Flat Ironing My Hair

As  mentioned before in the post about my natural hair, I flat iron my hair a couple times a month.  I try to make it to the salon and have it professionally done at least once a month, so I only have to go through this extremely time consuming routine about once a month.  I like the results, I just don't necessarily love the amount of time it takes to get these results.

I use some of the same products at home my hairstylist uses in the salon.  I brush through my hair with the Denman brush before I wash it to relieve my hair of any knots that may have formed amongst my curls.  I also use it after I flat iron my hair.  I love the way that brush feels on my scalp.

The leave-in conditioner I use is the It's a 10 Silk Express Miracle Conditioner.  And, I use the Lanza Healing Strength oil to protect my strands from the heat.  The long tailed comb with the medium width teeth will come into play later when I am actually running the flat iron through my hair.

And so, we begin...  This is how my hair looks freshly washed.

I section my hair into four sections and apply the It's A 10 Silk Express leave-in conditioner to each section.

I pin up the sections of hair I am not working with at the time.  Before doing so, I comb through my hair thoroughly to detangle.

Using my blow dryer with the comb attachment, I blow dry the section of hair.

Usually, I start with one of the sections at the back of my hair.  After I finish blow drying the back, I put them in two ponytails and move on to the top sections of hair.

I use the same process with the comb attachment on the dryer.

When I finish blow drying my entire head, I usually put my hair in two ponytails and just have a seat and relax for a few minutes.  The point of doing this is to keep my hair dry.  I am naturally a hot natured person, meaning I am usually warm or hot to touch and I sweat even in a mild environment.  Because this is the case, I sometimes sweat while flat ironing my hair simply from the heat of the blow dryer blowing on my skin.  When I don't have time to move slow, I have a fan blowing on my face while I blow dry and flat iron my hair so I can stay cool.

You don't want your hair to be wet when the flat iron touches it.  It's okay to have a heat protectant product on your hair, but my suggestion is to not flat iron wet hair.  You can actually burn your scalp with the steam that rises from a flat iron that has touched wet hair.

Now, you are ready to actually flat iron your hair.  You will now be working with two sections of hair, starting from the bottom of each section and working your way up to the top.  For a heat protectant, I use Lanza oil.  I usually apply it to the entire section of hair I am working with at the time.

To run the flat iron through my hair, I use the comb chase method.  This means I place a come with medium width teeth in front of the flat iron and follow the comb with the flat iron.  This method make for a smoother result.  I also use this method because it is very important to me to only do one pass of the flat iron with each section.  Of course, if I happen to mess up a section, I will fix it with the flat iron, but I try to avoid multiple passes with the flat iron.

And here are some pictures of me looking deranged as I do my hair.  :)  I'm concentrating!

Once done, I kind of fluff my hair a bit so it doesn't appear so flat.  I usually flat iron my hair with a little curl at the bottom.  I've never been good with flat ironing it bone straight.

Well folks, that's it.  That is how I flat iron my hair.  I've been asked before how long the process takes start to finish.  The answer is it takes about two and a half to three hours.  Sometimes, I wash my hair and only put the leave in conditioner in it.  I walk around with my hair in a wash & go style for a day until it air drys.  If I do that, I can cut down my blow drying and flat ironing time to about an hour and a half.