Kinky styles are now a luxury to me….

[Kinkyhairlady]

Basically I love them but won’t be able to do them often. I’ve started blow drying my hair straight and just doing braid outs and my hair is doing so much better. It seems due to the fact that I straighten the hair it is so much more manageable and less breakage. I love my hair in its kinkiest state but I could only wear my hair out 1 day and it would be a tug of war to restyle and a lot of breakage. With the blow dried straight hair the comb basically glides through. I was contemplating getting a relaxer but this method is doing pretty good for me so far. Now I know I run the risk of heat damage but I am only doing this bi weekly and using heat protectant. Now I understand what folks were talking about how their hair thrives on using heat. I see where it would help. btw my hair is 4B. So my advice is if you are having issues handling your hair in it's kinkest state just blow dry it straight, none of that braiding to strecth stuff cause that did not work for me either.

eta: I added a picture of what my hair looked like after the blowdry and braidout. Nothing spectacular but my hair is much more manageable. the second pic was another style I did with my hair straight and the last one is my hair in its shrunken state which is a hassle to untangle.

 

[JudithO]

Sigh.... I can't blowdry my hair to save my life. That's a setback waiting to happen. Hair is just soo fine... My kinky hair is manageable in twists, so I'll keep twisting.. Glad you found something that works for you.

 

[Kinkyhairlady]

Sigh.... I can't blowdry my hair to save my life. That's a setback waiting to happen. Hair is just soo fine... My kinky hair is manageable in twists, so I'll keep twisting.. Glad you found something that works for you.

judy4all my hair is fine as well but I think it depends on what kind of blowdryer you use. I use the hot n gold one with the comb attachment. It has low, medium and high setting. I used medium heat.

 

[Mandy4610]

I totally hear you. I am doing the same.
I am blowdrying once a week. I am using the lowest heat in high speed. Doesn't get my hair super straight but straight enough to minimize major tangling which for me causes single strand knots.
I will still do braidouts from time to time.




Sent from my iPhone 4 using LHCF

 

[JudithO]

Maybe I'll try next year.... Gunning for MBL this year, can't afford any mistakes... lol... After Dec, I can whip out my blow dryer...

 

[LoveTheSkinImIn]

'Blow dry + twists' or 'Blow dry + braids for a braidout' seemed to work really well for me these past 3 months. I'm gonna stick to it!

 

[HoneyLove]

What heat protectant are you using? I'm soo afraid of putting too much heat on my hair even with a protectant. I have fine 4b hair too and seem to do better by just leaving my hair alone as long as possible. But I want to have more fun with it too. erplexed

 

[hair4romheaven]

When I blow dry my hair is so dry & crunchy. Idk why. Maybe its my products? I use aowc & kckt leave in w/ grape seed oil.

Sent from my PC36100

 

[Sunshine_One]

I have limited natural curly styles as well. I have been natural for almost 6 years. In that time I have tried many things. Sadly just about any afro curly styles promotes single strands knots in my hair. I have finally come to the conclusion that my hair prefers to be stretched and smoothed for optimal growth retention.

I rely on roller setting and light flat ironing now. This works great for the winter months. Once summer hits I plan to pony tail roller set and smooth it into buns, updoo's etc. Glad you found a technique that is working for you.

 

[ajoke]

First time in over a year, I blow dried my hair on medium using the tension method and a spray lotion heat protectant from got to be and I am in love! Buns are my protective style of choice and I can bun my hair anyway I want without putting unnecessary tension on my hair. My hair is also fine, but very thick and I love the body I got. I will be doing this twice a month- blowdry and wear straight one week, cornrows the next week, wash and repeat.
I'll do that for 6 months and see what progress I have. I only know my hair looks sooooo much better this week than the past few months when I have been keeping it stretched via twists.

 

[Kinkyhairlady]

What heat protectant are you using? I'm soo afraid of putting too much heat on my hair even with a protectant. I have fine 4b hair too and seem to do better by just leaving my hair alone as long as possible. But I want to have more fun with it too. erplexed

I use Chi infusion. I have not had any issues so far.

