Approximately 60% of our clients leave the salon with a straight style. If you're one of those, you may be experiencing a few challenges with keeping and managing your natural or transitioning straight style in between salon visits. Follow these tips to prevent breakage, split ends and to encourage hair growth.
1. Take deep conditioning more seriously.
There are some home remedies and off the shelf conditioners that make for good conditioning in between your visits to the salon. However, we recommend that you do a monthly deep conditioning treatment with a focus on strengthening and moisturizing.
Your deep conditioner should have protein or amino acids to help strengthen and protect against breakage and/or split ends that are common among those who heat straighten. After all, your hair is naturally about 88% protein. The deep conditioner or treatment should contain an oil (in sufficient amounts) to add back nutrients and moisture to your hair.
2. Use a blow dryer at lower heat or less time and just enough to get it "just dry enough."
The heat from a blow dryer is just as harsh as the heat from a flat iron and more often than not, if your hair hasn't been properly moisturized before hand, you risk cracking your hair's cuticles through the harsh heat of the blow dryer.
Spray your hair with a leave-in protectant that consists of glycerin and deionized water to protect against the blow dryer heat. When your hair is dry enough, switch over to the flat iron. Think clothes in a dryer. You don't need to leave the clothes in any longer than "dry enough" or you'll cause damage. Same with blow drying your hair.
3. Understand how your hair's texture impacts the heat required.
Many of us have misconstrued the kinks in our strands or the amount of hair on our heads to mean that we have coarse hair, but just because your hair is kinky or you have a lot of hair on your head, doesn't mean have coarse hair. The description "coarse" when discussing texture really means that one's strands are typically wider in diameter when compared to the diameter of other's strands. Coarse hair texture types (hair that has a wider diameter than most) will tend to experience less visible effects of heat damage just because it naturally contains more cuticle layers than fine or medium hair textures. Fine hair naturals should take great precaution with heat, since a high setting can easily permanently straighten your strands.
Still confused? Ask your Huetiful stylist, on your next visit, and they can help you identify your type and texture. When you understand your hair's texture (coarse, medium, fine), you are better able to judge how much heat your hair can actually take. Comparing with a simple piece of thread can help you gauge whether your strands are coarse. If your strands are comparatively close to the thickness of the thread, you could in fact have coarse hair.
4. Utilize protective styles from time to time.
There are various protective styles out there, but "super protective styles" are styles that keep all your hair and your ends tucked away completely. You hair has a greater chance of bouncing back from heat damage if you baby it and keep it from situations where it can dry out easily. Styles that keep your hair "wrapped up" ensure your hair doesn't continue to experience the dryness it did when it was in heat style.
5. Come in and see us.
The one thing that we don't try to do is to make you a captive of the salon. However, we do want to assist you if you don't have the proper straightening tools, deep conditioner, or hydrating hair steamer. Half of our clients prefer to wear their hair straight in between salon visits. If you're one of those and experiencing shedding, breakage, or split ends then it might be time for you to come back in and let us care for you.