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View Full Version : Anyone else here do banding? Any any heatless straightening tips? (pics)



CurlyCurves
July 4th, 2012, 04:00 PM
This will probably apply to curlies or wavies more, but I was wondering if anyone else here has tried banding? Or is interested in alternative methods of stretching/straightening out their hair?

For those who don't know, banding is a heatless way of stretching your hair. It is done by applying as many hair bands as you like down your length, from the roots.

Depending on your hair type, it'll give you waves or straight'ish hair. Or probably just stretched hair if you're a type 4.

The best thing about it, for me, is that I can get second day hair without awful tangles. I love my wash and gos, but just had a frustrating detangling and co-washing session because I let my WnG run onto second day hair. Not a good idea.

These are the results it gives me (type 3a/b, F/M, ii/iii, silky texture)

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/521994_4264157562590_1144526532_n.jpg

And this is what it looks like when banded.

http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/600195_4289687840831_1098273201_n.jpg

(This was the other day, ignore the products at the bottom. I get better results on freshly co washed hair with no added product. But I do add coconut oil on the ends to protect them.)

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/541911_4259672530467_474273354_n.jpg

If anyone else has any other heatless straightening tips, it'd be much appreciated. Anything to keep me away from that flat iron :D

CurlyCurves
July 4th, 2012, 04:02 PM
Typo in the title. It's meant to say 'any other heatless straightening methods' :p

IndigoOptimist
July 4th, 2012, 04:57 PM
I don't have curly/wavy hair, if I'm honest I clicked this link to see how one would do heatless straightening, having never needed to do it myself. However I do do this sometimes, but to get waves in my hair not straighten it :lol: I just found it ironic that something I've always used to curl/wave is used by some to do the opposite ;)
I love the idea that this can straighten hair for some people though and your hair looks really nice after you've done it :)

prettykitty
July 4th, 2012, 05:03 PM
Interesting! I am a messy wavy, maybe I should give banding a try!

Paranda Belle
July 4th, 2012, 05:11 PM
I do the zoobie aka wrap your hair around your head technique if I want really straight hair after wash day.

There is a thread about it here somewhere and there are youtube vids floating about.

lilliemer
July 4th, 2012, 05:15 PM
Do you put the bands in wet or dry hair?
I'm a little afraid of the elastics as they give me tons of breakage. I wonder if there is an alternative such as using small terry scrunchies or even bobby pins or alligator clips along the length?

CurlyCurves
July 4th, 2012, 06:16 PM
I don't have curly/wavy hair, if I'm honest I clicked this link to see how one would do heatless straightening, having never needed to do it myself. However I do do this sometimes, but to get waves in my hair not straighten it :lol: I just found it ironic that something I've always used to curl/wave is used by some to do the opposite ;)
I love the idea that this can straighten hair for some people though and your hair looks really nice after you've done it :)

Oh, you do this! Can you post pics?

And, haha, ;), as you can see, it gives me waves too, but it's straight in some parts. It's good enough to class as 'heatless straightening' to me :rollin:

And thank you :) I think I will do this before I flat iron next week so I can flat iron quicker, thereby reducing the amount of heat my hair is subjected to :)


Interesting! I am a messy wavy, maybe I should give banding a try!

You totally should! On freshly washed hair, it will probably give you smoother waves.


I do the zoobie aka wrap your hair around your head technique if I want really straight hair after wash day.

There is a thread about it here somewhere and there are youtube vids floating about.

I've done that before, and I'm such a noob that I get an area that I can't brush down properly :rollin: plus the bobby pins won't stay in my hair. They just slip out :(


Do you put the bands in wet or dry hair?
I'm a little afraid of the elastics as they give me tons of breakage. I wonder if there is an alternative such as using small terry scrunchies or even bobby pins or alligator clips along the length?

I put them on wet hair, just so it dries and 'sets' like this. I don't like to use product, so this works best for me. However, if elastics give you breakage, use scrunchies/bobby pins/clips. Anything will work! It just needs to keep the hair 'banded' down :) HTH!

