How to Straighten Hair
For people with uncontrollable curly or wavy hair, knowing how to straighten hair lowers hairstyle costs and lets you sculpt your look better than you otherwise might be able to. Curliness and waviness are too entirely different hair problems, so I’ll try to cover each in their own turn.
A personal hair style is a huge part of a person’s “look”, because just about everybody you meet will look at your face and head first, or look at your head when talking to you. What you do with your hair directly affects how people perceive you.
Good Hair and Bad Hair
If you have a stylish hair cut, you look svelte, polished and stylish. If you have a bad hair style, you look like you have bad taste and no fashion sense at all. If you have shaggy or out of control hair, you appear as if you don’t care what you look like at all. Even if you have a bad hair day, the people you meet that day will think that’s your personal style.
Straightening your hair style makes your hair neater and easier to manage, and gives you a sense of control. While someone like myself (wavy hair) gets complimented all the time by straight-haired people who “wish they had my curl”, it’s nice to not mess with the curls and waves occasionally, too. Don’t let your natural hair style put your in a box, fashion wise. Take control by learning how to straighten your hair.
How to Straighten Curly Hair
Let’s start with how to straighten curly hair. Straight haired people will admire you for all those crinkles, while you envy their naturally straight hair. Here’s how to see what life is like on the other side.
Wash and Condition Your Hair
Begins the process by washing your hair. Use a conditioner while you’re shampooing, so your hair will be more manageable throughout the hair-straightening process.
Some people wash and dry their hair the night before, because the oils accumulated while you’re sleeping will make your hair more manageable the next day. I personally cannot stand overnight oil on my hair, but this is a personal preference.
Dry Your Hair
Dry your hair thoroughly, but not with a hair dryer. Instead, give your hair a quick dry with a towel. Do not use a hair dryer yet.
Instead, squeeze any excess water of our your hair. Then comb through your hair in preparation of the straitening treatment.
Apply Hair Straightener
Apply straightening cream to your still damp hair. Work the creamy straightener evenly throughout your hair. Don’t be sparse with the straightening cream. You want to apply liberal amounts of it to get the desired effects.
Divide Your Hair into 3 Sections
Next, you’ll want to try to divide your hair into three separate sections. These roughly should be top of the head, the middle layer of hair and the underneath or bottom portion of your hair. Once you have the three separated, clips the top and middle sections of your hair together.
Dry the Bottom Layer of Hair
Get out a blow dryer and start drying the bottom layer of your hair. Dry the hair in 2-3 inch sections at a time, working from one side of your hair to the other.
Once this is over, dry the middle section of your hair. When this is finished, dry the top layer of your hair.
Once again, separate your hair as you did before, into top, middle and lower hair layers.
Straighten with the Straightening Iron
How to Straighten Hair
When straightening with the iron, press slowly from the root of your hair to the tip of the hair. Once you have finished the bottom part, move on to the middle layers of your hair and, finally, the top layer of your hair.
Be careful that you don’t hold the straightening iron on any stretch of your hair for too long. Doing so produces scorched and damaged hair that is harder to style, and doesn’t look nearly as nice.
Some people by straightening irons that dispense with the need for the drying process. If this appeals to you, research the implications. It’s a method I’ve never used, so I won’t recommend it. I have friends who swear by it, though.
Add Shine Gloss
Place about a dime-sized sample of shine gloss in the palm of your hand and rub your hands together. Then rubs your hands over your hair, working in the shine gloss to work your straightened hair.
Your naturally curly hair should now be straight, as well as responsive to your stylings. Style your hair in the shape you wish.
How to Straighten Ethnic Hair
For those wanting information on how to straighten ethnic curls, I’ve provided a short tutorial. This guide should give you the basics for ethnic hair straightening.
Relax Your Curl
Buy a chemical curl relaxer like “Lovely No-Lye” or “Dark”. Apply the hair relaxing formula approximately every 6-8 weeks. This will help keep your hair straight, instead of curly.
If your hair or scalp doesn’t respond well to chemical relaxers like those mentioned above, consider a non-chemical relaxer like BodipHier. “Bodiphier” doesn’t straighten as dramatically as the chemical straightening formulas, but you can produce the same effect by blow drying your hair and working the hair follicles.
Apply Heat
In either case, further straighten your hair by applying heat with a pressing comb or ceramic flat iron. Maintain an air-conditioned room while you do this, because if the room is humid or you sweat on the hair, this will reverse the straightening effect you are working towards.
Treat with Hair Conditioner
After you have straightened your kink, maintain your hair by applying conditioners regularly. Chemical treatments and heat presses strip the hair of certain natural conditioners, making your hair more easily damaged when straightened. Conditioning products replenish these oils and gives your hair the protection it needs.
Hair Straightening Tips
As you straighten your hair multiple times, you’ll learn what works for your hair best and learn more about how to straighten hair. If your first try isn’t entirely what you envisioned, keep trying, so you won’t be limited to just one hair style.