How do you naturally straighten hair with rollers?

[Dreamkitty]

I have 6 rollers at home, 1.3inch in diameter, so they they are quite small. Ive never used these things in my life.

How do you exactly use them? I know you have to have damp hair but can you just use the rollers alone to make hair straight?

Do rollers damage hair if used often? like cause breakage in hair?

:) Im planning to use them for my next wash.

[Vermelha]

I have 6 rollers at home, 1.3inch in diameter, so they they are quite small. Ive never used these things in my life.

How do you exactly use them? I know you have to have damp hair but can you just use the rollers alone to make hair straight?

Do rollers damage hair if used often? like cause breakage in hair?

:) Im planning to use them for my next wash.

Well, I'm not sure what your hair type is, so I can't really say what kind of rollers you should use. But I will explain how I straighten my hair with rollers, without heat. This will just be some general information I think most people can use. Doesn't vary too much between hair types. The technique is essentially the same.

I have 3c, semi-coarse hair, so if I can get fairly straightened hair, I think most people here could.

1. At your length, you'll need more than 6 rollers. In fact, I recommend more than 12 large rollers to properly roll the hair. The larger the roller, the straighter the hair will turn out. Sally Beauty and a few other beauty supply stores online sell Jumbo rollers for like $2-3 USD for a pack of 6. They're inexpensive here, but I'm not sure how much they are elsewhere. Most people I know say they aren't too much (Look at my photo gallery to see what my hair looks like completely rolled up).

2. Start with wet, detangled hair. Part hair in three sections (one section down the middle and two on the sides, you'll part those sections once more later).

3. Apply your setting lotion or mousse. Light hold products work best. Too much hold will cause the hair to be tough to brush out into a straighter style. Aussie and Tresemme make good mousses. Get the lightest hold you can, I must stress. You can also just use water.

4. Roll the hair per the instructions in this video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vkb7RAW3ssY

^This is exactly how I roll my hair; the Mohawk pattern. Notice that she rolls by overdirecting the hair and rolling the hair back. Again, she is using medium size rollers. The larger the roller, the straighter the hair will come out.

5. When done with each roller, clip the rollers. Some rollers come with a plastic clasp (that can leave a dent if you aren't careful), or you can use large bobby pins or alligator clips.

6. Either let it air dry or dry with a diffuser/blow dryer or hooded dryer. I try to air dry any chance I get.

7. When the hair is dry, unroll all of the rollers and brush out with a paddle brush. Brush all the way through. It will have some bend to the ends, but the hair will be straighter than it was, especially if you do have Type 3 curly hair.

Extra tips: You could wrap the hair around the head after taking out the rollers to remove some of the body/flatten the style. You can also use serum instead of setting lotion for a silkier set.

HTH! I'd be glad to help. In fact, I think I may do a tutorial very soon. My sister is here, so she could help me take pictures.

[Vermelha]

Other details about rolling:

1. Magnetic rollers give the smoothest, silkiest set.
2. Roller setting, itself, doesn't cause breakage, but rolling too taut can. I roller set weekly with no problems as long as my set isn't too tight. My mother and grandmother and other women back in the day didn't have heated appliances. Rollers were all they had and they had amazingly long, beautiful, thick hair.
3. Less product is more. If you use too much setting lotion or mousse, the hair will be tough to brush through. Too much serum makes the hair greasy.

[triumphator!]

You should totally write this into an article and contribute it to our Articles section, Vermelha! That was really helpful!

[Vermelha]

You should totally write this into an article and contribute it to our Articles section, Vermelha! That was really helpful!

Really? Thanks!!! I always wanted to, but I'm not at that membership level yet. Is there any way I could submit an article? I wanted to do a step-by-step tutorial for everyone here, with photos.

[Lianna]

That was really good, Vermelha. It would be an awesome article! :flower:

[Dreamkitty]

Vermelha- Thank you for posting those steps, they are very useful, clear & simple points! you covered mostly everything that I wanted to know, I agree with the others, you should write up an article with pics, it would be really good.:)

Just few more questions, I want to ask:p.

1. What works better to hold the hair, water or mousse? also I know I might sound paranoid but I just need to know, is the serum, mousse used unhealthy for hair like sulfate shampoo's are? do they contain strong chemicals? (Ive never used both before).

2. Can you tell me what my hair type is from looking at this pic? this is how my hair looks when its dry after a wash with shampoo/conditioner. Its wavy but not exactly curly or straight so I don't know what category to put my hair in.

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=6686&pictureid=88979

3. When you take out the rollers, how straight is your hair, is it the same straightness as using a flat iron and how many hours after the hair gets back to being curly again?

4. Im curious to know how these rollers actually work. I can understand rollers curling hair because your wrapping hair around the rollers. But Im confused as to how they make hair straight? would "Jumbo Velcro Rollers" straighten my hair too?

5. When you used the rollers, how straight was your hair? was it as straight as using a flat iron and how many hours can you hold your hair straight before it goes back to your normal hair type? what size was your rollers in diameter?