Amygirl8
July 4th, 2012, 06:25 PM
I've heard that wrapping works.
Well I've tried it too. Made my hair completely straight, but I'm only a 1c not to mention it was irksome to get it to stay and almost always fell out while sleeping XD

Mesmerise
July 4th, 2012, 06:30 PM
I have tried hair wrapping, and it worked pretty darn well to get my hair straight (there were some kinky bits, because it's hard to wrap the hair at the back as well as the hair around the perimeter!

I have not tried banding, and to be honest, I can't see that it would work well with me, as it would leave it funny where the top band sits (and create a bulge there, if you know what I mean). I can see myself having these weird bulgy bits at the top followed by straight hair, which would just look weird ;). I think it may work better for curlies as it would leave some wave anyway, and the bulgy bits would just fit in with the wave. (I don't know if "bulgy bits" is a good way to describe it... but yeah, if I wear a ponytail I'll get straight hair from where it's been pulled back, and then a weird bulgy wave where the band was... if that makes sense... I guess it happens to most people?!).

CurlyCurves
July 4th, 2012, 06:48 PM
I've heard that wrapping works.
Well I've tried it too. Made my hair completely straight, but I'm only a 1c not to mention it was irksome to get it to stay and almost always fell out while sleeping XD

Yeah, it takes some skill. I might have to try it again, but how do I get it to stay in? The bobby pins slide right out :mad:


I have tried hair wrapping, and it worked pretty darn well to get my hair straight (there were some kinky bits, because it's hard to wrap the hair at the back as well as the hair around the perimeter!

I have not tried banding, and to be honest, I can't see that it would work well with me, as it would leave it funny where the top band sits (and create a bulge there, if you know what I mean). I can see myself having these weird bulgy bits at the top followed by straight hair, which would just look weird ;). I think it may work better for curlies as it would leave some wave anyway, and the bulgy bits would just fit in with the wave. (I don't know if "bulgy bits" is a good way to describe it... but yeah, if I wear a ponytail I'll get straight hair from where it's been pulled back, and then a weird bulgy wave where the band was... if that makes sense... I guess it happens to most people?!).

I understand (and now have funny images in my head :rollin:)

Allychan
July 4th, 2012, 06:48 PM
I do the zoobie aka wrap your hair around your head technique if I want really straight hair after wash day.

There is a thread about it here somewhere and there are youtube vids floating about.

I am guessing you meant a 'doobie'? A zoobie is: A term used in Utah, mainly Utah Valley, to describe the excited bunch of mormons that go to BYU and engage in excessive social activities.:shrug:

spidermom
July 4th, 2012, 07:04 PM
I band with silky scrunchies for about 15 minutes after blow drying. It calms the fluff and makes my hair look very smooth.

Debra83
July 4th, 2012, 09:32 PM
I TOTALLY do this!!!! And, sometimes I even wear my hair in "caterpillar ponytails" as I call them, but I like "banded".....but, really I'm such a kid.....anyway, I'm a wavy/frizzy, and I like the look of how they leave my hair.

Debra83
July 4th, 2012, 09:35 PM
I TOTALLY do this!!!! And, sometimes I even wear my hair in "caterpillar ponytails" as I call them, but I like "banded".....but, really I'm such a kid.....anyway, I'm a wavy/frizzy, and I like the look of how they leave my hair.

This is from my album from January....

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=6238&pictureid=94402

HintOfMint
July 4th, 2012, 10:30 PM
Wrapping hasn't worked for me once my hair grew longer than a certain point, so maybe banding will work.

I have a looser curl/wave so we'll see how it works in my hair.

CurlyCap
July 4th, 2012, 10:32 PM
I wonder what would happen if one took a piece of ribbon and wrapped the hair all the way to the bottom.

It would be a form of smooth banding, and ribbon is pretty cheap.

Anyone tried something like this?

Debra83
July 4th, 2012, 11:18 PM
I wonder what would happen if one took a piece of ribbon and wrapped the hair all the way to the bottom.

