Find out which heat styling tools are best for your ethnic hair.
Most women aspire for luscious silky easy to manage locks. Unfortunately wishes are not scooters; otherwise, we’ll all be zipping through life with no bad hair days. Bring in women with ethnic hair in this mix, and things get interesting pretty fast. Like all girls, us Afro-rockers grew up watching African-American TV shows and reading magazines with ladies with silky hair. Whether the hair was real or not, this was never the question, but we all wanted straight hair that can be curled, worn up or down. By the age of 11, we all knew our way around a hair chemical straightener or two.
Heated tools became a black girl’s best friend in keeping the relaxed ethnic hair bone straight. Water became the kryptonite to a black girl’s relaxed hair; we avoid it at all costs. Hence, you’ll find us with plastic bags covering our hair while dressed-up in designer threads on rainy days. All this is to keep our relaxed hair sleek, full bodied and with healthy sheen.
Tools of the trade
Hair dryers & Flat irons:
Ceramic and tourmaline infused heating elements that dry the hair using ionic or far infra-red technologies are the buzz words that one needs to look out for when purchasing a quality hair dryer. Reason being that black hair is naturally kinky thus dry and prone to freeze. Ionic and infra-red dryers reduce the freeze when drying the hair, but then again heat is heat so the hair still needs to be protected before it is introduced to heated tools. Silicone based heat protecting products are necessary to keep healthy hair healthy even after the treatment with heated tools. Nourishment, heat protection, low styling temperatures, investing in good quality hair styling tools and getting a talented hairstylist to share their styling tricks are the basic keys to fabulous heat-styled hair.
Pros & Cons – Hair dryers
•All good hair dryers must come with nozzles to avoid direct heat to your hair
•Ethnic hair needs to be halfway dry before being treated with a dryer to avoid over exposure to heat
•A good quality dry dryer needs to be light weight and easy to handle
•Variable heat options are better that just 3 limited heat options
Pros & Cons – Flat irons:
•Even distribution of heat between the ceramic flat iron plates is ideal for heat straightening
•Invest in quality reliable styling brands than cheaper options
•The varied heat settings make it easy to maintain healthy even heat while styling
•A flat iron that reflects what temperatures you are operating on is ideal
•Keep the flat iron clean to avoid dirt that can lead to damaged hair cuticles
•Do a paper test; if it the paper burns, chances are your fragile relaxed ethnic hair will too
•Constant consultation with a pro hairstylist familiar with your hair is never a waste of time
Relaxed ethnic hair is fragile, so keep the heat treatment to a minimum. Curling your hair with rollers and letting it dry naturally is still the best form of styling. Other than that, a good quality hair dryer and flat iron will take you from silky curls to sleek straightness without any damage if proper pre-cautions are taken.
Article by: Ncomeka Mpofu http://www.beautybulletin.com/blog-directory/our-bloggers/ncomeka-mpofu