Straightening Your Hair

What should I look for in a good flat iron?

When you're choosing a flat iron to straighten your hair, a good tip in choosing a flat iron is get one with an adjustable temperature. Some people need more heat on their hair, other people need less. Therefore, the temperature control's a very important thing in choosing a flat iron. Because, if you have finer hair and you're straightening it, you can generally go with a temperature that's not as hot. With another type of hair texture, you might want something that is hotter, for example, coarser hair generally needs a bit more heat put on it. Also, how the iron feels in your hand is a very important thing. Some irons are large and cumbersome. And therefore, if it doesn't feel comfortable in your hand when you're straightening your hair, it's probably not going to work as well as something that might be a little bit smaller, and that you can maneuver in your hair better. Always check, try it out in the store before you buy it.

What is relaxing the hair?

There are a lot of different relaxers for the hair. Some of them are chemical and work on coarser types of hair, others are more gentle and you'd use on finer types of hair. What a chemical relaxer does to the hair is, it generally softens the curl in the hair. All relaxers are different. Some of them just leave a little bit of wave in the hair, others make the hair completely straight. You have to know before you go in whether you want it completely straight, or whether you want a bit of wave in it.

How long does relaxing last?

When you're using a chemical relaxer the relaxing generally lasts until your hair grows out. As the hair grows you'll have to have the roots touched up. You'll see them becoming a little bit more wavy. That's the sign you're going to have to have it done again, but just the roots you shouldn't have to go over the area that's processed already.

Can I chemically straighten and color my hair?

Chemically straightening your hair and then coloring you hair is generally not a good idea. It's good to stay away from the double process. It's just going to damage your hair and make it less shiny and less beautiful. But if you're going to do it, generally the rule of thumb is to relax it first, and then put the color in at a later date. It's also a really great idea to condition your hair very well. You might want to consider waiting several days, a week, or two weeks before you have those two processes done. And in between, condition it a lot.

Do home hair-relaxing kits work?

Home hair-relaxing kits, they do work. I would not recommend them because again, you're dealing with a chemical. You're dealing with how long you put it on each section of the hair. If that chemical stays on the hair a little bit too long, you're going to end up with damage. And that is something you really want to avoid.