Naturals who flat-iron, curl and exercise HELP!

[QueenT]

My 11 year old daughter has to put her hair in a bun for dance class 3 days a week.

She wants to wear her hair down everyday to school. She's been transitioning for 1 year. Her hair is currently a little longer than chin length. About 3 inches is natural, yes it grew that slow.

Can anyone tell me how she can successfully do this.


Our routine is :

1. After washing and air drying, I use Sabino, a Babyliss flat iron and a mini flat iron (for edges) to straighten her hair.

2. I curl her hair with a curling iron.

3. I pin curl before she goes to bed. Before the bun requirement for every dance class, I would pin curl her hair every night and the curls would hold for the entire week. Now that is not the case.

4. Her hair looks good the first day.

5. She goes to dance class the next afternoon.

6. All the curls are gone.

The question is what should I do to her hair after putting it in a bun.

Can I put spritz on her hair and hot curl it again? Would I need to hot curl the hair every morning?

It seems like I should not have to use Sabino again because the hair is coated on wash day.

I know that heat is not the best thing for her hair. However, I want her to be happy with her hair. She's not happy with the length or thickness of her hair when it is in a poney tail. She does not want to get braids. We both agree that we don't want to put another perm in her hair.


Any suggestions will be appreciated.

 

[RENIBELL]

wow, i hope somone with more experience can offer some advice, all i would say is do not use anymore heat after the wash day heat, her relaxed ends may begin to break off, and she will end up with shorter and shorter hair(i'm speaking from experience). are the days she needs to wear buns at the end of the week? or the begining?

 

[QueenT]

She has to wear buns on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.

 

[clever]

hmm..
Would you be able to apply a small amount of leave in to the ends and then use flexi rods or satin rollers to maintain the curls in between bunning?Are you bumping the ends under or doing spiral curls with the curling iron?

 

[QueenT]

Clever,

I curl the ends under with the curling iron. I did not think about rolling her hair on foam rollers at night. What leave in do you recommend? I need something that will not make her hair revert.

 

[lilsparkle825]

satin-covered foam rollers seems like the obvious solution to me. i do not use a leave-in when i roll my hair before bed.

 

[hothair]

Ok first I suggest you cut down on the heat or balance out your regimen.

Transitioning hair is fragile at the demarcation line and without all the manipulation may still break so you have to be extra careful. I would suggest using Ateyaaa regimen (search youtube Aphogee based reggie) for her and only pin curling during the week, when it starts to frizz slick in a ponytail (I use IC hair polisher Olive styling gel) and put a phony pony on it since she doesn't like how her ponytail looks (depends on her age).

You need to stress to her that wearing her hair the way she thinks she wants now may result in it looking less like how she would like so she would have to give and put the hair up when it starts reverting instead of trying to force the style.

 

[clever]

Most water based leave ins will make the hair revert if you let the ends dry "out" but I would use it to give the roller something to "stick" too so the curls will stay.After straightening,I would part the hair in 4 sections horizontally and apply neutrogena silk touch(about a pea sized amount to the very ends) and then use a comb to smooth it through and then roll the ends under using the satin rollers or flexirods.

I would roll them "down" for the curled under look.Make sure the rollers are covered in satin to prevent the ends from drying out.

Here is a thread from a member that used a magnetic roller for the bumped under look:
http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showthread.php?t=199099&highlight=roller

and another from a mowhawk set at night
http://www.longhaircareforum.com/showthread.php?t=264779&highlight=rollers
(post three from sistaslick)


You also try placing flexi rods or small rods vertically for a spiral look.Before you straighten her hair I would suggest that you you use a good deep conditioner and use tressemme heat tamer spray on wet hair to protect it from heat.Also,how about introducing her to braidouts nad twistouts until her hair gains some more length?

 

[QueenT]

Thanks for the suggestions ladies.
Could someone tell me where I can purchase neutrogena silk touch? Should I go to Sally's, Walmart or Kroger.

 

[clever]

Walmart or a drug store