Best way to straighten 3C type hair???

gloriamarie19

I have 3C type hair that I usually just leave curly and out and I just scrunch some regular conditioner in it and go. But once in a while I like to have it straight. My flat iron is the hot tools professional Hot Tools Professional Flexi-Plates 1" Flat Iron | Folica.com . But how can I flat iron my hair properly? what product should I use for my hair type? and how long should i heat up my flat iron before using it?

Thanks

natural_dancer86

I wondered the same thing.

We have to some how stretch out our curl as much as possible before adding any heat to straighten it to help prevent heat damage. Some people do twists the night before, some people pick out their fro and some do blow outs. I will never in my life go straight to flat ironing my hair without stretching it, frying and crunching my tight curls. lol. Afro picks works just as well as a blow out would to straighten my hair, so for that reason I won't do a blow out for me personally.

With really thick curly fine hair I plan to do a roller foam set under the dryer..then simply saran wrap it to get rid of the grandma look from the rollers.

I think I might only slightly use a flat iron with a heat protectant a week or two later if I see frizz on some parts. At the least a couple of days

I have to be careful..I didn't do the big chop and cut ALL my hair off just to have to cut it ALL OVER AGAIN because of heat damage lol..u feel me? haha

xyziolo

Best way is to do a roller set and then blow dry to straighten out the large curls. This is typical Dominican salon procedure. But you have to make sure you specify you want the roller set. Dominicans pretty much hold a monopoly on hair straightening because we have TONS and TONS of curlies of all types, especially 3’s. And they charge about 20-30 bucks for a blowout.

pprMACHEheart

I wouldn't do it the dominican way, since a lot of curlies on here have had their curls destroyed from letting the stylists have their own free reign.

If you specify what you want you should be fine. Your best bet might be to have a roller set and sit under the dryer. I know from experience at the Dominican salons they put you under the dryer, then blow out your hair and then flat iron.

That's far too much heat and a recipe for disaster.

natural_dancer86

pprMACHEheart wrote: »

I wouldn't do it the dominican way, since a lot of curlies on here have had their curls destroyed from letting the stylists have their own free reign.

If you specify what you want you should be fine. Your best bet might be to have a roller set and sit under the dryer. I know from experience at the Dominican salons they put you under the dryer, then blow out your hair and then flat iron.

That's far too much heat and a recipe for disaster.

That is SO TRUE. I have a co-worker who experienced heat damage. She is transitioning and she went to a Dominican salon for a blow out and flat iron.


At first she LOVED the look, but after a couple of weeks she admitted she saw breakage right in the crown area. And she did a twist out today I could see bald spots or gaps of missing hair in the crown area.

xyziolo

Well, they must have gone to terrible Dominican hairdressers. Because for the most part Dominicans take better care of hair than ANY other I know. And in the past I've had my hair done by African American salons, caucasian, and other hispanics. Fail.

Now - in the context of natural hair care, Dominicans also FAIL and fail miserably. That's something else...

I think your best bet is to do it yourself...safer because you can control the heat exposure.

You can do a roller set and let it air dry or dry it in a hair dryer on cool setting. I imagine that might take forever though, but it's a safer option. Then you can do a doobie or whatever.

Good luck!

natural_dancer86

Curlcraze4 wrote: »

Well, they must have gone to terrible Dominican hairdressers. Because for the most part Dominicans take better care of hair than ANY other I know. And in the past I've had my hair done by African American salons, caucasian, and other hispanics. Fail.

Now - in the context of natural hair care, Dominicans also FAIL and fail miserably. That's something else...

I think your best bet is to do it yourself...safer because you can control the heat exposure.

You can do a roller set and let it air dry or dry it in a hair dryer on cool setting. I imagine that might take forever though, but it's a safer option. Then you can do a doobie or whatever.

Good luck!

I feel ya. I don't believe in generalizing but to clarify it's in the context of natural hair care specifically where I read Dominican salon horror stories. Like you mentioned.

I agree doing it yourself gives that comfort to prevent that whole situation of things going wrong.

This one natural hair care "specialist" said she wanted to "heat train" aka heat damage my hair frequently in the SUMMER O_o

Within minutes my hair started to puff up. When she flat ironed it, she gave me a feathered granma look ..then the heat took over.

I had a job interview coming up..she wanted me to come 2 weeks later to get my hair blow dried and flat ironed again in the hottest summer. I was like heck no..never went back.

gloriamarie19

natural_dancer86 wrote: »

I wondered the same thing.

We have to some how stretch out our curl as much as possible before adding any heat to straighten it to help prevent heat damage. Some people do twists the night before, some people pick out their fro and some do blow outs. I will never in my life go straight to flat ironing my hair without stretching it, frying and crunching my tight curls. lol. Afro picks works just as well as a blow out would to straighten my hair, so for that reason I won't do a blow out for me personally.

With really thick curly fine hair I plan to do a roller foam set under the dryer..then simply saran wrap it to get rid of the grandma look from the rollers.

