Straight hairs are evergreen style statement. Long, luscious straight hairs always look gorgeous and add to the beauty of a person. People straighten their hair either because their hair is curly or wavy. While some people might straighten their hair only for special occasions. Some prefer to always maintain a straightened hair look. Hair could be straightened either permanently using chemicals or temporarily. Permanent hair straightening usually lasts for 6 months but is not always recommended as the chemicals used tend to damage the hair. Temporary hair straightening is a better alternative as it also gives you options of having curly hair and to play with your looks. Here is how you can straighten your hair.
Complexity level: Basic
Time required: 20 to 45 minutes
Estimated cost: $2 to $ 4
Resources required:
1. Wide-teethed comb
2. A hair dryer with a nozzle/ diffuser
3. Hair serum
4. Flat iron
5. Heat protection spray
6. Shampoo and conditioner
7. Hairspray
8. Hair brush
9. Hair clips
Instructions:
1. Washing your hair:
Before you begin the process of straightening your hair, make sure that you wash your hair clean, and condition it. Conditioning the hair,
with a lightweight conditioner is important as it will ensure that your hair doesn’t get too dry after straightening. Begin at the roots and work down to the tips.
2. Drying the hair:
After washing the hair, it is important to towel dry your hair before straightening them to get the best results. Use a microfiber towel or any other towel that you feel is convenient to remove as much moisture from your hair as is possible.
3. De-tangling your hair:
Using a wide-toothed comb, work on your hair to remove all knots and tangles. Combing the hair before, after and during the straightening process helps in keeping the hair settled in place. Also, apply a heat protecting hair serum to protect the hair from any damage that the straightening tools can cause.
4. Preparing your hair for blow-drying:
Divide your hair in to sections using a tail comb. Straightening gives better results when you work on small parts of hair. After you divide your hair in to sections, pull them back and secure using hair clips. Start from the bottom most layer of the hair section and move upwards.
5. Blow drying your hair:
With blow-drying, your hair becomes simpler. Pull a section of your hair away from your head. Holding the section or strand of hair, blow-dry directly on to the hair. Once all the sections of the hair are completely dried, set the temperature level of the hair dryer to cool, and give the hair a blast of cool hair.
6. Straightening the hair using a flat iron:
Heat your flat iron up for a while before using it. Set the temperature of the flat iron to the desired level. Experts recommend 250 degrees as a safe temperature level. However, those with very curly hair or thick hair might need higher temperature to get the desired look. Follow the same process of sectioning the hair as you did for blow-drying and work in sections to straighten. Start working with the flat iron from as close to the roots as possible. Repeat on each section until all the hair is straightened.
7. Applying finishing product:
Finish the straightening process by applying a small amount of smoothening serum on the hair evenly concentrating on the tips.
Frequently Asked Questions:
How to straighten curly and thick hair?
The entire process for straightening curly and thick hair remains the same except in case of thick and very curly hair, you should use a high temperature on the flat iron. Also while blow-drying, the thinner the sections of hair are made, the better are the results.
Quick tips:
1. Using a leave-on conditioner before combing the hair will help in removing the tangles easily.
2. To seal the cuticles and to prevent frizz, always angle the nozzle of the hair in the direction of the hair while blow drying.
3. While using a flat iron on your hair, ensure that you section your hair to an inch width and half an inch thickness to get the right straightening result.
4. Too much finishing product on the hair will give a greasy look.
5. To add volume to your hair, backcomb the under layers of the hair.
Things to watch out for:
1. Don’t straighten your hair too frequently without using a hair serum as it might cause permanent damage to your hair.
2. Don’t leave the flat iron on a specific spot for long. If the iron is very hot, it might end up frying your hair.
3. Don’t use a brush on wet hair as it will break your hair. Use a wide-toothed comb instead.