Sorry for so many questions but Im just new to this, I appreciate your answers.:) I just buyed 6 magnetic rollers from ebay, should arrive within a week. Im excited to try it out and will post pics of my results, when I use them.

[dropinthebucket]

Totally! article, article! maybe a mod can let us know how you can submit it if not at that no. of posts to be allowed to yet??

[aenflex]

Vermelha - what an awesome, informative post! Rock on!

[Vermelha]

Vermelha- Thank you for posting those steps, they are very useful, clear & simple points! you covered mostly everything that I wanted to know, I agree with the others, you should write up an article with pics, it would be really good.:)

Just few more questions, I want to ask:p.

1. What works better to hold the hair, water or mousse? also I know I might sound paranoid but I just need to know, is the serum, mousse used unhealthy for hair like sulfate shampoo's are? do they contain strong chemicals? (Ive never used both before).

Depends on how "stiff" you want the set to be. I can get away without any product, just water, but a little light mousse actually helps smooth the hair, so I recommend the mousse for the smoothest set.

Also, it depends on the serum or mousse you use. I use a setting lotion called Jane Carter Solution Wrap & Roll, but Giovanni makes a natural mousse as well.

If you are worried about using serum, you can use a tidbit of a natural oil, like Olive Oil, to give you a smooth set. And same with the serum, too much will make your set greasy. All of these have worked for me.

2. Can you tell me what my hair type is from looking at this pic? this is how my hair looks when its dry after a wash with shampoo/conditioner. Its wavy but not exactly curly or straight so I don't know what category to put my hair in.

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=6686&pictureid=88979

Looks like 2a/2b, which in actuality is on the straight side. Most curlies do this to achieve hair at about your texture or straighter, which is pretty straight for most curlies.

Most wavies can get away with just wrapping their wet hair around their head (like a huge roller) to take out the extra wave. I would actually recommend that to you over the roller set, like I mentioned, with the same products. My mistake for not knowing :o

3. When you take out the rollers, how straight is your hair, is it the same straightness as using a flat iron and how many hours after the hair gets back to being curly again?

If looks as if I did a blow out with a round brush. It has bend to the ends, but when it's fully brushed out, it looks great and has body. It doesn't come out "limp" but full and with movement.

And with the right setting lotion/mousse/serum, it lasts a few days. My hair doesn't usually go back curly unless I do something careless like exercise and sweat it out. I prevent that by using serum after I remove my set and protecting it at night. Wearing it in a high ponytail helps a whole lot.

4. Im curious to know how these rollers actually work. I can understand rollers curling hair because your wrapping hair around the rollers. But Im confused as to how they make hair straight? would "Jumbo Velcro Rollers" straighten my hair too?

If your hair were curly, it would straighten it, but now knowing your actual hair texture, it would create curl. I would recommend the wrapping around the head for your wavy hair instead.

5. When you used the rollers, how straight was your hair? was it as straight as using a flat iron and how many hours can you hold your hair straight before it goes back to your normal hair type? what size was your rollers in diameter?

My rollers were the largest that they come in (the big grey ones, I only know them by color, close to 2"). Like before, It comes out like a blow out with a round brush. It lasts several days if I take care of it by wearing it up at night and keeping it out of moisture/humidity. On average, about 4 days.

Sorry for so many questions but Im just new to this, I appreciate your answers.:) I just buyed 6 magnetic rollers from ebay, should arrive within a week. Im excited to try it out and will post pics of my results, when I use them.

Well, with knowing your hair type now, it sounds like your hair may get really BIG, which in this case the wrapping might help.

With that said, if the rollers turn out to give you the BIG hair syndrome, here's an alternative:

1. On your wet hair, apply your setting lotion/mousse (as mentioned before).
2. Do a wet wrap of your hair. Also known as a doobie. We talked about how to do it in this thread ---> http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?p=1303850
3. Allow to air dry. If you need to speed it up, use a blow dryer + diffuser.
4. Unwrap with a paddle brush. The wave in your hair will straighten out.

This, in actuality, may work better than the rollers. The rollers were for loosening naturally curly hair, but the doobie/wrap is for keeping straight or wavy hair straightened. The hair will also be silkier.

Anywho, I would recommend trying both out. But usually, the roller set tutorial leans more towards curlier hair, and the doobie/wrap works best for wavy and straight hair.

Hope that clarifies anything!

Also, I will write an article, for both straight/wavies and curlies. I hope the admins allow it though. If not, I'll do a blog about it.

[Dreamkitty]

Thank you Vermelha, no harm in trying out the doobie wrap as well, sounds quite fun.:) Im a bit lazy & impatient so that would be the only problem, for me. Getting everything ready, perfectly set and then waiting. Im going to wait till I get the rollers and then try the wrap. I want my hair to be smoothed, straight & sleek hair is the look I want to have.

[s_tresses]

Vermelha, do you know what dryer is being used in the video you posted and if that would accommodate those big grey rollers?
Would a diffuser attached to a regular blow dryer work the same way?