Is it bad to Streighten your Hair?

[Up-the-Creek]

I have natural curly hair also,..I have fought with it for years,..trying to manage it and keep the grays away too. I am done with all of that now,..I have went all natural and at first my hair was a mess,..but now it looks better and it feels better. It isn't nowhere as frizzy as it used to be either. The longer it gets the curlier it gets,...

I love it and it saves so much time! No more hairdrying helped mine a lot!,..but I have fine hair.

 

[KristyHall]

Quote:
everyone has different hair, so if it works for you that is great.

My hair gets oily up top but stays dry on the ends, that is why I shampoo up top and condition on teh bottom

 

[ChickenAlgebra]

Yeah, it's a learning curve if you want longer hair. Now I can be lazy about it, wasn't always. But if my hair is shorter than mid back, it gets insane.

 

[KristyHall]

Quote:
it's been three years since i trimmed my hair and i'm just now getting split ends. so time for a trim

 

[LittleChickenLady]

Quote:
Yeah. I'm actually planning on going to get it permed straight. Then at least if it decides to go a little wavy I don't have to spend almost two hours (long and thick hair) straightening it.

Omg, Can you seriously get a Streight perm?

Yeah. You can buy boxes of it and do it yourself, or you can go to a beauty shop and they'll do it.
It's kind of expensive though if you go to get it done professionally, but if you do it yourself and don't know what you're doing, it's pretty easy to ruin your hair.
I used to do mine myself, but it's such a hassle. If you've got long and thick hair like mine, just pay the money and get it done.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

I've got thick curly hair. When I was a lot younger it was like "Shirley Temple". Made me crazy because I was a tomboy and I couldn't get all that hair up under a baseball cap and catchers mask. I saved my allowance and one day got it cut. My momma cried and so did I when my Pop got done with my tail!

However, since then I keep it pretty short. Most times only an inch or 2 long. Anything longer it looks like a birds nest in the humidity.

The good thing about short curly hair is, you jump in the shower, shampoo, rinse, shake it, done!!!! No hour in front of the mirror styling it like my sisters. I've got too much to do to spend that much time in the bathroom!!

 

[Dunkopf]

Quote:
your hair does not dry and fall out. its a common myth with dying/ drying/ curling etc. It can get dry and brittle and break off, but it takes ALOT for it to get to that point. like, bleaching it four times in a day. as long as you condition your hair daily, and have it trimmed every six weeks it will be absolutely completely fine

MORE MYTHS: eating choclate does not cause acne
swallowing gum does not take seven years to digest.

True, but swallowing watermelon seeds will make them grow in your intestine and make a really big turd.

 

[itsy]

I have curly hair - the kind that's very wavy and frizzy when I let it air dry - very curly when I use mousse and scrunch it - and the kind that straightens pretty well when I blow it/flat iron it.

I would stay away from any sort of "permanent" hair straightening - even if it's done by a professional. I know that many people have done it and have been fine, but I will tell you a very short version of a long story.

A big name hair product company (one that I will not name) was looking for people to try out their new salon hair straightening on. They saw me on my day off from work (this was years ago) and I had my hair very long and curly. They approached me and asked me if I would like this FREE straightening done to me by their professionals who were trying out this new product. I agreed.

I went to their corporate headquarters and got to have my hair done in their professional test lab. They treated me like a celebrity and even gave me a big gift bag of their products. The proceedure took a few hours (my hair was VERY long then.) When they were done....I couldn't believe how STUNNING my hair was. It was thick and ultra waxy-looking shiny. I had never seen it so straight and beautiful. It stayed that way for about a month - and then my hair started to fall out. When I say fall out, I don't mean that handful of whisps you find in your bathroom after using a straight iron.... I'm talking like FELL OUT like it would clog the drain in the shower instantly and I would have to clean the drain more than once every shower!

I was so worried. My mom asked me one day if I was sick because my hair was looking very thin!

I saw my Dr. and found out that my scalp had been damaged from the chemical straightener!!!! I couldn't do anything about it, either. When you do these test things, they have you sign releases up the wazoo-zoo. Believe me - I wanted to kill them!

Years later - my hair finally started to thicken up again, but it is certainly not what it was like before. It's probably half the thickness it used to be. I had super thick hair.

I know people have had success with chemical straighteners and that I'm probably the minority with my unfortunate situation, but I tell everyone about it because I feel people need to know that there's a possibility that it could hurt more than help.

 

[LittleChickenLady]

Quote:
Well I wouldn't tell people to stay away from it totally. Like you said, many people have done it and have been fine.
I think people should stay away from the kinds that want people to "try out" their new product.
That's probably one of the reasons they were still trying out their product, they were having issues with it damaging hair.

 

[aubreynoramarie]

Quote:
To this point, damaged hair actually performs better than non-damaged hair, which is why people misunderstand that. Everytime I dye my hair it is SOOO much more manageable, and then straightening it makes it even more so. When it grows out it is relentless!!!!!

Ahhh! My hair ALWAYS feels nicest after I dye it!