Naturals who have straightened their Hair regularly for Long Period of time

[Country gal]

Any damage? I have been natural for 3 years. The last 4 months I have been straightening my hair more. Probably about once a month. I recently did a Dominican blowout. I am curious if other naturals who straighten their hair, has your hair maintained it’s thickness and health. Has your hair continued to grow despite straightening it frequently? Has your hair textured change?

 

[Fine 4s]

Any damage? I have been natural for 3 years. The last 4 months I have been straightening my hair more. Probably about once a month. I recently did a Dominican blowout. I am curious if other naturals who straighten their hair, has your hair maintained it’s thickness and health. Has your hair continued to grow despite straightening it frequently? Has your hair textured change?

My hair texture changed as a result of heat damage=inability to retain length due to excessive breakage.

Last touch up was in 1994 when I started pressing every 2 weeks in 1994-95.

From 1994/95 to 1996-97 I was pressing every two weeks.

Then I discovered that I did not NEED to press and started blow drying and curling my hair with the electric curling iron. In 1997 I burned some hair off.

From 2003 to 2006/07 I decreased my blowdrying and curling with the marcel stove (done in the salon) to doing DR blowouts from wet to straight, mostly I did rollersets and blow (did that maybe 3 times total). At times I did only a rollerset- no blow out.

When I reach my either MBL or WSL I'll blowdry again. For now, I'm chillin...

 

[Nola Darling]

What sets me back is the professionals. They LOVE to burn the mess out of my hair. Since my last press *see siggy* I got some bad damage and I won't be visiting a professional any time soon unless they are LHCF approved. I'm not even joking Just say no to stylists!

 

[Transformer]

I rollerset twice weekly. It has thickness but the strands appear to be finer. But they be my perception because before December I had not had heat on my hair for years, and years!

Sometimes, I will wash and get lazy and not rollerset...wash/go....I haven't seen any damage but I've only been doin this 4 months now??

 

[naturalgurl]

What sets me back is the professionals. They LOVE to burn the mess out of my hair. Since my last press *see siggy* I got some bad damage and I won't be visiting a professional any time soon unless they are LHCF approved. I'm not even joking Just say no to stylists!

AMEN! I want to do a Dominican Blowout when I reach my no heat challenge date which is in November. I'm still sort of scared of it though. It looks gruesome hot but the results are beautiful. I don't want to turn my MBL natural hair over to someone and they fry it out!

 

[scribblescrabble2]

I can't do it regularly, the split ends would overwhelm me. But Pinkskates does it with minimal effects. And from what I can tell she is a type 4 too.

 

[momi]

I straighten regulary - my hair is not "damaged" per se, but my texture has changed. I could not wear two-strands to save my life.

 

[NewYorkgyrl]

I don't straighten regularly mainly because I KNOW IT WILL DAMAGE my texture if I did it frequently.

I have only straigthened my hair only ONE TIME in 20 months and it caused damage (parts of my hair remain straight). SO I don't see how in the world I will be able to avoid it if I did it much more often.

Good luck

 

[PinkSkates]

I've been straightening my natural hair since 2001 and my hair is doing just fine. My hair reverts immediately when moisture and water hits it. I baby my ends and deep condition every 2 weeks. DC'ing is key to keeping the strands strong so they can withstand heat styling.

 

[NewYorkgyrl]

I straighten regulary - my hair is not "damaged" per se, but my texture has changed. I could not wear two-strands to save my life.

That would be considered heat damage.

 

[MissJ]

What sets me back is the professionals. They LOVE to burn the mess out of my hair. Since my last press *see siggy* I got some bad damage and I won't be visiting a professional any time soon unless they are LHCF approved. I'm not even joking Just say no to stylists!

This is my beef, although, I don't know if I have any damage yet or how much I have.

 

[NewYorkgyrl]

I've been straightening my natural hair since 2001 and my hair is doing just fine. My hair reverts immediately when moisture and water hits it. I baby my ends and deep condition every 2 weeks. DC'ing is key to keeping the strands strong so they can withstand heat styling.

I am glad that DC works for you but....
I don't want naturals to get the wroong idea thinking that DC is the answer to prevent the damage. I am pretty sure that most of the people who have complained of damage did do a deep conditioning treatment before hand. (That is the #1 staple routine on this board) At least I did....sometimes DC doesn't make a difference

 

[momi]

That would be considered heat damage.

I beg to differ. My hair is healthy and growing and I dont have to trim very often. For my needs, that is healthy. If i were trying to rock an afro maybe then I would call it damaged.

Thank you very much.

 

[Nola Darling]

I beg to differ. My hair is healthy and growing and I dont have to trim very often. For my needs, that is healthy. If i were trying to rock an afro maybe then I would call it damaged.

Thank you very much.

I see what you mean...I think your hair is heat damaged even though it has no splits and etc...if you wear your hair straight all the time then its no biggie and healthy but for us who like textured styles it is terrible!!!

 

[Country gal]

I like textured styles so I like the versality of natural hair. I also like to change up the style and straighten. If water or moisture hits my hair it reverts back. I do have some strands that are straight.

 

[Lucky's Mom]

What sets me back is the professionals. They LOVE to burn the mess out of my hair. Since my last press *see siggy* I got some bad damage and I won't be visiting a professional any time soon unless they are LHCF approved. I'm not even joking Just say no to stylists!

Wow - Sadly - I must agree. "professionals" have given me the blues.
I have made a few errores on my own - but they have not been the TRAGEDIES of the years of bad stylists................

a DIY'er..............