It would be a form of smooth banding, and ribbon is pretty cheap.

Anyone tried something like this?

Might end up like "rag curls" for me and make one GIANT ringlet!!!

CurlyCurves
July 5th, 2012, 06:19 AM
These are my results from last night's banding on wet, freshly co-washed hair (no product)

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/c0.0.403.403/p403x403/482994_4293040764652_1616327172_n.jpg

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/c0.0.403.403/p403x403/483041_4293045044759_863699499_n.jpg

CurlyCurves
July 5th, 2012, 06:23 AM
I band with silky scrunchies for about 15 minutes after blow drying. It calms the fluff and makes my hair look very smooth.

I much prefer silky/velvet scrunchies too. However, they're a £1 a scrunchie! I need to find some cheaper ones..


This is from my album from January....

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=6238&pictureid=94402

SO cute! Love the cat too ;) I wear my bands out as a style too - shows off my length. Then I take it out after work for the smooth waves :)


Wrapping hasn't worked for me once my hair grew longer than a certain point, so maybe banding will work.

I have a looser curl/wave so we'll see how it works in my hair.

Give it a try and let me know how it works!


I wonder what would happen if one took a piece of ribbon and wrapped the hair all the way to the bottom.

It would be a form of smooth banding, and ribbon is pretty cheap.

Anyone tried something like this?

That would be a very good idea. I tried banding with lots of bands;

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/c0.0.403.403/p403x403/528331_4264681095678_499874072_n.jpg

and it gave me a straighter look. So ribbon would be even better.

Helix
July 5th, 2012, 07:09 PM
When I was a babe my mom used to use African hair threading to stretch my hair, (I have a pic lying around somewhere). It gets the hair really stretched out. Almost like a blow-out without the heat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG2Kn2GznMY

CurlyCap
July 5th, 2012, 07:20 PM
That would be a very good idea. I tried banding with lots of bands;

http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/c0.0.403.403/p403x403/528331_4264681095678_499874072_n.jpg

and it gave me a straighter look. So ribbon would be even better.

I'm seriously considering trying this. I never did banding seriously. Scrunchies aren't enough to knock out my natural curl and my hair HATES bands. They...shear it...or something.

I've put ribbon on my supermarket list. I'll let you know how it goes whenever I get around to my experiment. :D

CurlyCap
July 5th, 2012, 07:34 PM
When I was a babe my mom used to use African hair threading to stretch my hair, (I have a pic lying around somewhere). It gets the hair really stretched out. Almost like a blow-out without the heat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG2Kn2GznMY

Thanks so much for that link! I'd never heard of this before, and it's definitely a style I could do on Type 4 hair. I'm incredibly intimidated by braiding (it only looks right to me if it's super neat). This though, seems like a skill I could pick up. :D

Ambystoma
July 5th, 2012, 08:36 PM
Wow that gives really nice results - I'll give it a go sometime. I recently tried doobie wrapping and it came out looking really nice, pretty straight but with a tidy curl that flipped under at the ends. I found it easier to do once I got my hair quite wet, but I'm not sure I'll be able to keep doing it as it gets longer, it's not an easy technique for me!:lol:

proo
July 5th, 2012, 08:37 PM
THIS is why I love the LHC
Gonna try this with my homemade tee shirt yarn,
distilled H2O and MO.

Paranda Belle
July 6th, 2012, 07:49 AM
I am guessing you meant a 'doobie'? A zoobie is: A term used in Utah, mainly Utah Valley, to describe the excited bunch of mormons that go to BYU and engage in excessive social activities.:shrug:

I didn't know that!

I did mean doobie. I was listening to a bollywood song called zoobi doobi (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJ1uLVgv3Vg)when I wrote the post and I guess I just picked the wrong word!

If anyone has problems with bobby pins falling out in your sleep when doing the doobie, section clips work better.

