Straightening Hair

[MillingNome]

Need some help on this one. Dd has ringlets to fro depending how she washes it (never shampoo) and what gel if any she puts in. Her hair looks very much like this washed and gelled:

She wants it straight but the deal is, it can't be permanent. Right now she uses a flat iron if she wants it not to be curly. It takes forever. I am wondering if there is another way, like a perm but not permanent, that would straighten for a little bit of time (couple week?) but then gradually let the curls come back. So is there?





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[pajamajes]

Um, I heard something about chemical straightening. I don't know if its permanent for not. But I totally know where your coming from. I straighten my hair and it take me 30 minutes at night and 10 in the morning. Most of the time I don't even fool with it. I just pull it in a ponytail and forget about it.

[J's Mombee]

My mom used to blow dry our hair with a hair conditioner called "bone straight," but it only lasted a week or two.

Other than that, does her hair straighten if you blow dry it?

[Bad Mama Jama]

I was thinking either the blow drying route or a hot comb, but you have to be skillful with the hotcomb or you could loose some hair through burning it.

[purplegirl]

I would recommend blowing it straight. It won't last that long but it is way better than chemicals. Flat ironing works too but like you stated, it an be a long process that only lasts for a day or two depending on the texture. Why does she want it straight---just a change of looks?

[Bunnybee]

I'm cluless: how do you blow dry hair straight? DH just this very night said we should blow dry our DD's hair but I thought that would just make it poofier?

[Bad Mama Jama]

You have to get some sort of hair lotion or oil and blow dry it with the dryer with the comb attachment or comb it out straight while holding a dryer right near the comb. Is there a better way that I could have phrased that?

[Bunnybee]

Yikes, i think we'll be skipping that look!

[RainCoastMama]

My kids have very straight hair (thanks to my Asian DH) BUT I have a huge head of frizzy waves that I've battled all my life (and not just to make them straight, but to make them look professional/neat even when wavy).

For your child, I'd HIGHLY recommend using the Caruso steam roller setter. You can buy if from Folica.com - do a search. It uses steam to quick-set the hair into a fairly straight look, and moisturizes the hair instead of drying/damaging it via dry heat. In fact, people recommend using it just to moisturize your hair - like a hair spa! The set comes with wee rollers as well that I've used to make a few ringlets of the babes for fun. Of course, I've only ever used it on myself to straighten. I dry my hair first (air dry) then set. You don't really even need product (although I use a leave in conditioner, then a 'sealer')

ETA: youtube is a wealth of hair tips - lots of demos for straightening hair with a dryer, and do a search for kids' hair - there are a few great tutorials!

Good luck!

[MillingNome]

Thanks for all the tips

I never would have thought to youtube the topic

[kaleidoscopeeyes]

I have very curly hair. I've had it chemically straightened, which I do not recommend. It is technically permanent, but you have to have the new growth "touched up" every 8 weeks or so. These are some very strong chemicals, they smell awful and burned the hell out of my scalp (and I went to professionals). Oh and it doesn't really make your hair THAT straight, it still had to be blown out and flat ironed. But I had one almost continually from age 8-18. :

I learned how to take care of my curly hair instead of hating it several years ago. That said, I still straighten it most of the time (It's just too cold here to leave it to air dry..which takes hours). Blowing it out with a light moisturizer is step one, though it will still be frizzy as that is what happens when you brush through curls. I get it straight with an electric flat iron. It's really important to get a high quality (preferably ceramic) flat iron. They do less damage than cheap ones and are much faster. My hair is very thick and down to my mid-back and it takes me maybe 30 mins to straighten it. When it was shorter I could do it in 15-20mins. I use my Superstar everyday, and my hair is quite healthy and strong. The superstar cost me I think $140 about 4 years ago and it still going strong with daily use and many many drops. Chi and T3 make great irons too (though my friend has had several Chis break on her in a short amount of time). They are worth the money IMO if you are going to straighten.

[my2kidz]

Here's what I do

First I put a thermal protector in my hair, either cream or spray. Then I blow dry my hair with a ionic dryer first. This is very important because biracial hair is very fragile and breaks easily. The ions help to condition and protect hair. At this point my hair is half-way straightened in under 5 minutes. Then I put away the ionic dryer and finish with the hair designer by Conair to smooth the rest of it out and either curl the ends under and or flip them. I smooth my flyaways down with styling cream (I like sunsilk 24/7 cream) and spritz with hairspray to hold in place. The whole process is done in 10 minutes or so, it's easy. I did try to chemically straighten my hair once and it burned my scalp so badly I had scabs and hair breakage for weeks. never again lol!

[stacim]

I used a bit of a different approach that worked quite well for me, when I used to straighten my hair. I am AA (with some Native American and Caucasian mixed in my ancestry). I hair tight corkscrew curls in the front and the back is corkscrew curls with a bit more frizz. I found that I could get my hair the smoothest, with the least amount of effort, by pulling my hair back and letting it dry that way. Then, I would just take my curling iron to it to straighten or curl my wavy mane. I would have used a flat iron if I had had one at the time. I found that when I blew it dry, it frizzed, and then I had to straighten the frizz. I found it to be much easier to smooth/straighten the waves. This works if you have time on your side. You could also pull back and dry quicker by sitting under a hood-style dryer.

Oh, and of course good humidity-resistant products are a must, or all of that hard work will go right down the drain.

BTW - I also had chemically processed hair for many years. I hated the upkeep and using all of those chemicals on my hair. I have been wearing my hair in a natural style for several years now, which is all about finding the products that work for your hair and a good cut.