 

[Lucky's Mom]

I beg to differ. My hair is healthy and growing and I dont have to trim very often. For my needs, that is healthy. If i were trying to rock an afro maybe then I would call it damaged.

Thank you very much.

I agree with momi. I don't think that it may be damaged - but it is trained to lay down straight. Over time Momi,you might be able to rock twists after a prolonged period of not straightening. Hair tends to have a "memory" for all of us.

 

[Qetesh]

I have worn my hair straight for years thro pressing, and i will say the thickness didnt suffer much, but what i did notice is that my ends suffered probably because i would hotcurl DAILY, also i noticed on the areas i ALWAYS hotcurled my hair curl pattern was slightly damaged. but for me if i pincurl and only flat iron/dominican blow out my hair every month or every 2 months i experience very minimal to nearly no damage

now i just cut back on the amount of heat and i wear my hair natural more often and i dont experience any problems

 

[chocolate01]

I straighten regularly during the winter, I usually straighten 2x a month. My texture has not changed at all nor have I seen a difference in thickness or growth. I trim every 3 months regardless of how I wear my hair so split ends are not a problem either. I still made it to brastap in about 2 years after my BC.

 

[NewYorkgyrl]

I beg to differ. My hair is healthy and growing and I dont have to trim very often. For my needs, that is healthy. If i were trying to rock an afro maybe then I would call it damaged.

Thank you very much.

Whatever you say (I was just going by what the term heat damge means which is basically what you described as texture change) You can define your hair how ever you want. I was just posting so that other naturals know what would be considered heat damage even though the hair does not appear damaged, espcially since that is what the OP was asking about.

Sorry erplexed if you got the impression that I was talkiing bad about YOUR hair

 

[NewYorkgyrl]

I see what you mean...I think your hair is heat damaged even though it has no splits and etc...if you wear your hair straight all the time then its no biggie and healthy but for us who like textured styles it is terrible!!!

I'm glad someone understands my point.
And this is exactly what I felt the OP was asking about.

 

[TwistNMx]

What sets me back is the professionals. They LOVE to burn the mess out of my hair. Since my last press *see siggy* I got some bad damage and I won't be visiting a professional any time soon unless they are LHCF approved. I'm not even joking Just say no to stylists!

Yup!
That's what happened to me in 2003...which led me to find LHCF.
There's NO way I will EVER trust anyone again with my hair pro or otherwise.
I straighten my hair once every 2-3 months for trimming and length check...that's it!

 

[blackbarbie]

Any damage? I have been natural for 3 years. The last 4 months I have been straightening my hair more. Probably about once a month. I recently did a Dominican blowout. I am curious if other naturals who straighten their hair, has your hair maintained it’s thickness and health. Has your hair continued to grow despite straightening it frequently? Has your hair textured change?

How did you like your dominican blowout? Were you pleased with the results?

I am not natural, (not 100% yet), but I will answer the question for my mom. She has been straightening her hair (with the straightening comb) for over 30 years and she generally does it once a week. I have seen her hair in its natural state and her weekly routine hasn't changed her texture at all.

BB

 

[ClassicBeauty]

I've been straightening my natural hair since 2001 and my hair is doing just fine. My hair reverts immediately when moisture and water hits it. I baby my ends and deep condition every 2 weeks. DC'ing is key to keeping the strands strong so they can withstand heat styling.

I straighten my hair about every 2-3 weeks, and my hair is also doing just fine. I deep condition before I straighten it. Unlike Pinkskates, I have no skills with the hot comb. I rollerset and then flat-iron. I always say that the rollerset with leave-in is what helps my hair stay healthy. For me, blowdrers are a no no.

 

[glamazon386]

Umm if your hair is "trained" or does not totally revert, the bonds are broken and it IS damaged. No matter what y'all say. Healthy hair has elasticity and bounces back.

CG - I don't wear my hair straightened very often but I have not seen any adverse effects when I do get it straightened. I get my hair blowdried and flat ironed though. No hot comb.

 

[Country gal]

BB- THe dominicas got my hair straight. I was teasing my asian friend and saying my hair was like hers now. Shiny and straight. I don't think I would go to them often because they go overboard with the heat.

I want the best of both worlds, straight hair some weeks and coily hair some weeks. I can't hot comb at all. It never gets straight.

 

[LeopardLover77]

Since the "bonds are broken" if your natural hair is trained to stay straight and that equals damage...... is relaxed hair considered "damaged" as well since the bonds get broken down during the relaxing process? (Hope that makes sense)

And is the hair only healthy when there's no relaxing and no heat?

I think people do too much over-analyzing when it comes to determining what's healthy hair and what's not.

I would have to agree with the poster that feels her hair is not heat "damaged" per se since there's length retained and no split ends.

 

[beautifulisaunderstatment]

Umm Im like 96% natural. I straighten my hair whenever I feel like it. It bounces right back. No issues except with the leftover relaxed ends. No heat damage, excessive broken/split ends, or non reverting hair. I dont use a pressing com. Ill rollerset and then flat iron or blow dry and flat iron. And no heat aint good everyday. Nothing is good everyday. MODERATION

 

[LeopardLover77]

Additionally, I think a more appropriate term would be "Heat Stretched" rather than "Heat Damaged".

 

[hopeful]

Additionally, I think a more appropriate term would be "Heat Stretched" rather than "Heat Damaged".

That's a nice way to put it. I have some hair that I believe to be heat damaged, a few completely straight ends. But I also have some areas that are "heat stretched," the hair is doing well, not splitting etc., but it is not as curly as it used to be.