Debra83
July 6th, 2012, 08:26 AM
Here's my today's banded pic....wearing it out like that with a hot pink shirt!


http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h343/debra8383/July062012-banded.jpg

nowheregirl
July 6th, 2012, 09:51 AM
Hi all..do you ever braid damp hair? if i comb and air dry my hair it comes off wavy but if i do a fishtail in damp hair (upto my nape/neck..not the whole length..i like the ends wavy) and let it dry ...all the bumps/wave in my crown/nape area goes away and it comes off really straight

longhairedleah
July 6th, 2012, 12:06 PM
hair wrapping/doobie definitely! it makes it super straight, like... 1b! but it does takes some skill...

Audrey Horne
July 6th, 2012, 10:01 PM
I wraped like this: took a long enough scarf and wraped it around (a wet) low pony pretty tightly. Worked fine but IDK if I want it again.

CurlyCurves
July 8th, 2012, 04:50 AM
When I was a babe my mom used to use African hair threading to stretch my hair, (I have a pic lying around somewhere). It gets the hair really stretched out. Almost like a blow-out without the heat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG2Kn2GznMY

That is really cool! I will have to try that method too.


I'm seriously considering trying this. I never did banding seriously. Scrunchies aren't enough to knock out my natural curl and my hair HATES bands. They...shear it...or something.

I've put ribbon on my supermarket list. I'll let you know how it goes whenever I get around to my experiment. :D

Can't wait to see :)


Wow that gives really nice results - I'll give it a go sometime. I recently tried doobie wrapping and it came out looking really nice, pretty straight but with a tidy curl that flipped under at the ends. I found it easier to do once I got my hair quite wet, but I'm not sure I'll be able to keep doing it as it gets longer, it's not an easy technique for me!:lol:

Thank you.

And, yeah, Doobies are NOT easy at all :(


THIS is why I love the LHC
Gonna try this with my homemade tee shirt yarn,
distilled H2O and MO.

I know. It's great, right? Always good stuff being exchanged on here :-)

Good luck!


I didn't know that!

I did mean doobie. I was listening to a bollywood song called zoobi doobi (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJ1uLVgv3Vg)when I wrote the post and I guess I just picked the wrong word!

If anyone has problems with bobby pins falling out in your sleep when doing the doobie, section clips work better.

Hahaha :rollin:

Also, I tried the section clips and it does stay in that way. The only thing, I don't know how to wrap. I can't get all my hair around my head :/


Here's my today's banded pic....wearing it out like that with a hot pink shirt!


http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h343/debra8383/July062012-banded.jpg

Looks so cute :) how were the final results?


Hi all..do you ever braid damp hair? if i comb and air dry my hair it comes off wavy but if i do a fishtail in damp hair (upto my nape/neck..not the whole length..i like the ends wavy) and let it dry ...all the bumps/wave in my crown/nape area goes away and it comes off really straight

That sounds cool. But I don't know how to do a fishtail :(


I wraped like this: took a long enough scarf and wraped it around (a wet) low pony pretty tightly. Worked fine but IDK if I want it again.

Why not?

Debra83
July 17th, 2012, 12:43 AM
That is really cool! I will have to try that method too.



Can't wait to see :)



Thank you.

And, yeah, Doobies are NOT easy at all :(



I know. It's great, right? Always good stuff being exchanged on here :-)

Good luck!



Hahaha :rollin:

Also, I tried the section clips and it does stay in that way. The only thing, I don't know how to wrap. I can't get all my hair around my head :/



Looks so cute :) how were the final results?



That sounds cool. But I don't know how to do a fishtail :(



Why not?


I can't believe I didn't post the results?!!!! I'll have to do it again. :doh:

Dragon Faery
July 17th, 2012, 01:10 AM
This is from my album from January....

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=6238&pictureid=94402

*hijack: I had no idea you had a kitty! Black like mine, too! Very nice! :) End hijack*


I wonder what would happen if one took a piece of ribbon and wrapped the hair all the way to the bottom.

It would be a form of smooth banding, and ribbon is pretty cheap.

