Hair Care Weekly #1: Straightening Hair With A Flat Iron

A lot of girls out there straighten their hair and I'm one of them. I'm African American so I have thick curly hair and I love it so much better when its straight. Here's how to straighten your hair properly with a flat iron.

Step 1: Pick out the right sized flat iron

The size of a flat iron depends on your hair's length and thickness. For short hair, use an iron that has narrow plates from half an inch to one inch thick. For long hair, use an iron with wide plates from one-half to two inches thick. Make sure your iron is also not too heavy because you will start to hurt after holding it for so long.

Step 2: Choose the right heat setting

This is a very important step. You don't want to burn your hair but you also want to straighten it out enough in just a few strokes. The heat temperature depends on your hair texture and type. For fine or damaged hair, you want 250 to 300 degrees. For medium or average hair, you want 300 to 350. For thick or coarse hair, you want 350 to 400 degrees.

Step 3: Prepare your hair

First you want to shampoo and condition your hair. If you have fine or thin hair, you can just let it air dry. For thick or coarse hair, you want to blow dry it. For coarse hair, you want to blow dry it until its pretty straight. This will make the straightening process much easier. You want to apply a heat protection product to your hair before straightening. Too much heat can damage your hair and this is very important. You can find tons of these at local beauty or hair supply stores.

Step 4: Straighten Your Hair

You want to part your hair into sections and clip or tie them up so they'll be out of your way while straightening. You then want to put your flat iron on its setting and let it heat up for a few minutes. Once its hot, start about half an inch down from the roots and clamp your hair there and gently slide the flat iron down. You might want to look in the mirror when you do this so you don't get too close to your scalp and burn yourself. Its also best to start straightening at the nape of your neck and work your way up to the front of your head. You want to clamp and slide the flat iron on each piece of hair at least 3 times or until its straight and silky to your desire. Make sure your pieces of hair are not to thick or too much or else your hair will not straighten efficiently. Once your done straightening your hair, touch up parts that aren't the best. If you have coarse or curly hair you may see un-straightened roots on the sides and front of your head. If you have coarse hair, a hot comb can fix these up. If you have curly hair, get the flat iron as close as you can without burning yourself.

Step 5: Spray it up

Now you want to spray your hair with a shine spray and maybe even a volumizing spray. 

Warnings

• Do not straighten your hair when wet. Your hair will sizzle and fry and could burn off.
• Do not use old, broken, or chipped hair tools.
• Do not flat iron your hair everyday because too much heat is not good for your hair and can make your hair dry, brittle, or damaged.

You also might want to clean your iron after every use with a professional iron cleaner.