Fine-Haired Naturals: How do you weigh it down?

[davisbr88]

I was reading the thread about natural hair reverting immediately after straightening and I seem to have the same problem, only mine is even more immediate. For instance, I will flat iron maybe a quarter of my hair and start moving on the next quarter and my hair from the first section will be poofing! It's very odd... like the hair will be stick straight but for whatever reason, it gets puffy, which is why people sometimes comment that my hair is thick when straightened, when it most definitely isn't. I'm thinking maybe because my hair is fine and doesn't have enough weight to hold it down?
So I was wondering if there are any fine-haired naturals that use a product while straightening to make the hair weigh down. I don't care about swang as much as I care about showing length... lol. I only do it like twice a year and I wana at LEAST be able to get through my whole head and take a progress pic before it starts levitating.
Right now, I use a serum heat protectant and flat iron on around 380F on hair that's been stretched in braids (and I never plan to blowdry again). And again, when I first flat iron it, it's fine, but somehow in the minutes it takes to move to other sections, it just seems to grow!

 

[Vshanell]

My hair is fine and it's funny you mentioned this because I did a rollerset, silk wrap and straightened with my maxiglide (not bone straight but pretty straight) and a few days later the roller curls were back like I had never flat ironed. I'm like, I thought I ironed those out!

Anyway as far as weighing it down and fighting frizz Sabino Moisture Bock serum is pretty good. Adding some oil to my ends and wrapping it overnight really helps the ends straighten out and hang better instead of whisping out with no weight to them.

 

[davisbr88]

I've tried Sabino but I've only used it once. I have a boatload of serums so nothing hardly ever gets tried twice... lol. How much Sabino do you apply?

 

[Vshanell]

^^I hardly ever flat iron but I just use a very small amount on each section

 

[davisbr88]

^^I hardly ever flat iron but I just use a very small amount on each section

Me either! I think that's why I can't ever get it right!
But I am noticing that a lot of fine-haired people put serum on each section. I think that would work but when I tried it, the iron got caked with product and started adding residue from other sections onto the new ones, so I stopped doing it. How do you battle that? Do you just wipe it in between each section?

 

[Vshanell]

Me either! I think that's why I can't ever get it right!
But I am noticing that a lot of fine-haired people put serum on each section. I think that would work but when I tried it, the iron got caked with product and started adding residue from other sections onto the new ones, so I stopped doing it. How do you battle that? Do you just wipe it in between each section?

I'll clean it before I use it but that's about it. I have a maxiglide and gunk gets caught in the teeth and it stinks but that thing is a pain to clean. If you have a flat plate iron you could just wipe any residue off with an old soft cloth.

 

[Harina]

I find the more moisturized my hair to be (AKA good deep conditioning) before flat ironing keeps hair reversion at bay. Reversion comes from moisture hitting the hair. Well if the hair is already moisturized and a bit heavier than usual than it won't revert when more moisture enters it because it's already filled with moisture.

Also when I did the BKT treatment myself, my hair did not revert at all until I washed it and deep conditioned it ...twice.

 

[JazzyOleBabe]

davisbr88

Funny that you should bring this up. I did the same exact thing last night and my hair did the same exact thing as yours. I thought it was because I did not blow dry the hair first. I am going to try again with blow drying to see if this is the cause before going to the hair dresser.

 

[davisbr88]

Harina: Yeah, I've been told that before and it does work but it seems like it only works for a short period of time. It still gets really wispy and fluffy. I can't lie and say that I don't like the volume I get but I just want to see my dang length! I've only straightened a handful of times since being natural so maybe I just need to figure out the correct method/products.

 

[davisbr88]

JazzyOleBabe: I thought so too, but I did blowdry twice and it didn't make enough of a difference to really justify using the heat and risking the damage for me.

 

[LoveCraze]

Do you think that if you were to straighten more often, that this might help your hair straighten and stay straightened longer? I've often wondered this but I am too scared to flatiron more frequently for fear of heat damage. The last time I straightened, my hair poofed right away, but I attribute that to too low of a heat setting. It sounds like your heat setting is fine though. Maybe try straightening with Crisco??? It seems like that may be heavy enough to avert reversion.

 

[davisbr88]

Do you think that if you were to straighten more often, that this might help your hair straighten and stay straightened longer? I've often wondered this but I am too scared to flatiron more frequently for fear of heat damage. The last time I straightened, my hair poofed right away, but I attribute that to too low of a heat setting. It sounds like your heat setting is fine though. Maybe try straightening with Crisco??? It seems like that may be heavy enough to avert reversion.

That's probably what it is. And I'm also too scared to do it more frequently, especially since my results have always been subpar. It's a lot of work (straightening, trying hard not to sweat, avoiding water like it's the plague) to not be getting exactly the style I'm going for.
I'm scared about using Crisco... Idk how I feel about using oil to straighten, and isn't Crisco like soybean oil or something? It probably would do a good job of weighing down, though.