Anyone tried something like this?


I may have to try this; I have a lot of ribbon.

My hair is very "suggestible". Whatever I use to fasten it will show up as a bend or kink or bulge of some kind. But will my natural curl stay in? Not really. It seems I can have anything but super curly or super straight hair. :shrug:

PurpleAshes
July 17th, 2012, 01:07 PM
I want to try this! I do wonder how long it would take my hair to dry. All the methods of heatless straightenening that I have tried have failed horribly, because even after a day my hair doesn't completely dry, which leads to frizz when I let it out of whatever method I used.

leylusha
July 17th, 2012, 01:21 PM
afshdkjdfjfd Curlycurves you are the cutest person ever with those four banded ponies in. And the banding after CO washing looks really pretty. If I had hair in the three range I'd have a blast with this

MoonLover
July 19th, 2012, 06:48 AM
I tried it on hair that hadn't been washed in a few days and had already been a little straightened by bunning:

My hair how it normally is (about 2 weeks ago):
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g175/GodfatherLeyla/Hair%20stuff/Picture1-2.png

How I banded:
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g175/GodfatherLeyla/Hair%20stuff/Picture2-3.png

What is looked like after overnight banding:
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g175/GodfatherLeyla/Hair%20stuff/Picture3-1.png

Next time I will try on damp hair and maybe with more bands. I liked how it worked:)

coneyisland
July 19th, 2012, 08:16 PM
I sometimes used to do a wet rollerset that I learned from some curly girls with whom I worked. I would use three big (big) rollers, the smooth plastic cylindrical ones called magnetic rollers. The clips to be used with them are metal, flat along one side. I would fasten my hair in a ponytail holder at the top of my head (as for pineapple style), divide the hair into three sections, and roll each section of unstretched hair supply going over the rollers (being stretched over the rollers from the ponytailing at center, around to under at the periphery side). Clipped into place, the ends of each roller abutted ends of the other rollers. I recall that it took my hair a long time to dry that way, longer than overnight. It made my hair straight except where it was bent from the ponytail holder used to fasten it in the first place, and there was a little rumpling (what Mesmerise also describes in her post) near the roots of that uppermost hair growing from under about where the ponytailing was and where the rollers were clipped in place.

I am thinking that you might try that with three or four of the biggest magnetic rollers you can find, and if you were to use something wider (than an ordinary ponytail holder) in profile, thicker and cushier (say, a section of thickish sock) as a ponytail holder under the rollerset, you would surely have a less marked bend (or impression) from it in your straightened hair.

There is some potential for damage from the fastening band and roller clips. Also, one's scalp not accustomed to anything like this might complain of having the hair drawn up for a time instead of having its usual comfortable arrangement. If you try it and like your result, you should not do it often anyway, because of the damage potential from repetitive cinching of the same parts of the same hairs.

CurlyCurves, if you need reference to more than your recent scare to deter you from heat styling, there are some pictures in the "Heat Damage" section of Nightshade's article linked here.

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=79
 
 
 
 
 

earthnut
July 19th, 2012, 09:41 PM
CurlyCurves, if you need reference to more than your recent scare to deter you from heat styling, there are some pictures in the "Heat Damage" section of Nightshade's article linked here.

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=79
 

That's an awesome page! Thanks for the link!

Banding sounds really interesting!! I'm definitely going to try it with my hair. I wish I had known about it as a teen, when I had given up on my frizzy hair and yearned for straight hair. ;)

xdragonfruityx
July 19th, 2012, 10:11 PM
Oooo youtube straighten hair without heat and this girls sits in front of a medium fan and brushes her hair straight while it dries. I had amazing results with it :)

barely.there
July 19th, 2012, 10:18 PM
I love my natural waves, but my hair gets tangle fracked overnight. I don't like braid waves. SOOO:

recently I have tried wrapping a long piece of satin around my length to bind it up together. (like some anime characters with their mullets and long tails wrapped up in long scarves) It stays in with a couple of bobby pins and 1 elastic. I unwrap in the morning, and voila! no tangles or unnatural waves/kinks.

