How to straighten natural hair temporarily or permanently at home ?
Natural hair is one of the most difficult hair natures to maintain and style.
Many women struggle daily to keep their kinky hair straight at all times.
I’ve put together the most practical tips on how to get and keep smooth natural hair in this article.
Contents
How to straighten natural hair at home ?
The most common way to straighten natural hair is to use a straightener. To do this, a few steps are necessary:
- Wash your hair with a leave-in conditioner
- Dry your hair and blow dry
- Apply a heat protection product to your hair
- Divide your hair into 3 to 5 sections depending on your length
- Comb through each section to detangle as much as possible
- Pass the straightener over each strand, one slow pass is enough
Note that the use of a straightening iron is not the only way to straighten kinky hair. There are also natural and less aggressive methods such as tannin straightening or Japanese straightening.
So how to transform natural hair into straight hair? Let’s detail the steps below right away!
Steps to straightening natural hair
If you’re just starting out, straightening your hair with a straightening iron may be a difficult exercise. Rest assured, you’ll soon get the hang of it and you’ll soon have a satisfying result:
1. Washing your hair
Washing your natural hair is the first and most important step to take.
You can do this by using a leave-in conditioner.
You can also apply a natural mask. This can be homemade with ingredients such as flaxseed oil or coconut oil.
2. Dry your hair and blow-dry
Dry your hair gently with a hair dryer set on the lowest temperature. Natural hair is naturally dry, so be careful not to expose it to heat for too long.
Then, you can start detangling your hair by blow-drying. For this, the ideal is to use a round heated brush. Again, be careful not to use too high a temperature.
When blow-drying, it is important to dry the hair starting with the ends with a brush.
3. Apply a heat protection product
The application of a heat protection product is essential to protect the hair from the plates of the straightening iron. It should be applied evenly throughout the hair.
You can get a specialized protective cream or lotion, or a vegetable oil. Olive, argan and coconut oils are your best allies for this.
4. Divide your hair into 3 to 5 sections depending on your length
In order to make straightening easier, I recommend dividing your hair into sections according to their length. This allows you to straighten your hair a little at a time without being bothered by hair that is wandering freely.
5. Comb each section of hair in a way that detangles it as much as possible
Start combing each section individually.
Once you’ve detangled the first section, keep it in a braid so that it doesn’t get tangled up again and connect with the rest of your hair.
To get rid of tangles for good, check out my article on how to detangle nappy hair naturally.
6. Straighten each strand of hair
Straightening is done strand by strand. A single slow stroke is more effective than multiple quick strokes that are more likely to damage the hair.
Adjust the temperature of your straightening iron according to your hair type. Note that african-american hair requires a higher temperature than other hair types.
In order to take as little risk as possible during this process, it is important to use the best flat iron for natural kinky hair.
How to straighten natural hair naturally?
There are methods to straighten natural hair in a natural way. These techniques allow to respect the scalp in particular because they are devoid of aggressive chemical substances.
Smoothing with tannin
Tanninoplasty is the perfect option to escape the formaldehyde present in Brazilian straightening products.
It is a natural treatment based on what is called tannins, a plant preservative found in bark, fruit and vines.
The natural compounds work inside the hair, creating protein chains in the hair fibers that moisturize and smooth the hair when heat is applied through the iron.
Tanninoplasty does not damage the hair, even if the treatment is repeated several times.
Discover my opinion on tannin smoothing for natural hair.
It also gives a natural, shiny, silky and resistant appearance without changing the internal structure. In a word, it is undoubtedly one of the perfect straightening for natural hair.
The Japanese straightening
One of the characteristics of this treatment is that it is suitable for all hair types. The Japanese straightening allows to straighten the short or long natural hair without difficulties.
See Japanese hair straightening, pros and cons.
It can be done on any length, from long to short. Keep in mind that it is not recommended for bleached hair.
If the hair fibers are slightly damaged, a pre-treatment repair may be necessary. If your hair is colored, you must wait at least 2 weeks after the last application.
How often should I straighten my natural hair?
If you practice chemical straightening, the frequency between two straightenings is generally 8 to 12 weeks.
Keep in mind that the frequency of straightening plays on the health of your hair. If you straighten your hair too often, it can become damaged.
If you do a tannin or Brazilian straightening, the duration of action is much longer. It can take 4 to 6 months before the operation is repeated.