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I just had an aha moment!

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Prettymetty

Prettymetty

Natural/4b/medium-coarse
I’ve always struggled with diy blowouts and silk presses. I found that my strands would still be tangled near the roots and the morning after I always had reverted roots. It was so annoying. Especially since I’m a hair stylist. I was overloading my hair with product and causing buildup. Trying to overcome the coarse, tangled 4b hair caused me to over condition and under shampoo.

A clean scalp and hair is the secret to a long lasting press. Maybe not a secret to y’all, but I’m just realizing it. I’ll attempt a diy press over this 3 day weekend and report back with my findings.
 
Prettymetty said:
I’ve always struggled with diy blowouts and silk presses. I found that my strands would still be tangled near the roots and the morning after I always had reverted roots. It was so annoying. Especially since I’m a hair stylist. I was overloading my hair with product and causing buildup. Trying to overcome the coarse, tangled 4b hair caused me to over condition and under shampoo.

A clean scalp and hair is the secret to a long lasting press. Maybe not a secret to y’all, but I’m just realizing it. I’ll attempt a diy press over this 3 day weekend and report back with my findings.
Click to expand...
Yes! Please come back and let us know what happened!

I found the only thing that works for me is using a pressing comb. Flat irons never give me the look and the long lasting silk press of a straightening comb.
 
I don't press my hair now, cause y'all scared me about heat damage, but as a kid my mom would press my hair. Please keep in mind that we didn't have healthy hair practices...

She would wash my hair (I don't think we really had conditioner most times), then she would towel dry it.
Then she would wait until the next day to make sure that my hair was dry before attempting to press it. Only if we were short for time would she press it the same day and then she would rub the roots dry with the towel.
She'd use the stove, a hot comb, vasline, and some newspaper.

Despite all of my unhealthy hair practices back then, heat damage was never something I experienced. My presses would last two weeks and if I was really good I could keep it for a month.
 
snoop said:
I don't press my hair now, cause y'all scared me about heat damage, but as a kid my mom would press my hair. Please keep in mind that we didn't have healthy hair practices...

She would wash my hair (I don't think we really had conditioner most times), then she would towel dry it.
Then she would wait until the next day to make sure that my hair was dry before attempting to press it. Only if we were short for time would she press it the same day and then she would rub the roots dry with the towel.
She'd use the stove, a hot comb, vasline, and some newspaper.

Despite all of my unhealthy hair practices back then, heat damage was never something I experienced. My presses would last two weeks and if I was really good I could keep it for a month.
Click to expand...
This is about what I do when I press.

I can't stand these induction stove tops as they mess up my gas/fire press. And, I hate flat irons. On may hair, the look is not the same with flat iron vs pressing comb.

What I do:
  1. Wash hair and strip out grease.
  2. Use a cheap, thin, barely there conditioner.
  3. Blowdry hair.
  4. Use stove top and use 2 to 3 combs in fire.
    • Biggest heavy comb for first pass​
    • Medium lighter comb to straighten what I missed​
    • Small teeth combs to get to them roots and edges of mine​
  5. Use a cheap, white paper towel.
    • If touching comb turns it brown or burns it, comb is too hot.​
    • Wait until comb doesn't burn towel by setting it aside on stove top.​
    • Pass through hair.​
  6. Reniece told me about Vitapoint (Which is very similar to and even looks like Vaseline)
    • Dab a little Vitapoint on Section to press​
    • Get a Shine!​
@snoop,
When I press my hair currently, if I can get to a stove and find a pressing comb, I do it now almost exactly the way your mom used to press your hair! My hair be looking cute, too!

I got me a pressing stove for a pressing comb that they use in beauty shops. Every time I try to use it and plug it up, ALL my lights go out!
I be creating :giggle: France Ghetto Life by cutting off lights and stopping up pipes with Shea wherever I go. Haven't tried to plug in the pressing stove since I moved here in June 2022. But, I have been very careful with my pipes to avoid plugs this time around from hair and Shea butter.
 
Napp said:
My trick for a lasting silk press is to use a little proclaim olive spray glosser before flat ironing. It gives fine hair some extra weight without being heavy. It also prevents the hair from reverting.
Click to expand...
Now see Im in a no buy challenge, but February 1st I’ll be ordering this proclaim spray. Thanks
 
@Chicoro when I first joined I thought I was going to become some sort of pressing aficionado. I bought several combs, the stove, and a heat tester. Then I bought heat protectant and I can't remember what else. I wouldn't even let my mom touch my hair too long with the comb and my hair was so greasy. I never used any of the stuff again and it's sitting in my closet.

I've only been to one stylist since going natural who specializes in silk presses. She blew out my hair but said that my hair can't handle heat and that if I ever came back she wouldn't even blow it out. I wish that I'd asked her why/how she came to that conclusion, but I'm not fussed and am too scared to see if she's right/wrong.
 
