brazilian Keratin Flat Iron Spray, John Frieda Full Repair) I like those kind. They leave my hair feeling silky and soft, but it takes a lot to get full coverage. My personal favorite is Got2Be Crazy Sleek Flat Iron & Blowdry Lotion. A little goes a long way, my hair is soft, bouncy, shiny, and has lots of "swang"

2) You have to pay attention to the products you use when doing just blow outs. I've suffered from "crunchy" blow dry hair, as well as just plain huge frizzy hair. Again, I'm not very good at blowdrying my own hair.

3) Make sure to incorporate protein. Heat can cause the hair to become weak and brittle. So I will do a moisture DC, then cowash with a protein condition before I use heat. Or vice versa.

4) I never thought it mattered much, but GREASE is really good to have if you use heat. Besides my HP, I mostly use natural products. So the grease I use is by Njoi Creations Sweet Coconut Pomade. I use a dab just before using heat, and daily to M&S my ends.

I'm being long-winded again. Those are some of the most important things to consider when adding heat as a regular part of your regimen. I'm giving examples based on my experience and my hair of course. But I hope to have helped in some way.

Thanks so much for this post. I haven't straightened my hair since last spring, and I needed to because my efforts styling my curly hair, with all the shrinkage are dismal, and I am attending a black-tie event tomorrow. After reading your post, I went and got the blow-dry lotion spray from gottobe, I'm not sure if it's the same one you used. I blow dried my hair, and it's smooth and not crunchy at all! It feels so nice I might not flat iron at all, just wear a southern tease bun with bangs.
I usually use serums, chi silk infusion, and the red ken heat protectant, but they never gave ne such good results. So thank you again.

 

[Miss AJ]

You don't have to blow it out. Like you, I had gotten tons of SSKs from wearing wash and go's frequently, but when I wear braid outs and twist outs instead of wash and go's they disappear. Stretched hair from any method, be it blow outs/braiding/twisting/bantu knotting/banding will keep the SSKs away.

 

[Victorian]

This is a really great thread to wade through if you've got time: Straight Hair Natural's Support Thread
My hair has been mostly heat-straightened for 3 years now, and it has worked out for me. You don't have to wear it bone straight like I do, but I'd still echo what others have said about finding the right protein/moisture balance for your heat-treated hair.

I moisturize with a leave-in overnight treatment by L'Oreal (Everstrong). I have a post about it in my blog (link in siggy). I can go up to a couple weeks between washes but I'm usually itching (literally) to wash by then. I normally do my hair every weekend.

 

[CurlsBazillion]

You don't have to blow it out. Like you, I had gotten tons of SSKs from wearing wash and go's frequently, but when I wear braid outs and twist outs instead of wash and go's they disappear. Stretched hair from any method, be it blow outs/braiding/twisting/bantu knotting/banding will keep the SSKs away.

Great point! The whole point of it all is to stretch the hair. I've been thinking about banding as an alternate if my hair can only take heat once a month.

This is a really great thread to wade through if you've got time: Straight Hair Natural's Support Thread
My hair has been mostly heat-straightened for 3 years now, and it has worked out for me. You don't have to wear it bone straight like I do, but I'd still echo what others have said about finding the right protein/moisture balance for your heat-treated hair.

I moisturize with a leave-in overnight treatment by L'Oreal (Everstrong). I have a post about it in my blog (link in siggy). I can go up to a couple weeks between washes but I'm usually itching (literally) to wash by then. I normally do my hair every weekend.

Thanks for the info! With you doing your hair every weekend does that mean with heat every weekend? If so, are you still retaining length this way?

 

[Victorian]

Thanks for the info! With you doing your hair every weekend does that mean with heat every weekend? If so, are you still retaining length this way?

Yes and yes. I've been in maintenance mode for a while and generally keep my hair between APL and BSB these days, but when I first started with using heat I grew it out from a shoulder-length cut. I thought I still had my photo album up, but apparently I don't . I'll have to go dig up pictures from when I started.
I'm sort of contemplating growing my hair out as a goal this year, but not sure yet. If I do, the main difference is that I'll limit trimming to 2-3 times this year (I just cut it last weekend, so I guess that's #1 ) and baby my ends more (I've been kinda slacking on taking care of my hair at night).