I think I might only slightly use a flat iron with a heat protectant a week or two later if I see frizz on some parts. At the least a couple of days

I have to be careful..I didn't do the big chop and cut ALL my hair off just to have to cut it ALL OVER AGAIN because of heat damage lol..u feel me? haha

Makes so much sense blow drying before flat ironing. Like I said I dont flat iron my hair all the time but once in a while when I do it comes out almost wavy. As if i stepped in a steam room for 2 min. But straightening it first before flat ironing is not a bad idea at all. thanks

gloriamarie19

Curlcraze4 wrote: »

Best way is to do a roller set and then blow dry to straighten out the large curls. This is typical Dominican salon procedure. But you have to make sure you specify you want the roller set. Dominicans pretty much hold a monopoly on hair straightening because we have TONS and TONS of curlies of all types, especially 3’s. And they charge about 20-30 bucks for a blowout.

How do you do a roller set? Sorry I just don't know anything about my hair lol, everyone in my family has straight hair lol.

xyziolo

YouTube - Dominican Hair Salon By Massiel - Roller Set

xyziolo

In its natural form (sometimes teased and hair-sprayed - teenage pic) and after a roller set - long long ago.

Minimal damage. Especially if you just do a doobie afterwards instead of blow-fry it.

Reeky

idk about your flat iron but mine heats up in a minute.. Take a paper towel and flat iron it and if it gets straight its ready lol.
ok like she said above stretch it first, it just makes the process easier and you have to go over it less.. I blowdry and set my hair overnight in french braids or buns.. You dont have to, you can just blowdry then flat iron or even airdry in the braids.

First off you need the right heat. Some people dont like to go too high for fear of damage but if its too low a) your hair wont get straight which is pointless or b) youll have to go over the section multiple times to get it straight which is damaging anyway. I hope your flat iron has an adjustable heat setting, if it doesnt i wouldnt even use it honestly. If it does start out at about 390 and adjust up or down. You know its too low if your hair doesnt get straight in two passes, and its too high if your hair smells like its burning or feels smooth and gets straight at first, then poofs out or feels rough.

as for the actual process, you should flat iron in small one inch sections.. go down slow and comb through each section first with a fine tooth comb or if you can, chase the comb with the flat iron using the tension method (i think theres youtube videos on it)

you need a silicone based heat protectant, i like to use a combo; Infusium 23 leave in and then a small amount of a serum like Redken Smooth Down Heat Glide or Argan Oil Treatment. I used a pea sized amt on each of four sections (but I have fine hair) still, dont overdo it or youll have greasy stringy hair. Thats why I like the Infusium cause I can saturate my hair with it and protect it without weighing it down! good stuff

Reeky

dang i wrote alot LOL

Afrotastic

I have 3c/4a hair and have been working for a couple of years to come up with a method of flat ironing my hair that actually works for me. idk if it will work for you but it wouldn't hurt to try (btw this gets my hair bone straight without a bunch of damage :toothy8:)

I detangle my hair with conditioner in the shower and rinse it out before i start. First, when I get out of the shower, I coat my hair with grapeseed oil and put it in about 8 medium-sized twists (I have really thick hair). Grapeseed oil is an AMAZING heat protectant! Its very light so you can never use too much. It protects up to about 485F I think and my hair always turns back as curly and shiny as it was before. So if you don't listen to anything else I write in this post, listen to the grapeseed oil :laughing9:

Anyway, I sit around and let my hair dry for a couple hours. When its about 80% dry, I take each twist down one by one and blow dry it on cool or warm with a paddle brush (this gets my roots straight and makes it so I don't have to run my flat iron over my hair more than once). Then I add more grapeseed oil just to be safe and flat iron (at 350 to 425) in small sections.
Whoo straight hair!!!:wav:

Nadie

I did a flat iron tutorial not too long ago if you're interested ;-).

YouTube - Straightening Natural Hair

I definitely think blow drying first gives me the best results.

ltown

Nadine I like your video

Nadie

ltown wrote: »

Nadine I like your video

Thank you!

Brownsugababe

I have 3c/4a hair also - To straighten I apply heat protectant after washing and use my Curlformers to stretch. The following day I then flat iron. I have only done this once in 23 months - I am sooo proud of myself. I will probably always use this method to straighten as I don't appear to have any heat damage (yet). :toothy8:

curlycurlita

I always do a blow out I can't imagine doing any other way. Working those 3c curls straight is a challenge but, never had any disruption in curl.

KurlyGirl08

thanks for this suggestion, didn't know that grapeseed oil would work as a heat protectant!

Afrotastic wrote: »

I have 3c/4a hair and have been working for a couple of years to come up with a method of flat ironing my hair that actually works for me. idk if it will work for you but it wouldn't hurt to try (btw this gets my hair bone straight without a bunch of damage :toothy8:)

I detangle my hair with conditioner in the shower and rinse it out before i start. First, when I get out of the shower, I coat my hair with grapeseed oil and put it in about 8 medium-sized twists (I have really thick hair). Grapeseed oil is an AMAZING heat protectant! Its very light so you can never use too much. It protects up to about 485F I think and my hair always turns back as curly and shiny as it was before. So if you don't listen to anything else I write in this post, listen to the grapeseed oil :laughing9:

Anyway, I sit around and let my hair dry for a couple hours. When its about 80% dry, I take each twist down one by one and blow dry it on cool or warm with a paddle brush (this gets my roots straight and makes it so I don't have to run my flat iron over my hair more than once). Then I add more grapeseed oil just to be safe and flat iron (at 350 to 425) in small sections.
Whoo straight hair!!!:wav: