How often could you safely flat iron your hair?

[charmtreese]

I'm starting to airdry and flat iron once a week...I will keep everyone posted on how it works for my hair.

 

[chasturner84]

I stink at flat ironing my hair so I must go to the salon to have it done. That's usually about once every 3-4 months Other than that, my hair is in a PS or curly.

 

[bb09]

I miss the mention feature! Just now seeing your question.

Yes, even with steaming weekly. The ends just felt weak to me. My strands are already pretty thin, so thats just not a good look. I'm trying to make APL this year and I think had I kept weekly straightening, I would get stuck around SL or maybe make APL but it would look really thin and not be healthy/lush.

Imani -Ohh ok, I get you.
& yeah it's good to have the mention feature back!

 

[MsLi@512]

When I started on my hair journey I followed the traditional Cathy Howse method of washing/dc-ing 2x a week then airdry/flatiron. Worked very well for me, my hair was really healthy, and retained length.

Along the way I've tried many things because I fell under the thought pattern that heat is an evil evil thing...

I've done rollersetting...
I get broken hairs when the rollers come down no matter what.... Even when I comb/fingercomb curls out.

I tried the good ole wash and go....
Splits

So I realize for me the only way to tame my hair is by a very good long DC, airdry/flat iron. I'm going to go back to this method and see what happens. I'm 5 weeks post. Rollersetting leaves my roots nap-packed.... So I have to use direct heat on them anyways. I just washed/DC - heavy protein followed by Megasilk w/ heat/air dried/flat ironed on the SECOND LOWEST SETTING, and my hair is swanging, shiny, super soft, and happy. I've decided to go back to what works FOR ME.

Whew! at least I'm not alone in this

 

[Poranges]

I am BSL texlaxed with healthy hair (I have the usual splits here and there and a little breakage but nothing major).

I wash and DC overnight ONCE a week then flat iron on about 300F. I use CHI Silk Infusion as my heat protectant and I use the HANA Elite Flat Iron. My hair is fine. I think it's your tools and method.

 

[theLovelyStyle]

I flat iron every 12 weeks!

 

[RoseTintedCheeks]

I can get away with once a month, but I usually don't even want to wear my hair straight that often. I usually go 3-4 months in b/w.

 

[Meadow]

I flatiron once a week and only on freshly shampooed hair. My hair responds well to heat. Rollersets make my hair look dry and leaves my ends brittle.

Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using T-Mobile G2

 

[chebaby]

i can do it once a week as long as i deep condition my hair like im supposed to.

i had to look at the date on this bs. i cant believe i wrote this. first of all i was relaxed at this time so i wouldnt know heat damage if it slapped me in the face.
while transitioning i was flat ironing once a week and i transitioned for 11 months. when i went to big chop my hair was so heat damaged that the hair in the front looked like it was growing out of my scalp bone straight. so yea, i cannot safely flat iron once a week.
i was using protein every week and two heat protectants and it took 4-6 months after i big chopped for me to even see a wave in the bang section.

 

[naturallygoldie]

just as long as the heat isn't in excess, the hair is freshly washed and deep conditioned, and you're working with a quality flatiron, no more than once a week should be fine.

 

[Lyric]

I can do it once a week but thank goodness im too lazy to flatiron and that will help keep my hair healthy.... guess laziness is good for somethin *shrug*

 

[tashastangles]

I flat iron once every three mnths. I like to see my length but then I always miss my curls.

Sent from my PC36100 using PC36100

 

[Bluetopia]

Americans being unfamiliar with the word "fortnight" - well, this is news to me. Guess you learn something everyday .

To the OP, I've never really flat-ironed more than once a week, but I'm often protective styling months on end, so I don't flat-iron very often during the year anyway.

Not all Americans @CherryCherryBoomBoom

I was actually kinda surprised people didnt know what it meant. Never considered it a particularly exotic term.

I flatiron 3-5 times a year.

 

[NewHairWOWeave]

I flat iron my entrie head once a week, I use heat protection and I only flat iron my New Growth. I only do one pass over the rest of the hair.

 

[Raspberry]

This thread is very informative

For those of you who air dry before you flat iron, what's your preferred method of air drying to prepare?

 

[30something]

I been pretty much been using heat on my natural hair before I even BC'ed to help my transition. My relaxed hair could never handle the heat but now that I been straightening for over a year with my hair I'm pretty sure I can keep it healthy using it every week. So far since Nov of 2010 I at least straighten my hair twice a month with a blow drier and a flat iron. Never had an issue, breakage problem, set back or split ends all over splitting in 50 different direction.

So far so good

 

[SerenavanderWoodsen]

This thread is very informative

For those of you who air dry before you flat iron, what's your preferred method of air drying to prepare?

I just flat ironed after months of rollersets. I was too lazy to set my hair last night. Anyway, what I'd normally do to prep for flat ironing is apply my leave ins and then wrap with an Aquis towel for a few minutes and then just let it air dry loose, might take 40 minutes or so, my hair is quite porous.
I let it get to probably like 96 % dry lol, then I iron. Ironing on 100% dry hair leaves me with parched hair...

 

[SerenavanderWoodsen]

I'm starting to airdry and flat iron once a week...I will keep everyone posted on how it works for my hair.

I did this for years and I could never maintain my length nicely because of my ends. Yes, my hair got quite long but I'd have to trim it every few months because the heat damage was so severe resulting in ridiculously thin ends. I'm still repairing my hair, I've stopped the flat ironing and began rollersetting and my hair is noticeably healthier. I still iron my roots weekly though but the roots aren't so damaged since they're new.
I can lie to myself all I want lol but weekly ironing is just extremely damaging. If you keep your iron at a lower heat I suppose it could be less harmful.
Also thought I'd mention that I do more than one pass of the iron because I like my hair very silky. I'm sure that's super damaging as well as the high heat.

 

[Spongebob]

i flat ironed my hair once since big chop, and regretted it big time. I realised my hair is to weak/fine to resist heat. to the extent that I wash my hair separately. im looking for non heat related methods/products that can straighten my hair, i found one products but its to expensive and i cant maintain buying it every week, wrapping is another thing i want to learn when my hair gets a bit longer

 

[Missi]

its by chance i'm too lazy to straighten my hair during this transition that I flat iron every 6 weeks. I do the whole shabang though - wash, rollerset, round brush - blowdryer, and flat iron - pin curl.

 

[Allandra]

Once a week (of course doing a weekly deep condition helps).

The above response was during my transition. I get my hair flat ironed once a month, and sometimes I skip a month.

 

[cutiepiesensei]

Allandra so how long did your hair get during the transition before you cut it off? Or I guess a better way to word it is how long was your hair post BC?

 

[Allandra]

@Allandra so how long did your hair get during the transition before you cut it off? Or I guess a better way to word it is how long was your hair post BC?

cutiepiesensei

waist length

 

[mochalocks]

Once a month for me. But i Wash, condition press, and flat iron one time And between I'll roller set my hair.

 

[ellebelle88]

Since I'm transitioning to natural hair and terrified about losing my curls, I went about 6 months before I flat ironed my hair. When I flat ironed it after 6 months about 2 weeks ago, I had tremendous growth! I was surprised at how fast my hair grew without the use of heat. I probably won't wait that long next time tho. I am going to try to only flat iron once every 2-3 months or so.

 

[PinkSunshine77]

Well I think it depends on the individual. Some of us have thick hair, some of us have thin hair. Some of us use heat on 460, some of us use it at 280. It really depends on your particular hair. Thick hair isn't a guarantee that you aren't going to get damage or splits. For me personally I only flat iron my hair 1x every 2 or 3 months and I will probably stretch that out to 1x every 6 mths if that when I'm fully natural. I'm starting to really like wavy/curly hair.

 

[doll-baby]

I have no idea ...

When I was natural I flat ironed my hair once a month and got all types of heat damage and split ends.

 

[PinkSunshine77]

I have no idea ...

When I was natural I flat ironed my hair once a month and got all types of heat damage and split ends.

well crap that sucks! what type of heat protectant did you use if you remember?

 

[LovinCurls]

My hair doesn't like heat one bit. I straighten it once year, I haven't straightened my hair in almost 2years now but I'm planning to do it soon.

 

[Danewshe]

I have only flat ironed my hair about 6 times since going natual 2 years ago but my hair is riddled with heat damage . First time I went natural, I straightened every two weeks for years, never used any heat-protectant, yet I never suffered any HD until the very last time I did it. I don't understand how this is possible.