Is it possible to straighten daily without damage?

[LookieLoo]

Hi, everyone.

I recently took my most recent set of braids out, and I now have 6 months worth of new growth. My hair is texturized, but even after I have my roots touched up, it'll be difficult to see how much length I have without straightening it. So I've started getting curious about wearing it straight every day.

I workout every morning so I have to wash my hair ... I hate the feeling of a dirty, sweaty scalp. Is it possible to wash (maybe a conditioner wash?) every day and blow dry it straight without damage? Sounds pretty unlikely to me. I used to flat iron my hair every morning when I was in high school, and it wasn't long before it got extremely damaged and started breaking off. It was one of the worst hair mistakes I've ever made.

I remember reading that Oprah washes and straightens her hair every day ... how does she do this without damaging it?

Has anyone here successfully straightened their hair without damage?

 

[Shatani]

i dont know girl....it doesnt sound like a good idea to me. if you want to wear it straight all the time, why not just get a relaxer??

 

[kristina]

I'm not an expert but this seems a bit diffult. Blowdrying every now and again is one thing but every day will likely zap out the moisture out of your hair. I suppose you could trying wrapping but if you have a lot of texture, this would require lots of manipulation. I can't even imagine trying to wrap my hair wet. I agree with Shatani- if you really need your hair straight 24/7, you'll probably be better off with a relaxer. When I pressed my hair, I washed every week or two weeks. I put my hair in a high ponytail during workouts and wrapped my pressed hair at night.

 

[Cinnabuns]

I'm not usre if this method works but on Robin Lady's Hairsite (growafrohairlong.com) she says that if you put ice water on the ends of your hair and bumb it slightly with a flat iron then there will be less damage. Once again I have never tried this, but this is what she recommends doing for those who curl ot sraighten their hair daily. HTH

 

[Allandra]

I don't know if it's possible, but I wouldn't try it.

 

[Allandra]

if you want to wear it straight all the time, why not just get a relaxer??

Good point.

 

[controlFreak]

My hair is relaxed and for the past 9 weeks I have been washing/rinsing and flat-ironing my hair daily. My hair isn't exactly the epitome of health, but it isn't damaged either.

 

[Aquamarine]

i dont know girl....it doesnt sound like a good idea to me. if you want to wear it straight all the time, why not just get a relaxer??

That's what I did recently. I used a mild lye relaxer for a few minutes. I think it's called textlaxing lol. My hair isn't super straight, but I think that it will be easier for me to stretch out if I wanted to. I realized that if I were planning on using a warm comb or flat iron weekly (or even constant roller sets, twist outs, etc), I'd be better off just relaxing since my hair is so thick. I'll still be able to do the braid outs and bantu sets etc, as I've learned from this site....only with less tangling. We shall see.

 

[LookieLoo]

Thanks for your replies!

When I get my new growth touched up, should I get a full relaxer instead of a texturizer? Will my hair break off if I do that? (where the texturized hair meets the relaxed hair?)

Is it possible to apply the relaxer from roots to ends, to completely straighten the texturized hair, or will I end up bald?

Do I have to start the growing-out process all over again?? Just when I'm so close to my goal...

 

[BAILEYSCREAM]

Hi, everyone.

I recently took my most recent set of braids out, and I now have 6 months worth of new growth. My hair is texturized, but even after I have my roots touched up, it'll be difficult to see how much length I have without straightening it. So I've started getting curious about wearing it straight every day.

I workout every morning so I have to wash my hair ... I hate the feeling of a dirty, sweaty scalp. Is it possible to wash (maybe a conditioner wash?) every day and blow dry it straight without damage? Sounds pretty unlikely to me. I used to flat iron my hair every morning when I was in high school, and it wasn't long before it got extremely damaged and started breaking off. It was one of the worst hair mistakes I've ever made.

I remember reading that Oprah washes and straightens her hair every day ... how does she do this without damaging it?

Has anyone here successfully straightened their hair without damage?

I don't think blowdrying it everyday is a good idea. I used to blowdry my hair about 2-3 times a week and after a very long while my hair felt very dry and hard due to all the moisture getting sucked out of it.

Why not try roller setting it instead? Also use a good heat protectant if you're using heat often and make sure you treat it (deep condition) at leadt once a week.

As for Oprah, she has very thick hair which is stronger and can withstand heat a lot better than fine to medium textured hair can.

 

[Poohbear]

i dont know girl....it doesnt sound like a good idea to me. if you want to wear it straight all the time, why not just get a relaxer??

I agree...

daily heat is more damage than getting chemical relaxer touch-ups every 3-4 months.

 

[mkh_77]

Why not just rollerset after you wash? You can use a low setting for the heat.

 

[lkg4healthyhair]

Can you blow dry on cool and then put it in a bun.

When I conditioner washed my hair daily after working out. I would blow dry on Cool setting without combing it. I just manipulated it with my fingers.

Once my hair got about 90% dry then I put it in a bun (time is limited because I go to the gym at work).

 

[ThickHair]

I agree, why don't you just get a relaxer. You are going through alot of trouble to have straight roots. The relaxer would be eaiser. What is the purpose of you extending a relaxer when you are just going to beat your hair into submission?

 

[Porsche19]

I agree with thickhair.

If you want to wear your hair straight every day, a (fulll) relaxer sounds like a better option. It doesn't make sense to texturize your hair if you almost never want to wear it curly.

 

[LookieLoo]

Thanks for the help, but nobody answered my second question!

My hair is already texturized ... if I switch to a full relaxer, do I have to just get the roots done and cut off all of the texturized hair, basically starting the growth process all over again?

Or do I get all of my hair relaxed/straightened ... roots, hair, and all? Will this make my hair break off and damage it severely?

 

[Neroli]

Thanks for the help, but nobody answered my second question!

My hair is already texturized ... if I switch to a full relaxer, do I have to just get the roots done and cut off all of the texturized hair, basically starting the growth process all over again?

Or do I get all of my hair relaxed/straightened ... roots, hair, and all? Will this make my hair break off and damage it severely?

I don't think you necessarily have to cut your hair if you decide to relaxed -- seems would be similiar to a "corrective" relaxer for underprocessed hair where the relaxer is run thru entire hair length to get straighter (normally a no, no because too damaging over time), but if done right the first time, you'll probably be OK with minimum damage and without having to cut (of course, subsequent touchups should be root only).

BTW, re: Oprah hair -- she has the best of the best plus all the $$$ to assist her every day -- I wouldn't try to emulate her methods 'cause it's waaayy out of my league; moreover, I don't always believe celebrities (black, white, whatever) re: their hair/skin/beauty routines -- they always want to appear "naturally beautiful" with minimum effort and may not always give full disclosure . . .