Heat Styling

[jenga]

I have visisted often but just recently decided to get serious about growing my hair long and strong. Two weeks ago, I bit the bullet and cut my hair from APL to just above my shoulders to get rid of damage. Now, I am ready to grow with a goal of BSL.

I know from lurking that one of the best things I can do to minimize damage while I'm growing is give up heat styling. But I am having the hardest time with this! My hair is fine and oily so I wash (CWC) everyday, and that means I blow dry and flat iron everyday too (I know, so bad!).

Are there any reformed heat users? How did you make the transition from heat styling to air drying (or whatever you do now?). I work in a professional environment so my hair needs to look neat and styled. I can manage a short ponytail right now, but I'm more of a hair down kind of girl, so I'd like to figure out a way to wear it down w/o heat styling that I don't hate. The few times that I have let my hair air dry I've lasted all of an hour before rewashing and heat styling.

Please please please help me! I have to figure out something or my hair will never be long and healthy!

[Fractalsofhair]

Just blowdry, don't use the flat iron. Work your hair around your brush if you need to, and only blowdry it for the end of the drying period, when it's 90% dry. The flat iron is WAY worse.

Maybe use some gel in it, without any heat styling? Try CO washing.Your hair will look wavy, but still neat and professional.

[LawyerGirl]

I agree... you dont have to blowdry AND straighten. Just blowdry?

[contradiction]

Just my two cents, your hair will not be healthy as long as you are blow drying and flatironing it. ESPECIALLY flatironing it. I am a reformed heat user. It was hard at first but after about six weeks of using very little heat (like, once every two weeks or so instead of every single day) my hair feels much healthier. But it doesn't feel 100% better though. I heat styled my hair practically every day for about a year (give or take) so I estimate it will take 1 - 2 years to get my hair feeling healthy and soft again. I too was a "hair down" girl and never thought I would be a "hair up" girl but it's worth it for the health of my hair.

You are starting off with longer hair than me, but our hair type is very similar. Just start experimenting with different ways to wear your hair on days you would ordinarily heat style it. Buy some nice hair clips and practice different updos. Maybe try a different one every day. I used to hate wearing my hair up, now I find it kind of fun.

[Rivanariko]

I was never a heat styler, but I was definitely a "hair down" kind of girl. I couldn't do anything beyond a slightly messy low ponytail until my second year of college! I finally learned to do an english braid that year, and a friend of mine taught me how to do a high pony tail. It took me another two years to learn the french braid, but until I joined LHC, I still hardly ever used any of these. It was weird at first, getting used to it being up, but now it feels weird having it down, and I can't believe how much it gets in the way that I didn't notice before. I still wear it down on occasion, or in half-ups, but it's very rare now, and it's made such a huge difference for my fine hair. You also won't notice the different texture of your hair since it's not heat-styled if you have it up. I personally shower at night, because my job involves getting sweaty and dirty and covered in horse hair, so my hair has plenty of time to air dry before I go to bed, and then I just throw it up the next morning, in a french braid if I'm working (I have to wear a helmet, so buns are a no-go) or a bun if I'm doing anything else. I'm finding that I actually enjoy my hair SO MUCH more now that I wear it up all of the time.

So, not really tips on getting over heat styling (I was always too lazy to bother... and the one time I tried to blow-dry my hair, well... I didn't know how and ended up with a gigantic knot in the back of my head!) give updos a try. You might be surprised. :)

[Captain Nikki]

I was definitely always a hair down kinda girl too. And used the flat iron way too often because my hair wasn't cury or straight, just messy, wavy. Since changing to cone free CO washing my hair now has lovely, neat curls with less frizz than before too.
I agree with the previous posts about trying different up dos too.

[Mahars]

I'm having this problem too. It's tough to look professional without any heat styling. I have a bit of a wave, so gel can work sometimes, but my hair is so thick that it looks wet all morning long on the day I wash it. Not very work appropriate. And if I wash it at night, I wake up with horrid kinks the next morning. What to do?

