Before thinking of having a straight glossy hair, every woman should first know how to achieve a beautiful straight hair without damaging it. It is important to learn and practice how to flat iron like a pro. If you have a super silky pin straight hair, you only need a blow dryer, but if you have a coarse, curly or wavy hair with a texture then surely you need a very good flat iron to make the hair strands stick straight. With these Hair straightening tips and tricks and with a right tool, you can achieve fabulously shiny straight hair without frying it.
Hair Straightening Tips and Techniques:
1) Choose a Right Size Flat Iron For Your Hair:
The size of flat iron needed depends on the length and thickness of your hair.
- For short hair: If your hair is short, whether it is thick or fine, you will need a flat iron with narrow plates. The size of the plates should be half inch to one inch thick. With narrow plates you can iron even shorter sections of your hair.
- For long hair: For a long hair, use wide plated flat irons. You can choose an iron with the plates sized from one-and-half inch to two-inch thick. BY this you can cover more hair in shorter time and you can complete the task quickly and avoid hair burn.
- Weight of flat iron: It is equally important to choose a flat iron of low weight. Make sure its weight is less than one kg (or 2 lbs), to avoid hurting your hand while you iron. Ironing will also becomes tedious when the weight of the tool is more.
2) Select the Right Heat Settings:
Different hair textures need different heat settings.
- Fine or Damaged Hair: If your hair is either fine or damaged and has a tendency to frizz, then you should opt for a low-wattage iron—about 40 watts—that will not burn your hair, or if you have a flat iron with variable heat settings, then use it with a temperature between 250 to 300 degrees.
- Medium or Average Hair: It the thickness of your hair is medium or if you have an average texture, then it is ideal to use flat iron a temperature between 300 to 350 degrees.
- Thick or Coarse Hair: If your hair is very thick or if it is coarse then you will need to set your iron between 350 to 400 degrees.
3) Choose Flat Irons of Right Material:
It is very important to choose a flat iron with plates made of ceramic , tourmaline or titanium. These materials will heat in less time and are efficient in spreading the heat evenly so as to avoid burning of hair.
On the other hand these materials release negative ions that reverse the damage causing positive ions on heating. They protect the hair cuticle from getting damaged and also the moisture from getting escaped while ironing. And the result is a more shinier and glossier hair. Do not choose irons with ceramic “coating” or teflon “coating”.
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4) Preparing Your Hair: Once you have chosen the right tool, the next step is to prepare your hair to tolerate the heat it is going to undergo without getting damaged.
- For Thin Hair: If your hair is thin, use a lightweight volumizing shampoo to wash the hair (like Nexus or Farmavita Italy from Amazon India). Follow up with a volumizing conditioner. Use a volumizing heat protection mousse or serum. Blow dry your hair section by section while you apply tension with your fingers or comb. Once dry smooth your hair from the mid-shaft to the ends using a natural bristle brush.
- For thick Hair: Pick a smoothing shampoo (Matrix Biolage from Amazon India) and conditioner for your hair. After shower, apply a smoothing heat protection serum to the hair. Blow dry the hair while you create tension with your fingers or use a tension strengthening comb. Use a natural bristle brush to make the hair as smooth as possible.
5) Section Your Hair and Iron:
- Create manageable sections of your hair. The more thicker your hair is, the more sections it needs.
- Create sections of half inch to two inch thickness. Creating half inch thick sections will help your hair to maintain some volume.
- Clip each section of your hair.
- Start from the bottom half of your head while you quickly iron each section at a steady pace downwards.
- Once the bottom portion is completed, start with the top sections of your head. Get the iron as closely as possible towards the roots.
- Press the iron firmly while you draw the iron straightly outwards.
- After you are done, mist with a shine spray.
- To add volume, twist your wrist slightly away from your face once you’ve reached the end of a straightened section for a bit of bounce.
Things to remember:
- Never straighten wet hair unless you have a special kind of straightener which can be used on wet hair (for example, Remington Wet 2 Straight).
- There are tons of anti- frizz sprays, serums and other hair care products that are designed to protect the hair from heat damage and also to keep it straight for a longer period of time. Some of these products are applied to the hair before straightening and some after straightening.
- Avoiding moisture and water for as long as possible after the hair has been straightened can help to retain your straight hairstyle without redoing.
- Dry shampoo can help to keep hair straight after it’s been styled by reducing the moisture, oil and buildup in the hair. Sprayed on to the roots of the hair, dry shampoo is brushed outwards removing the oil from the hair and keeping the hairstyle straight, long after it has been treated with a flat iron.
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- Do not use a flat iron everyday.
- Always clean your hot tools with an iron cleaner or lukewarm water and a cloth once the iron is cool, to remove any product buildup on the plates.