I still have yet to master this.

RedheadMistress
July 19th, 2012, 11:17 PM
- Oh wow cool, apparently I used to use this banding technique when I was a kid without knowing it had a name !

I have 2 methods I use, either:
Wrapping
or
Making tonnes of small braids
(which first give me tonnes of little waves but once I've slept on the unbraided my little pony/cindy lauper crimped looking hair, it gets straight)


The braids are more fun and less effort so I do that mainly nowadays . . I have a thread I made with pics before/after wrapping. . here are the pics !

Before:
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/picture.php?albumid=6088&pictureid=79949

After:
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5052/5427617545_00b8f481e0.jpg

jojo
July 20th, 2012, 01:52 AM
I comb mine periodically while it's drying, plus I kind of stretch my fringe which is not a fringe really anymore! Between my finger and thumb to stop it curling.

My hair is sort of combination, I have naturally very curly (2 spirals) in my fringe area, which goes to a 2a on the sides and my back is 2b, due to the majority being a 2b that's what I call it, anyway this method works for me, but I am trying to embrace this strange textured hair mother nature forced on me :D

spirals
July 20th, 2012, 01:52 AM
Oooo youtube straighten hair without heat and this girls sits in front of a medium fan and brushes her hair straight while it dries. I had amazing results with it :)
:lol: Yep. My stepmom says before blowdriers were widely available she put hers in rollers and sat in front of a fan. Sometimes I dry a piece of handwashed clothing this way.

riceball
July 20th, 2012, 02:00 AM
I have never tried banding but it looks fairly easy! Will have to try.

Currently I put my hair in two buns while it's damp. I secure them with large plastic clips. When I take the buns out, my hair has large waves. I start out with 2b waves and seem to end up around 1c. It also gives me less volume, which I love. The whole process only takes about half an hour or so.

Don't know if this helps for type 3 or 4 hair, but it certainly works great for me!

Ambystoma
July 20th, 2012, 07:54 AM
Awesome, I just took out my first banding experiment (I wrapped the entire length with a silk scarf while damp) and it looks so nice, all 1b/ish and silky! I'm so glad to find another easy heat free styling option, especially one that keeps me away from the dreaded flatiron :) . Thanks for showing me this one CurlyCurves!

CurlyCurves
July 21st, 2012, 10:21 AM
Thanks everyone for replying, and I am so pleased that I gave people ideas/helped them out :)


afshdkjdfjfd Curlycurves you are the cutest person ever with those four banded ponies in. And the banding after CO washing looks really pretty. If I had hair in the three range I'd have a blast with this

You just made my day, missy! Thank you :)

It really does work best after co-washing because my hair is most moisturised then :)


I tried it on hair that hadn't been washed in a few days and had already been a little straightened by bunning:

My hair how it normally is (about 2 weeks ago):
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g175/GodfatherLeyla/Hair%20stuff/Picture1-2.png

How I banded:
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g175/GodfatherLeyla/Hair%20stuff/Picture2-3.png

What is looked like after overnight banding:
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g175/GodfatherLeyla/Hair%20stuff/Picture3-1.png

Next time I will try on damp hair and maybe with more bands. I liked how it worked:)

OT, but I love your waistline!




CurlyCurves, if you need reference to more than your recent scare to deter you from heat styling, there are some pictures in the "Heat Damage" section of Nightshade's article linked here.

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=79
 
 

Yeah, I've read that before. Scary :( I'm totally put off putting any heat in my hair now, anyway. I was cringing the whole time while straightening it last time. It just felt .. wrong?


Awesome, I just took out my first banding experiment (I wrapped the entire length with a silk scarf while damp) and it looks so nice, all 1b/ish and silky! I'm so glad to find another easy heat free styling option, especially one that keeps me away from the dreaded flatiron :) . Thanks for showing me this one CurlyCurves!

You are SO welcome, sweetie! I'm very happy to help :)