[christine1989]

I was obsessed with flat ironing it in middle school and it totally ruined my hair! It got so many split ends (the "white dot" kind). Eventually I got so tired of the crunchy ends and straw-like hair that I quit. I find that using a little coconut oil (a TINY bit!) or some leave in conditioner makes it look a lot neater.

[peachrose]

It's hard when you are trying to maintain a professional image at work, I certainly understand that. Since your hair is quite short now I would think you could try scrunching with aloe gel to make your hair more wavy, maybe pinning parts back with clips or bobby pins. As soon as you can make a pony or small twist you can make that look very professional and polished.

Another thing I did pre-LHC when I had chin length hair was to wear a tight fitting wool hat when my hair was barely damp and let in dry that way. Sounds weird but it seriously made my hair lie flat and sort of compressed it, which helped since my hair is big when it air dries.

I found the longer my hair gets the easier it is to go without heat. When my hair was shorter I wore it in one of those plastic jaw clips endlessly. It was basically a form of benign neglect since I knew nothing about taking care of hair and just figured it kept it out of the way while I was in college. I did pin-curls at that stage too, which is much easier when your hair is shorter. I bet you could find some good tutorials on youtube.

It wasn't until I was past SL that I bought a flat iron and used that a lot for about 6 months or so before joining LHC. Since joining I have straightened 3 or 4 times and I have been here a year and a half. I usually do it when I want to take a length pic and am frustrated by how my waves shrink up. I am not sure that I will ever use my iron again though, I definitely notice more splits after just one use. Once you figure out what routines and products work well for you the urge to use heat will probably diminish.

I do agree with PP's though, if you feel you must, try to use the blow dryer instead of the iron. It does do some damage but won't heat up your hair to the same temperature as the iron. Good luck!

[beez1717]

Wow! i'm having the same issue as you. I just started using the hair dryer though, so I kind of want to know how to speed up drying my hair without using any heat. Hmm.... If I knew then I would give up my new habit... hehehe

[jenga]

Thanks for all the advice. I just started CWC my hair rather than just traditional shampoo/conditioner. I'm also willing to play with my natural wave pattern and figure out a way to make it the best I can. Right now, I'm sticking with a basic mini ponytail to keep my hair back and off my mind.

I seriously feel addicted to my flat iron and blowdryer though, so this is my own personal intervention to quit it with the stuff that I know will ruin my hair (this goes for coloring it too. yup, i've been bad at that in the past too but that's a whole other story).

[Yozhik]

I have curly/wavy hair, too, and what I used to do when my hair was shorter and I wanted it to dry straight was put it up in a ponytail with a clip when it was still wet. Similarly to the wool hat idea, all of my hair was pulled straight, and when I took out the clip, it literally looked like I had gotten my hair styled, because it was straight with a bit of flip at the ends.

Other than that, I would suggest washing at night so as to avoid going outside in the winter with wet hair, and to put some coconut oil or leave-in conditioner in after you wash it. When I do that, and then put my hair up in a turban (or, if I'm going straight to bed, I put a t-shirt over my head as if I'm about to put it on, then I pull it back, so it's like a headband all around my head and covering my hair in a tube), when I wake up the next morning, I have very orderly curls.

Hope that helps :)

[xoxophelia]

I have waves as well (and friiiizz). Not too too long ago I came off the heat.. sorta sounds like coming off drugs but yeah, that is pretty much how it was :)

One thing I have found is that my hair looks best awhile after washing it. And, if I use close to no shampoo it looks better.

I also started doing braids waves. One way to do this is sleep in one braid on slightly damp hair and the next morning put it half up. Or, I do two french braids on slightly damp hair braided as close to the part as I can manage. Looks nice.

These might not work on your length right now though. So what I suggest is you get some large rollers and put them in your hair slightly damp. Leave them in for at least two hours. That should give you the look of blow drying your hair with a barrel brush but without the heat :)

[JenniferNoel]

When my hair was at that length, I ended up wearing headbands and buffs/silk scarves (which I still put my hair in for protection to this day).
I started easing off the heat by halting flat ironing, and just blow drying when I needed to. After APL, everything gets easier it seems.