Do naturals who use heat on occasion reach greater lengths? HAIR PORN.

[Kash]

I have to agree with MaySay! Whenever I stick to a similar routine of keeping my hair stretched at ALL times, I experience less breakage & knots ... it has not eradicated breakage & knots for me but maybe that's all in my amateur technique

I've found that braiding my hair prior to washing (keeping the braids loose near the scalp to allow for massaging & rinsing -they get tighter toward the ends to keep the braid intact) better than twisting b/c usually a few twists come loose during the wash process

I also dilute my cleanser of choice: conditioner, shampoo, baking soda/tea rinses, etc ... & apply with an applicator bottle with the pointy tip for easier application & rinsing in my braids

~ I'm still trying to figure out how I will adapt this routine when using bentonite/rhassoul clay treatments, henna etc which would be much harder to rinse out in braids .. maybe I'll just section my hair in puffs held by elastic & wash each section by taking down the elastic, rinsing thoroughly & replacing the elastic..this way my hair will still be semi-stretched and not allowed to shrink completely hmmm ~

I also stay away from wash n go styles or any style where my hair shrinks too much.. I prefer to keep it semi-stretched (braid-outs, twist-outs, stretched puffs, buns, rolls, etc) ...so that means after washing my hair is placed in braids (this time tight from root to tip),or twists or bands to stretch

I was anti-heat for a while but I have recently purchased a blow dryer and plan to use it occasionally ...

Question for those that use the "Tension Method"

I've seen this on youtube & there seems to be 2 different schools of thought...
1) some use the comb attachment & also stretch out the hair with their hands....
2) others just stretch out the hair with their hands and may use the concentrator nozzle to direct the heat

How do you ladies define the "tension method"?

i just did my hair last night and i used pinkskates tension/stretch method. (pinkskates is a member here with almost butt length natural hair). so after detangling, i take one section at a time and i stretch my hair with one hand while the other hand holds the blowdryer.

( i use a hot sock concentrator as well. i lose maybe 5 strands now when i blow dry as opposed to the 2 handfuls i use to lose when i didn't use her tension/stretch method.)

i take the blow dryer and pretends its a comb as i constantly move the blowdryer up and down my hair's length. i don't use a comb because pinkskates says when using a blow dryer on type 4 hair you cannot afford to have any other type of manipulation going on with your hair as you blow dry the hair; and that includes a comb with teeth.

and since she has grown her natural hair down to her butt, and she uses heat from a blow dryer, i take her word as gospel!

 

[DaR3alM3]

Girl, your eyes scared the hell outta me!

Too funny. all i can say is that i def have to add puffs or something to my hair after i wash cuz trying to do anything to once dry is a no-no.

 

[virtuenow]

Thanks ladies for responding about how you define the "Tension Method"....

I plan to try out both ways .. with the comb attachment & stretching with my hands AND just using my hands to stretch .... levone I too notice from several youtube videos that the ends do not straighten well when just using the hands to stretch

Anybody else want to chime in on how they practice the Tension Method & why???

Here is the best video that I have found that shows the blow dry tension technique: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us6r3H0xpMk
She uses the cold setting---> I'm afraid my hair would laugh at this. Thus, I use the highest setting and smaller parts. This method actually gets my hair straighter than the comb attachment (surprise!) and with less hair loss (bonus!)

 

[naturalgyrl5199]

Hi I am a newbie...

I have been natural almost 2 years (June of this yr will be 2) and I am currently about 1/4-1/4 inch away from BSB stretched w/ my hand. I think that avoiding heat when my hair was in its early stages of growth and the 10 month transitioning was helpful to help prevent massive breakage and retain length.

I noticed a lot of natural regular heat users have BSL or beyond hair, and I can imagine that at those lengths, a little breakage here or there could go unnoticed for a while....PLUS your hair is that long because of TECHNIQUES....and that is the key here....I do not think heat (or a PRODUCT for that matter) allows you to retain length better than using no heat. You can be a no-heat user and still not retain length if your regimen is not on point!

