What's the difference...?

[cairopiper]

Hey ladies,

I just wondered if someone could tell me what the difference is between pressing and straightening. I read a thread recently discussing Keisha Knight Pulliam's hair and whether it's been pressed/straightened or relaxed. Most said it had been pressed/straightened but I wasn't sure if these were in fact the same thing or totally different things.

I always thought straightening was using a relaxer and pressing was using a metal comb which had been heated up to dangerous temperatures over a gas flame, then once it had slightly cooled running the comb through the hair from root to tip - that's what my mum used to do to mine and my sister's hair when we were younger.

But some people said in the thread that Keisha pressed with a flat iron and others said straightened so now I'm not sure.

Can anyone clear this up for me?
TIA
Cairo
x

 

[SignatureBeauty]

I guess it is just a Term that how she got her Natural hair Straight, (Pressed/Straighten) You can use different methods to straighten your hair, Relaxers isn't the Only way, It's the Chemical Way! But I understand what you mean.

 

[locabouthair]

I read in a hair magazine that Keisha flat irons her hair. Her hair has always been beautiful.

 

[Simply_Kelz]

I usually take it to mean:

Pressed is hotcombed.

Straightened is usually blow-dried or flatironed.

Relaxed is relaxed.

 

[naturalgurl]

I understood straightening meaning making the hair straight with by any means. It didn't matter if you banded, pressed or flat ironed. I guess we all have different meanings. Is there an official difference?

 

[Nonie]

I agree, straightened means made straight regardless of how that is done.

Flat ironed and pressed mean the same thing to me: Using hot metal to straighten hair be it a hot comb or a flat iron.

Hot combed is straightened using a hot comb.

Flat ironed is straightened using a flat iron.

Relaxed is straightened using a relaxer.

Permed is made permanently curly or straight by some method, usually chemical. I know perm means "to make curly" to some people, and it may be because white people usually perm to make their hair curly. But I have also heard perm used to refer to relaxing hair, which is why when I was in the UK, there used to be phrases such as "a curly perm" and "a straight perm". So since "perm" is derived from "permanent", I am comfortable applying it to using any chemical process to change the texture of hair and make it permanently different from what it was.

 

[glamazon386]

Pressed means with a hot comb.

Straightened means with a flat iron.

Relaxed is just relaxed. But relaxed hair can be straightened with a flat iron.

 

[Sarahh.]

Pressed means with a hot comb.

Straightened means with a flat iron.

Relaxed is just relaxed. But relaxed hair can be straightened with a flat iron.

I usually take it to mean:

Pressed is hotcombed.

Straightened is usually blow-dried or flatironed.

Relaxed is relaxed.

That's what I think it means too, IMO.