Everyone knows that you always want a hair style you haven’t got, but that doesn’t make it any easier! Hundreds of women straighten their hair every day, using various products, tips and techniques, but how should we know what works? Here are my top fourteen tips for hair straightening!
Have your hair trimmed, to keep it healthy, and ask them to blow dry it straight. Pay attention to how they do it, so that you can repeat the process at home.
Ask which heat and frizz protection products are best for your hair type, and look up where you can get them at the best price.
Frizz Serum is very oily, and can cause hair to go lank and flat. Make sure you only use a small amount and spread it around evenly, or you risk applying too much!
Using a brush can split hair follicles, causing frizz. Buy a high quality wide toothed comb, and use this to keep your hair in place and tidy. This will prevent the hair being stripped of product or split.
Whenever possible, apply serum to wet, freshly washed hair. It will be much more effective on wet hair, and you’ll need much less of it.
Learning how to split into sections is difficult, because when hair is wet, the sections can change. Learn where yours are, and how to split them, without having to rip apart the hair, as this can damage it.
When blow drying, remember that you should go from root to tip, and pull the brush away from your head as you do it. This can take some practicing, but be careful, you don’t want to rip any hair out!
Sometimes hair will dry frizzy anyway. If you see any while you are blow drying, apply a tiny amount of serum the area, and then blow dry again.
A common mistake after blow drying hair is to leave it looking flat. Use a volume spray to add some life and bounce to your style.
Use a flat iron at a moderate heat to straighten any remaining kinks. GHD’s are the most popular, but any should work well. Using gas straightners isn’t recommended, as they take a long time to heat up.
A common misconception is to presume that if you use heat spray, you can use any temperature. Only use the highest if you have very thick hair, as unnecessary heat can frazzle the hair and leave it looking dry and frizzy. Use the lowest setting possible.
The sections you use for straightening need to be smaller than the ones for blow drying. This is because the less hair per iron means the hair will straighten faster, due to the concentration of heat per hair. The smaller the section, the better the straighten... just remember not to fry your hair!
Its another common misconception that you need to straighten it all. This will damage hair and leave it dry, brittle and falling out. Not a good look! Always blow dry straight first, and only iron where needed.
Don’t straighten every day. Giving your hair a day to recover, and a (homemade) hair mask, will keep it in good condition and keep you looking good. And who is going to see you on Sundays anyway!?
So now you can straighten your hair with confidence, why not try leaving a little wave in it? I love the way softly straightened hair looks, it has such a gorgeous, healthy bounce! Have you got a straightening tip, or a product you can’t live without? Please let me know!
Photo Credit: flickr.com