Help Me with Flat Ironing Natural Hair (PICS)

[prettypithy]

My natural hair is healthy and split-free. I washed, protein treated and deep conditioned my hair on Sunday and let it air dry. When I combed it out to flat iron it on Tuesday, it felt soft, lush and strong. But while I was flat ironing, I had more broken hairs than I usually get in a week. I used the comb chase method for the first time. The results were unimpressive but I have attached pics for your viewing pleasure.

So, what caused so much breakage? I have a Chi flat iron. It does not have temperature control but I don't think it gets over 400 degrees. I used the Carol's Daughter Macadamia Gloss Heat Protectant. Finding all those small hairs made me not want to flat iron my hair again any time soon. But I'll never get better if I don't practice!

8-9 inches of hair. My goal is 13 inches (bottom of the bra strap).

My natural hair (below) with shrinkage. 4a, fine strands, high density.

 

[BlackHairDiva]

My advice to you is use heat protectant and then Blow dry the hair. yup, blow dry with a paddle brush and a hair dryer that will oosen up the curls. Then do one pass with your flat iron to make it straight. then the second pass should be done again but with a comb the b should follow your flat iron.

Another thing to make easier on yourself and if you want to remain natural. Isd to opt for Janelle beauty Diva smooth. It will give a relaxed look and yet yoru hair can revert back when you want it to. Purchase diva smooth( just the serum and the diva smmoth treatment is all you need. dont get the shampoo and conditioner. Leave it on your hair overnight if possible, rinse, do a moisturizing deep conditioner and then blow dry with the serum in the hair and do another run with the flat iron as mentioned above)

 

[prettypithy]

My advice to you is use heat protectant and then Blow dry the hair. yup, blow dry with a paddle brush and a hair dryer that will oosen up the curls. Then do one pass with your flat iron to make it straight. then the second pass should be done again but with a comb the b should follow your flat iron.

Another thing to make easier on yourself and if you want to remain natural. Isd to opt for Janelle beauty Diva smooth. It will give a relaxed look and yet yoru hair can revert back when you want it to. Purchase diva smooth( just the serum and the diva smmoth treatment is all you need. dont get the shampoo and conditioner. Leave it on your hair overnight if possible, rinse, do a moisturizing deep conditioner and then blow dry with the serum in the hair and do another run with the flat iron as mentioned above)

How long have you been using the Diva Smooth? Any pics of the product in your hair? Thank you for the advice!

 

[Harina]

I have nothing to add, but that last pic you posted is a really cute style.

 

[Napp]

i find that the way that the hair is streched prior to flat ironing is key for getting bone straight results.rollersetting or blowdrying the hair as straight as possible minimizes breakage when flat ironing in my experience.

i prefer to use some type of oil which helps to press the hair easier and seal in the straightness. my hair would look like yours if i was to just flat iron with a serum or heat protectant spray.

also instead of using a comb to chase i get much better results when i chase with a soft boar brislte brush. it gets rid of any snags and smooths the hair without any breakage like i would get when i use a fine toothed comb.

 

[prettypithy]

i find that the way that the hair is streched prior to flat ironing is key for getting bone straight results.rollersetting or blowdrying the hair as straight as possible minimizes breakage when flat ironing in my experience.

i prefer to use some type of oil which helps to press the hair easier and seal in the straightness. my hair would look like yours if i was to just flat iron with a serum or heat protectant spray.

also instead of using a comb to chase i get much better results when i chase with a soft boar brislte brush. it gets rid of any snags and smooths the hair without any breakage like i would get when i use a fine toothed comb.

Thanks, Napp. I might try chasing with a brush. My hair was not liking the fine tooth comb one bit.

 

[prettypithy]

I have nothing to add, but that last pic you posted is a really cute style.

Thanks Riverrock. That is my hair shrunken. I love the curls but hate the shrinkage. A familiar refrain!

 

[Butrsoft]

I learned to flat iron my natural hair by watching a tutorial by westNDNbeauty. It took a few tries to get it right, but I finally got salon silky straight results with swang .

 

[prettypithy]

I learned to flat iron my natural hair by watching a tutorial by @westNDNbeauty. It took a few tries to get it right, but I finally got salon silky straight results with swang .