 

[missjones]

I think I'm going to start blow drying maybe biweekly to help reduce ssks. I did do a bantu knot out on blow dried hair and it looked pretty good.

I used fructis sleek and shine leave in conditoner and Silk Elements heat protectant spray to blow dry. I just used a comb attachment on my blow dryer. My hair felt soft.

 

[Keshieshimmer]

I will try this next time I wash. My single strand knots are hindering my progress. My un knotted hair gets caught in the knots, so I lose more hair! I keep clipping but they come back so quickly. I think because I have been air drying 95% of the time.

 

[greenandchic]

I rarely do my hair without stretching these days, but I PS most of the time anyway because of all the knots and tangles my hair gets. I haven't done a blowout in 9 years and I may try it in the spring so see if I can rock a bantu knot out, twist or braid our - or at least get a decent trim.

Kinkyhairlady - Do you have any photos?

 

[Embyra]

My friend is 4a coily and she was wondering about blowdrying so this thread has come right on time

 

[Kinkyhairlady]

I rarely do my hair without stretching these days, but I PS most of the time anyway because of all the knots and tangles my hair gets. I haven't done a blowout in 9 years and I may try it in the spring so see if I can rock a bantu knot out, twist or braid our - or at least get a decent trim.

Kinkyhairlady - Do you have any photos?

Yes, I will upload when I get home. nothing spectacular though.

greenandchic

I uploaded the pictures.

 

[Kinkyhairlady]

I had to bump this cause I added pictures for those that wanted to see what I was talking about. thks

 

[greenandchic]

I had to bump this cause I added pictures for those that wanted to see what I was talking about. thks

Love the braid/twist out! Thanks for posting.

 

[Ogoma]

Yes, I will upload when I get home. nothing spectacular though.

@greenandchic

I uploaded the pictures.

Kinkyhairlady

Your hair is lovely in all three pictures. It is so pretty and shiny.

 

[Stormy]

That's what I plan to do too OP when my hair gets longer. When I was natural in 2009 and my hair grew to about 4 1/2 to 5 inches is when I started having to battle SSKs. I had to do stretched styles either with large two strand twists like Nia Long in your avatar or with a little heat from the blow dryer or pressing comb (lightly). My braid-outs looked a lot better too. Love yours by the way!

 

[naturalmanenyc]

I have been keeping my hair in stretched styles recently and it does seem to minimize ssk's. I am probably not going to blowdry though. Braiding to stretch is working, and bunning. I am going to hit BSL by the end of the summer even if it means protective styles for the next 8 - 9 months.

 

[yaya24]

Blowdrying my hair every couple of weeks has been my thing since i removed my Senegalese twists.

I'm going to slick w/ this regimen for a few months and see how I feel about it.

So far I'm in love.

 

[sweetlaughter]

When my hair started getting closer to APL I came to the sad realization that I can no longer do WNGs due to SSKs. I know now I have to stretch my hair either by blow drying (so time consuming) or air drying in braids overnight, taking them out in the morning and PSing.

I am getting closer to BSL now and have decided my curly styles will be braidouts, twistouts, or a rod set. I love my hair in its natural state but stretched styles and PS have really helped my retention.

 

[GoodMernin]

I literally JUST blowdried my hair last night.

I have been doing wng's for the last month or so and I got bored.

This is the result that I achieved.

 

[GoodMernin]

When I blow dry my hair is so dry & crunchy. Idk why. Maybe its my products? I use aowc & kckt leave in w/ grape seed oil.

Sent from my PC36100

Usually when I am gonna use heat, I over night dc then rinse out and do the whole process.

Well, last night I did it a different way by not rinsing.

I washed my hair then while it was damp I used a tiny drop of cold pressed EVOO on each section then used a dallop of Cantu Shea Butter leave in and twisted.

I kept my hair twisted over night.

Then last night I took out each twist and spritzed with just enough water to dampen but not dripping and used a tiny drop of heat protectant.

I proceeded to blow dry small sections on med heat/ high blow and got great results all the way to the roots.

My hair didn't feel crunchy because of the moisture added with the leave in dc.

I don't know your hair type but if it's like mine (4b/c) you need lots of moisture before using heat.

Hope that helps.