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The cure for straight, shiny, healthy hair

It’s very common to have a flat iron addiction if you have somewhat longer hair that’s hard to manage in the mornings. Flat irons really are a nice saving grace for days you wake up with a birds nest of hair… it not only straightens your hair but smooths it as well. The downside to this tool, however, is that it is polled as the #1 cause of premature breakage in long hair. The reason is because of a concentrated and high amount of heat, for an extended period of time, applied several times per session, without proper hair protectants. Most hair protectants on the shelves of the grocery stores contain a type of alchohol, which does anything but protect the proteins in your hair from weakening. Very few contain the key ingrediant to heat resistance: silicone. People who are performing magic acts that involve setting themselves on fire even cover themselves with silicone because they can trust that it will protect them. So just think about how much more will it protect you from a heating tool!

I cut my hair about once a year, and never have split ends in between cuts, with or without constant use of heat utensils. The reason? I’ve found the secret to preserving my hair. I’ll share my techniques with you :c)

Let’s say you just got out the shower and your hair is soaking wet, and let’s also say you don’t have time to let it air dry (since air drying is obviously nicer to your hair) so you need to blow dry and style your hair. The worst thing you can do for your hair is apply more heat than you have to. Ideally, the best route would be to avoid ALL heating tools, but that just won’t happen, so our goal is to minimize the damage and amount of heat as much as possible. Lightly pat dry your hair, and DO NOT RUB. lightly finger comb your hair if you have some tangles, taking care to not break any strands with your fingernails if they are long or chipped. Then use a wide-toothed comb and comb through your hair. If it’s tough to comb, apply a very light de-tangler. Now pat dry your hair again, concentrating on your ends. You should have more water collecting at the bottom of your hair if it is long. Now apply a little bit of jojoba oil (it’s cheap… can be found at any GMC or walgreens), put enough on your hands so that they glisten, and then rake your hands through your hair. If you put on too much your hair might look a little greasy. This oil will absorb into the hair when the cuticle expands by using a blow dryer, which helps condition your hair and counter the damage the heat will cause. Take your IONIC blowdryer (there’s a big difference in results… trust me) and start blow drying your hair, pointing DOWN the hair shaft. It helps to blow dry in sections if your hair is super thick.By this i mean pin up the top 1/2 of your head with a clip and just blow dry the bottom, then unclip the top part and blow dry the top. That way, you will ensure you won’t miss spots or overdry your hair. Yes, there is such a thing. You can tell your hair has been overdried when it feels slightly like straw. When it feels “rough” you essentially were applying force against your cuticle, causing it to flare, essentially causing damage to your hair.Smoothing your hair down with a serum or light conditioner helps the appearance of this, but note that damage to your hair still has ultimately been done. You know your hair is “dry enough” when it is slightly damp. Again, you do not want your hair to be COMPLETELY 100% dry.

Next step is to style it. Apply a bit of serum that contains silicone. Careful to not apply too much– or your hair will clump or feel sticky. If you’re going to be curling or flat ironing your hair, the same rules still apply to either, and here’s the trick to reign them in from abusing your hair. Set it to a medium-low setting. The lower the better. If you have thick hair, you will need a higher heat setting than those with thinner hair. Medium is probably the highest you should go, though, as a general rule. Take a THICK section of your hair, about 1-2 inches, at a time. The thinner the sections you take, the more concentrated the heat will be on your hair, and the more damage it will cause. Here’s how to tell if you’re leaving your hair on the iron too long: feel your hair immediately after applying the heat tool to it. If it is too hot to the touch, you are leaving it on WAY TOO LONG. It should be WARM, not HOT. You may notice that it isn’t styling as quickly this route. That is true. Healthy shiny hair takes more time because you have to treat it as the fragile thing it is. Now you wait until that strand of hair completely cools (usually 2-5 seconds), then reapply the heating tool again. Do this until you get the desired result. It usually takes me about 3 rounds and I have THICK hair.

When you are done, lightly apply an anti-breakage serum (such as Organix in coconut oil… my favorite!) to slick down and protect the hair a bit and add some shine. Then, you’re done :c) See, that wasn’t so hard!

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