A newbie's goal

[XJawbreaker]

Because I have spent years and years (well I'm only 18 so not that many years) heat styling my hair, I've set a goal for myself. I'm not going to heat style my hair until my winter formal, which is February 20th. That's a pretty long stretch of time for me, but I'm confindent that I can do it! :)

[Tangerine]

Hi and welcome!

Good luck with your goal! You may find out all kinds of new things about your hair in that stretch of time :D

[Dreams_in_Pink]

you can replace your habit with using heat-free ways to style your hair. if you used to flat iron, you can look into hair wrapping; if you like curls, try rag-curling and rollers.

[xoxophelia]

Also waves from french braids..

At first, if your hair has been damaged it might look a little rough when you don't do anything to it (mine did), but over time it sort of bounced back and looks considerably better now. Even my ends. Go figure..

[Dreams_in_Pink]

At first, if your hair has been damaged it might look a little rough when you don't do anything to it (mine did), but over time it sort of bounced back and looks considerably better now. Even my ends. Go figure..

it might not bounce back. your hair will probably not look half as good as it was when you flat-ironed. but if you persist on the long (or healthy,or both) hair journey, you'll end up with healthy hair which is naturally shiny and styled. you're quite young, don't let go the way i did (i'm 20 and have shoulder-length hair, not fun)

[coscass]

My hair took a while to get used to no-heat styling. While I was lucky and didn't have to deal with a greasy-transitioning stage when I started COwashing, I didn't notice a real difference for a week or two. Mostly because I was still trying to figure out a routine that worked for me. Now I let my hair air dry mostly unless it's frigid and I can't wait, and I leave it in 1 or 2 braids, for waves, or piled ontop of my head if I want to keep my natural curl. You can also do half-u-half-down styles.

At first I had to use a little frizz-ease with a silicone base to keep down my frizz, until I learned how much conditioner to leave in my hair. Now the only thing I use is a little hairspray and that's still very rare.

[Sammich]

You can totally do that. :) Just think of the soft... silky... bouncy.... unharmed hair... :D
Thank god I never had a period of me heatstyling! I always figured that was a no no what with the burning sensation.
Actually nvm, I did have a perm... TWICE in my life. :o (2 and 10 years old) BUT that's not heat. AHEM... it took me 2 years to get back to normal from it. :) (After I dyed it it seemed to have helped protect it. but I wouldn't recommend that... it grows addicting lulpun and err... I'm growing mine out still. )
I ALSO contemplated having the perm straightening. Yeah. Thank god I didn't. :)

[coscass]

Isn't a perm heated? Exothermic and endothermic? Just asking lol

[XJawbreaker]

I always thought that my hair doesn't look good natural. I felt like I had to either scrunch it to make it more curly, or straighten it. My hair it naturally wavy, and from all the damage i've done to it over the years it's frizzy. Since I've been in college, my hair has gotten a lot healthier because I don't style it even half as much as I did in high school. I had to cut my hair all one length for a musical i was in my sophomore year in high school, so it was at chin length, and I've been growing it out ever since. It's almost to BSL now. My genes in general cause my hair to grow extremely slow. So the added damage I put it through made it seem like my hair didn't grow at all. In the passed years that I've been growing it out, I must have had at most 2 trims per year. Its very frustrating for me, but now that I found LHC, I'm so determined to grow the long hair I want! You guys are all very helpful and I appreciate it very very much! :joy:

[restourceful]

A Winter Formal, how exciting! I think you can certainly wait until February, and I'm sure you'll be lovely with healthy, beautiful hair!

I've been heat free for a few weeks now and I gotta say, it can be challenging when you're used to your hair looking a certain way. At least I can put mine up on the days it doesn't look like I want it to when it's down.

I agree that LHC is a very supportive, knowledgeable group of folks and I appreciate everyone.

[klcqtee]

Your hair is 2a, so you shouldn't really need to use a straightener to get it straight. You might just be able to comb it straight while it's a tiny bit damp. I've found that a little bit of coconut oil combed through dry hair straightens mine out as well, and mine is quite a bit wavier than yours.

[julliams]

Sounds like you have hair very similar to me. Mine always seemed to look better straight or very curly but I could never get it to look good wavy. I have been experimenting alot since finding LHC in September 2009, but basically I gave up cones, gave up SLS and try to give my hair lots of love and attention through coconut milk soaks and SMT's at least once a week. I found Giovanni's Direct Leave in Conditioner to be great too.

I find if I let my hair dry slightly, then pull it back into a bun to dry the top sits nicer (not frizzy). Then I let it out of the bun to dry the rest of it and smooth some coconut oil in at the very end to calm it down. The coconut oil seems to sink into my hair and it likes it. If I want it super curly (for me anyway) I use an old T-shirt and use the plopping technique which is how I got my hair to look like it does in my sig.

You will most likely learn alot about your hair during this no heat time and you may be reluctant to use heat again unless it's for a special occasion.

[XJawbreaker]

If I try to comb it straight it just turns into a frizzy/flyaway mess. It's been a lot less frizzy since i started not combing it after I shower. I have like a million layers, so it being all poofy and wavy just doesn't look right to me.