 

[davisbr88]

***bumping***

 

[davisbr88]

I found this video on YT that I watched a long time ago I think, but didn't really pay any mind: http://youtu.be/hE6H99RNn40
It wasn't the look I was going for at the time because it came out SO straight, but I think this is exactly what I'm looking for for my end of the year flat iron so I can really see the length. It's basically like she is oiling her scalp and brushing the oil down into her hair and flat ironing, which results in it being weighed down. It has hardly any texture at all, but I think I could do that for day 1 to see the progress and then just sleep in a bun or pincurls or whatever that night to get the texture I want.
I was thinking of using argan oil.

 

[davisbr88]

But should cones be applied to your scalp?

 

[NappyNelle]

Have you tried westNDNbeauty's technique? After she flat irons, she wraps her hair in saran so body heat and continue to smooth the hair.

ETA: No, that wasn't westNDN, but I've seen other ladies do the saran/ or silk wrap technique after flat ironing.

 

[SUPER SWEET]

I have fine hair and what keeps mine right and tight is deep conditioning overnight,argan oil and tiny bit of curling wax before I curl it.

I use a brand that's hard to find called Lottabody Tresstransitions. It works and kept my hair straight after a night of playing hard.

 

[davisbr88]

Have you tried westNDNbeauty's technique? After she flat irons, she wraps her hair in saran so body heat and continue to smooth the hair.

Yep, I tried that during transitioning after watching someone's video 2 years ago (I think MahoganyCurls) but since I sweat profusely in my scalp, you probably already know how that came out.

 

[NappyNelle]

^^Oh ok. How about finishing a section with a light coating of coconut oil?

(I haven't flat ironed my hair yet, so I'm reaching in the wind by suggesting things I would do.)

 

[davisbr88]

I have fine hair and what keeps mine right and tight is deep conditioning overnight,argan oil and tiny bit of curling wax before I curl it.

I use a brand that's hard to find called Lottabody Tresstransitions. It works and kept my hair straight after a night of playing hard.

Curling wax? Is that the same as the wax used when pressing? My mom was privy to the old school red Dax... lol. I never thought I'd reconsider using that stuff ever again!

 

[davisbr88]

NappyNelle: It's all good! I appreciate the feedback nonetheless. Coconut oil and I don't get along so I don't even buy it. And is it true that it solidifies in cold temps?

 

[davisbr88]

Pokahontas: I forgot to respond! Yes, I was also using the Maxiglide at the time and all the product got caked around those teeth. Ech.

 

[Napp]

the only thing that helped me was either pressing oil or the bkt.

 

[Nonie]

Nothing can weigh my hair down. Not when it's loose. My hair is the finest of the fine (Yes, pun intended too! ) My hair doesn't revert after I straighten but it doesn't give a fig about gravity either:

I don't mind that at all though that because I love to wear it up anyway when it's straight.

I think hair reverts after straightening because it wasn't well DC'd before flatironing and during flatironing too many products were used or a serum was not meticulously applied.

Then only time I care for my hair to have "weight" is if I am wearing my twists down so that they can maintain a semblance of order. Washing my twists and drip-drying seems to give them just enough weight for them to hang down for this purpose.

 

[davisbr88]

Napp: What pressing oil did you use? Are you the one that raves about Apex? I was thinking of trying the method in the video above with the argan oil from Sally's.
Nonie: Lol! That is so funny! My hair doesn't quite do that... it still hangs down but it's just so dang fluffy! I want it to be straight and sleek at least once a year! I'm fluffy all year long!

 

[Napp]

Yes i used apex pressing oil. i preferred the hang and movement of BKTd hair though

 

[davisbr88]

Napp: I'm too chicken to try BKT... plus, I only want straight hair for maybe 2 weeks.

 

[Rocky91]

maybe up your temp a little bit?? I need at least 395 to get anything going.
argan oil is great for a lil bit of shine and weight without being too heavy.

honestly, having my ends blunt helps a lot too. in fact, I just straightened, and got a trim today, it looks 10x better and hangs nicely now that my ends are all nice.

 

[glamazon386]

Try DCing overnight first. I don't use serum when flat ironing. For some reason it stops the heat from the flat iron from getting through and the hair will puff. I do the serum on wet hair before blowdrying and then use a spray heat protectant before flat ironing. That corrected the problem.

 

[mjsliberiangrl]

i know what you mean. i tried rollersetting for the first time yesterday and i was able to get very moisturized, weighed down hair. i DCed on dry hair with aubrey organics gbp and rinsed. I then used a ton of leave in (I used a golfball size amount of a mixture of Kinky Curly Knot Today and Paul Mitchell The Conditioner) and a dime sized amount of sabino m.b. mixed with Lottabody Foam Wrap for each section.

Flat ironing may not be for me, my hair is too fly away and wispy. I wish I knew the secret to flat ironing for those weighed down results with swang. I have swang when I flat iron but, the hair is so light that it never really falls back down. :-(