Thanks, I will check that out.

 

[Prudent1]

How long have you been using the Diva Smooth? Any pics of the product in your hair? Thank you for the advice!

prettypithy,
Here is a link to the DivaSmooth website. I used to use it in the beginning of my HHJ. Later I found I got the same results from a homemade caramel recipe for a lot less. I thanked the posts here that use the same methods I do to achieve straight, silky hair when flat ironing. I don't have any pics from using the Diva Smooth. HHG!
http://pure.janellebeauty.com/site.cfm?s=smooth
http://www.ehow.com/how_5107330_do-caramel-treatment.html

 

[EccentricRed]

I agree with the rest of these ladies. Normally, I detangle my hair before I even blowdry it. I find that it makes the experience much easier. You don't have to blowdry it on super high or anything, just enough to get the hair dried. It also makes flatironing a lot easier because you should have gotten any tangles or knots out when you detangled/blowdryed.

 

[blackpearl81]

Does your flat-iron have a hi, low, medium switch? In response to your breakage issue, I would not recommend using the highest setting...and agreeing with the other ladies, a rollerset will definitely prepare you for a smooth flat ironing session....good luck!!

 

[BlackHairDiva]

How long have you been using the Diva Smooth? Any pics of the product in your hair? Thank you for the advice!

I don't use diva smooth anymore I no longer want to be natural. I use BKT. But diva smooth is a good alternative for someone who wants to remain natural and wear their hair straight once in a while.

 

[prettypithy]

I don't use diva smooth anymore I no longer want to be natural. I use BKT. But diva smooth is a good alternative for someone who wants to remain natural and wear their hair straight once in a while.

BlackHairDiva How is the BKT working out for you? I am natural but prefer to wear my hair straight. I stopped using relaxers due to breakage. I want to maintain the strength and health of my hair while simultaneously wearing it straight. Is BKT a good option for that?

 

[BlackHairDiva]

@BlackHairDiva How is the BKT working out for you? I am natural but prefer to wear my hair straight. I stopped using relaxers due to breakage. I want to maintain the strength and health of my hair while simultaneously wearing it straight. Is BKT a good option for that?

I love BKT. I Love that I can do the straightening myself, its easy to do. I like that my hair is silky straight with lots of movement and swing. Which I adore.

The only down side is the fumes from BKT i have fume extractors in my house and I hate that sweating does revert slightly the bkt. So Im working on a way to seal the results and make it permanent. You need to look up the keratin treatment support threads.

 

[naturalmanenyc]

I have a pretty long flat iron process. I used Chi Infra as well as Nioxin heat protectant. This is a good blow dry tutorial if you want to use a comb attachment. She also got me into using Nioxin. http://youtu.be/riT0l1tLOGA

If you want to try, my flat iron video is here: http://youtu.be/y2WdwRVHfmE

 

[Janet']

Lovely thick hair!

 

[vtoodler]

Does your flat-iron have a hi, low, medium switch? In response to your breakage issue, I would not recommend using the highest setting...and agreeing with the other ladies, a rollerset will definitely prepare you for a smooth flat ironing session....good luck!!

But, isn't it difficult to rollerset natural hair?

 

[sherrimberri]

With practice rollersets on natural hair arent difficult. I do them from time to time and get pretty good results. I actually use the ponytail rollerset method.

 

[prettypithy]

Oh my gosh, I'm glad you guys responded to this thread. My hair --and my flat ironing skills-- have come a long way. Here is a recent pic. Sorry for the hugeness, don't know how to regulate it.

ETA: the pic was way too huge, lol. Give me a minute to figure this out.

 

[vtoodler]

Oh my gosh, I'm glad you guys responded to this thread. My hair --and my flat ironing skills-- have come a long way. Here is a recent pic. Sorry for the hugeness, don't know how to regulate it.

ETA: the pic was way too huge, lol. Give me a minute to figure this out.

What did you do to improve your flat ironing technique?

I ask because, when I flat iron my natural hair, it always ends up looking poofy no matter how dilligently I do it. I want my flat ironed natural hair to look silky.