My hair grows at about an inch a month, and I could probably be BSL or MBL by now if my regimen had been a lot better.

But the point I am trying to make (and other ladies have mentioned this) is that for the young lady in the video---- that is HER regimen and we don't know if that will work for us...Plus I find that ANY process takes WORK and PATIENCE...you cannot drop the ball! But its a little iffy to me to suggest that heat use "grows hair" or is better at retaining length...

My hair is 4AB and I wear twists/twist outs and I haven't had breakage or problems detaingling for months now that I've got my "regimen" down....I haven't combed my hair in months....A lot of complaints about NG tangling is a technique and regimen issue that can be solved over time with a little tweaking.....not necessarily through the use of heat....I do use heat (4-5x/year or so)---..I love how my hair swings when straightened, but its damaging to the hair-point blank if not used cautiously...the source of MANY setbacks........just be careful ladies.....!

 

[naturalgyrl5199]

Here is the best video that I have found that shows the blow dry tension technique: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us6r3H0xpMk
She uses the cold setting---> I'm afraid my hair would laugh at this. Thus, I use the highest setting and smaller parts. This method actually gets my hair straighter than the comb attachment (surprise!) and with less hair loss (bonus!)

I love the tension method....the cold blow dry is time consuming (which is why I don't straighten much)....So I cold blow dry on HIGH also....I also do not use a comb attachment.

If I have some time or no event I will air-dry in braids then flat-iron that evening or the next day, that way we avoid using any additional heat. If I do have something later...I will air-dry about 85% then blow dry on medium heat which takes only 5-10 minutes of blow-drying.

 

[nikolite]

I don't think its heat so much that helps with retention (in fact, direct heat actually harms the hair for many of us) as it is keeping the hair stretched when manipulating it and while wearing a style. Of course, heat is the typical way to stretch/straighten the hair, but its not the only way to do it.

There are ways to stretch the hair by airdrying in a stretched style or using a diffuser. And a person can retain just as much length, if not more, this way.

For me, rollersetting with no heat works way better than blowdrying it. It straightens but keeps it much softer and silkier in the process. I do this before cornrowing. Others use braids or banding techniques. And flat-ironing my hair caused more damage than wearing a WNG, although I try to avoid both as much as possible unless for a particular occasion. Some hair may be able to take heat better, but definitely not mine and I'm sure many others.

 

[ThatJerseyGirl]

Out of curiosity, I wonder how long she has been growing out her hair...via natural? does anyone know? thanks.

 

[ScorpioBeauty09]

I'm glad I found this thread. Heat is definitely my friend lol although I've limited its usage to flat ironing no more than 2x a month and using the lowest setting when blow drying. My hair's pretty erratic when it grows, I've had some major growth spurts at the weirdest times. erplexed But I'm getting more consistent with my wash days, moisturizing and DC-ing along with other things so I'm hoping this will result in more consistent retention. My hair is so thick and wearing braids all the time makes is harder to for me to wash and moisturize my hair plus I wore them for most of my childhood, I'm bored of them and my hair gets brittle at the end after 2-3 weeks.

 

[Damaged but not out]

I was natural 7 yrs ago, at 17/18 never had a relaxer I started stretching my hair with the blow dryer before my weekly 2-strand twist set, and my hair retained all its length that year, over 6 inches. I can now attribute that to the heat usage.
The blow-dryer didnt generate enough heat for a straight look and if i used a heat protectant it was by accident and not regularly( as i didnt know what they were). But I should add my hair is not heat sensitive like others. Even relaxed i could pretty much flat iron weekly and still have thick,long hair.

....To paraphrase, yea heat has worked for me( as a natural) and probably will again.

 

[Netta1]

bumping....

 

[drmuffin]

Bump! About to apply some heat to this mane...

 

[gn1g]

a little heat helps me.