Flat Ironed Hair Negatives and Positives 4a Hair

Flat Ironed Hair, afro detangler added for moisture and braid out.

Hi, you guys I got the itch to straighten my hair, but this time I put the flat iron on the lowest setting, which was 250 degrees and it still got the job done, it wasn't as straight like when I did it at the higher settings.  But after flat ironing my hair the last two times back to back with the highest heat, it caused a few split ends here and there, which I'm clipping off when I see them.

To create the look above, I was able to apply a small amount of the afro detangler to the sections I braided, which still didn't destroy my flat iron although the product is a liquid.  And because it is a moisturizer that detangles, strengthens and moisturizes it's keeping the hair soft, so on wash day I still won't have alot of detangling.  I did this for 4 days straight and my hair has still not completely converted.

Let's continue.  Why choose to flat iron such lovely natural hair when I be rocking such beautiful twist outs? Simple as my hair gets longer it's difficult to detangle almost 3 to 4 hours, my hand hurts!!!.

Positives of Flat Ironing 4a Hair
1) Makes it more manageable, easy to detangle on wash day.
2) Eliminates the knots, because the hair isn't tangling together as much.
3) Less pulling out of hair, because it is much softer.
4) Hair oils, and oil from the scalp can run down the hair strands keeping it moisturized.
5) Hair becomes looser over time without having two different textures, but the hair becomes texturized without using chemicals.
6) It's easier to flat iron air dried or previously twisted 4a hair than blow drying it, if your not careful when blow drying tightly coiled 4a hair, it will be dry and break more.  I've been successful at a blowout but used alot of shea butter, did it in small sections and low heat working up to high.  But my hair still wasn't as smooth as when I flat ironed it.  Click here for instructions on how to blow dry tightly coiled 4a hair.
7) If hair is worn in protectives styles while flat ironed hair won't have much breakage if any.

Negatives of Flat Ironing 4a Hair
1) Can damage hair if heat is to high.
2) Can damage hair if it is done to often.
3) Limited hair styles.
4) Can cause heat damage, having two different textures, if heat is to high.
5) Can't wash as often if your trying to keep hair straighten for a long time, scalp becomes dirty and hair may look dull
6) Large amount's of water, can revert hair. Rain, applying water for moisture.
7) It takes a long time to straighten tightly coiled 4a hair, for me 3 to 4 hours. (But I take breaks)  If you do it every 3 weeks or once a month, that's still less time than detangling your natural every week for 3 to 4 hours.  But you can't just leave your hair in a ponytail while flat ironed you still have to detangle it, which can take you anywhere from 30mins to a hour and this can be stretched to about 5 day.

With such negatives your probably wondering why bother, but the negatives can be brought down to at least 2 or 3 if you follow with precaution.  Such as low heat and not doing it to often and staying away from water.

Why in my opinion you have limited hair styles?
1) My hair is to frizzy and thick when i do it on the low setting to put it in a decent ponytail.
2)  The hair isn't straight so I can't wear it down.
3) When you do a twist out or braid out without adding water or tons of moisturizer it looks dry and doesn't last long.

What hair styles can you wear?
1) You can braid it up for a month.  Why I don't do this?  I had to pay someone to do it for me, it still ended up being to time consuming to get done and to loose out and required seem amount of effort to detangle when my hair is in it's natural state.  See style below.

Hair Braided with extension piece sew in the back.

2) You can do big loose braids and do braid outs, wear the braids under a scarf, a bonnet or a realistic wig that matches the way your hair actually looks.  See picture below for example.

Knitted Beret

3)  You can concentrate on getting the front smooth, so that you can wear it in a ponytail and a neat bun in the back.  See example below.

I added a headband to also help the front look neat.

4) You can twist it, but pin the twists up neatly. See below.

5)  You can shingle it all over, tried this, but to time consuming to braid, and take the braids out.

Braids in the front, braided out the back.

I'm not a expert on heat, and alot of people would rather stay clear of it.  So don't just flat iron your hair because I'm doing it.  I'm just trying it out every now and again as a alternative, because I'm inspired by this lady on Youtube longhairdontcare 2011 click here

I've never been able to obtain this length at any point in my life and I've been able to do it in 3 years going on 4 come August this year.  So if it's to damage, I'll start all over.

PEACE

Natural Joyanne