The lesser of two evils

[christine1989]

In the next few weeks I have 3 big events coming up; 2 graduation cerimonies and a professonal picture shoot this Saturday. I have (had) decided to straighten my hair but now I'm having second thoughts since my hair does not tolerate direct heat well at all. Instead I was thinking of using heated rollers (the kind with the felty stuff).

So LHCers, give me your professional opinion. What will be safest for my hair:
1. Flat iron on dry hair or...
2. Heated rollers on slightly damp hair overnight?

Thank you all for humoring my overly neurotic concern! :p

[Nae]

I vote the rollers, they won't be anywhere near as hot as the flat iron.......you handle the rollers with your hands right? Whereas you wouldn't want your fingers anywhere near the plates of a flat iron. I figure that if it would burn my fingers I wouldn't put it near my hair.

Have fun, and I am sure you will be looking fantastic!

[Ravenwind]

Whichever you do, use heat protection! :) and lots of it. lol
I personally think the rollers would be a lot safer.

[littlenvy]

There are very nice heat protection leave-ins that will help.
And if I had to choose I would go with heat rollers. Do you have a cooler setting on them? Since you are keeping them on for a long time lower heat will do just fine.
I think flat irons heat up VERY hot because they have to do the job quick.

[Regan]

rollers, definitely! maybe even velcro rollers on damp hair? not sure how damaging those are, but if they're a one time only thing..

[alyanna]

I would definitely vote for rollers.

And with your hair type, I would also consider putting non-heat rollers in your damp hair with some styling product overnight. I bet that would do the trick. I prefer those pink plastic ones to velcro which always rips some of my hair out.

[|Xei]

I vote for the rollers, because rollers cause a lot less stress on the hair than flat irons. But I don't think you should be using them on damp hair. Are you concerned that your hair wouldn't hold in whatever style you put it into? The way I see it, heated-rollers+leaving them in overnight would already provide very good hold, even more so if you follow up with a styling product the next day, so it probably won't be necessary for your hair to be damp.

[christine1989]

I vote for the rollers, because rollers cause a lot less stress on the hair than flat irons. But I don't think you should be using them on damp hair. Are you concerned that your hair wouldn't hold in whatever style you put it into? The way I see it, heated-rollers+leaving them in overnight would already provide very good hold, even more so if you follow up with a styling product the next day, so it probably won't be necessary for your hair to be damp.

For most people this would be the case but unfortunatly heavy hair + curls= flat in an hour :(. I'm thinking of putting them in dry then just spraying them with a bit of water and maybe some hairspray if I can find some.

[Anje]

Rollers sound like a good option to me. It's a moist heat, too, which seems like it should be better (though I can't say it actually is...). I know there are a number of folks here who love their Caruso steam rollers and don't complain of damage from them.

[christine1989]

Rollers it is! I remember using them when I was little and my hair with no repercussions. I just dug my old roller set out from under the sink and there is no way that there are enough to roll all of my hair :(. I bought these back when my hair was short and i/ii. Now my hair is closer to iii so I will have to do the rest with foam ones.