Does your hair have to be trained?

[InsertCleverNameHere]

I used to get my hair done every few weeks (flat ironed) in high school. It would stay sleek and shiny the whole time until my next visit. The first few months I went to the hair dresser, my hair didn't hold as well. But after that it would stay looking good in between visits. My ma and others used to always say my hair was trained. For the last couple years, I only pressed my hair occassionally. Whenever I do press it, it slightly reverts in humidity and generally only lasts a couple of weeks. I'm about to go back to pressing and was wondering can I train my hair to keep the pressed style?

Do you all believe you can train hair?

 

[InsertCleverNameHere]

Bumpity bump bump, humpity hump hump, chumpity chump chump, lumpity lump lump. So BUMP!

 

[MizAvalon]

I honestly have never understood the concept of this. How can hair be "trained" to do something? It's dead right?

 

[InsertCleverNameHere]

I thought about this (hair is dead) but it does seem liek when you keep one style for a long time, your hair starts holding that style better and longer. Maybe I'm remembering wrong though...I mean it has been a few years since I frequented a salon and got my hair pressed.

 

[EbonyEyes]

/images/graemlins/rofl.gif

You are a trip girl!

But to answer your question, I have a friend at my college who has pressing experiences like you describe. Her hair is interesting because she gets it pressed and it stays that way for a whole month...Nice and sleek! But the crazy thing is, when she washes it, it goes back to curly without a problem. Her afro puff has stayed the same over the years I've known her.

She told me that as she continued to press her hair, hair reversion became less of an issue to the point where it would last a month.

For me personally, when I was younger I used to get my hair pressed by my grandmother. The press would last 3 weeks easily and curls would pop back after washing. Pressing became easier as time went on. But now that I look back I have a question: Did pressing become easier because it was permanently making my natural curls away? I don't know. I wasn't paying attention really because my grandmother's goal was to get rid of naps, not ensure that they reverted perfectly.

I personally wouldn't try 'training' my hair now. I think I would see crazy damage.

-Ebony

 

[Divastate]

I had a hairdresser that said the more often she presses/flatirons natural hair the more "trained" it becomes. I think to some extent your hair bonds are being broken down in the process. So depending on your hair tensile strength, elasticity, and the expertise of your beautician even regular pressing may not result in major damage or breakage. Some hair simply can't take a press without being prone to damage and breaking though. Its a tough call and in the hands of a trusted, careful stylist I think it can be pressed more easily without tons of damage if your hair type can take heat well.

3 sisters I grew up with have had their hair pressed their whole lives- they each still have thick waist length natural hair and it returns to curly with a wash. They also have very very thick hair strands too which may help.

I think your hair is doing great if a press can last for 2 weeks- I'm planning on getting my hair pressed more often (I've only had 1 press and 1 blowout in the last 3 years) but I know it won't be more than once a month because my hair strands are so fine and don't do great with heat.

 

[Dare~to~Dream]

I think it is true. My pressed hair never held for long periods of times [a week at the most] and now that I only get it pressed once every 2-3 months..it always "curls" up I have to continue pressing that section until it gets straight. My mom says my hair is used to being in a "curly" or "drawn up" state.

 

[ms_kenesha]

I think what happens is that your hair gets heat-laxed or thermally broken down so that staying straight is easier. I guess this is where the concept of "training" the hair came from.

 

[itismehmmkay]

I agree, too. Even though hair is dead, it still knows how to react to changes in it's chemical structure. I think after a while, certain bends in the structures are "remembered", thus "train" your hair to lay a certain way. Keep in mind that inanimate objects still have chemicals on them (Chemical and Mechanical engineers study these "polymers" and decide how to create materials and machines with this knowlege).

 

[ElizaBlue]

I think there is some truth to this. I had a stylist tell me I had beautiful hair, but I needed "Shop-control". Which of course meant going to her every two weeks to get my hair under control....trained. She said my hair would look totally different if I just agreed to continue to pay for it...I mean continued to come to her for "treatments" every two weeks.

 

[kitchen_tician]

Yes, I believe hair can be trained, but for various styles, not just pressed hair.

I roller set my hair last month for the first time in over a year and it didn't last as long as it usually does. If I rollerset regulary then my hair would get used to being curled and formed with those products.

My hair is really trained for my blowdry and curl. It lasts so long, but if I've been wearing my hair in another style right before, (like a flexi rod), my hair won't "act right" when I do my regular blowdry n curl.