Just my two cents...I use Design Essentials Lavender Collection for my silk press. I don't know what magic is in this collection, but I get the best silk press using it. My hair is flowy and moisturized until my next wash. I still wash weekly though. My scalp can't go no more than 10 days without being washed.
 
keranikki said:
Just my two cents...I use Design Essentials Lavender Collection for my silk press. I don't know what magic is in this collection, but I get the best silk press using it. My hair is flowy and moisturized until my next wash. I still wash weekly though. My scalp can't go no more than 10 days without being washed.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the recommendation. I never heard of that line from Design Essentials. I want to blow dry my hair this month. I will give it a try.
 
Yeah, I had the same aha moment years ago. When I started getting silk presses at the salon, I realized that they always clarified and washed multiple times, deep conditioned w/heat, rinsed very thoroughly, and then used a very light spray of heat protectant or serum. Now when I started doing them myself, the issue I ran into was not rinsing my DC out well enough. It needs to be GONE.
 
Y’all mamas must have had skills back in the day, because I never got a stove straightening comb press that I would want NOW. Lol My hair was straight, but that’s about it.

I also don’t know if it caused heat damage, cause curl definition wasn’t really a thought.
 
Chicoro said:
This is about what I do when I press.

I can't stand these induction stove tops as they mess up my gas/fire press. And, I hate flat irons. On may hair, the look is not the same with flat iron vs pressing comb.

What I do:
  1. Wash hair and strip out grease.
  2. Use a cheap, thin, barely there conditioner.
  3. Blowdry hair.
  4. Use stove top and use 2 to 3 combs in fire.
    • Biggest heavy comb for first pass​
    • Medium lighter comb to straighten what I missed​
    • Small teeth combs to get to them roots and edges of mine​
  5. Use a cheap, white paper towel.
    • If touching comb turns it brown or burns it, comb is too hot.​
    • Wait until comb doesn't burn towel by setting it aside on stove top.​
    • Pass through hair.​
  6. Reniece told me about Vitapoint (Which is very similar to and even looks like Vaseline)
    • Dab a little Vitapoint on Section to press​
    • Get a Shine!​
@snoop,
When I press my hair currently, if I can get to a stove and find a pressing comb, I do it now almost exactly the way your mom used to press your hair! My hair be looking cute, too!

I got me a pressing stove for a pressing comb that they use in beauty shops. Every time I try to use it and plug it up, ALL my lights go out!
I be creating :giggle: France Ghetto Life by cutting off lights and stopping up pipes with Shea wherever I go. Haven't tried to plug in the pressing stove since I moved here in June 2022. But, I have been very careful with my pipes to avoid plugs this time around from hair and Shea butter.
Click to expand...
This makes me want to pull out my marcel irons. I was packing up and came across my stove and heat tester I bought many moons years ago.
 
I noticed that too when doing my own hair as well as my mom’s. I figured that out when I flat ironed my hair to get my last trim. My hair kept tangling weirdly. I re-washed, used far less products and had no more of those issues. Then I did my mom’s hair. It didn’t even revert with all this rain, and it’s going on 3 weeks now.

I recently watched several silk press artist online courses/classes. I was hoping to find info on how often a person can get silk presses and still preserve their curl pattern. They put an emphasis on not putting too much product on the hair. They kept saying that the hair needs to be super clean and use the least amount of products that does the job. Some even say that a major cause of heat damage is by all that extra product being burned into the hair. One said it was almost the same as flat ironing dirty hair. Some don’t think heat protectants are even needed if you are doing basic hair care. I guess that is why hair in the past didn’t burn all off with pressing creams/oils.

Most of the silk press artists use only a serum or a liquid leave-in+serum. They use anywhere from a dime size to a quarter size and call it a day. The white stylists who specialize in blowouts/flatiron/thermal curls layer way more products, but the amounts are dime size also. The white stylists aren’t so adamant on clarifying, but I guess they expect their clients to wash their hair more frequently.
 
Last edited:
keranikki said:
Let me know how you like it. I have fine hair, so I purchased the serum instead of the creme (both used before flatiron).
Click to expand...
I have fine hair too. When I purchased the products a year ago, they were out of stock for the serum. So I wound up purchasing the creme.

When they say only use a dime size of the creme, they aren’t playing. You will get stringy hair if using too much. I like the weight it gave my hair. It also seems to really provide humidity resistance.
 
DVAntDany said:
I have fine hair too. When I purchased the products a year ago, they were out of stock for the serum. So I wound up purchasing the creme.

When they say only use a dime size of the creme, they aren’t playing. You will get stringy hair if using too much. I like the weight it gave my hair. It also seems to really provide humidity resistance.
Click to expand...
I may have to try the crème, especially during the month of August.
 
My scalp was still pretty clean so I cowashed last night with a Kerastase sample (blonde absolute). I only put conditioner on the ends. Once I rinsed my hair and wrung it out, I wrapped it in a hair turban for about 30 minutes. That’s how long it took me to get to Bae friend’s house. I blew it dry in 15 minutes!

I just ironed it and I’m loving the look. Clean hair and minimal products for the win. 35F9AE62-CAE6-402D-9280-E5BAFB6EE04E.jpegD20063DA-9032-4791-A923-D71D657093ED.jpeg0EEB8A26-5559-4D35-B004-3482DA87F6AD.jpeg
 
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