Are Naturals Who Use Heat Any Less 'Natural'?

By Tenisha Mercer

Fresh from a week-old Dominican blowout, reading the comments about an article on BGLH.com about the benefits of heat training natural hair has got me fired up!

Especially this comment from a few posters on BGLH.

Maybe I'm taking it too personally. But what really irritates me is all the people who say that "heat trained" naturals aren't naturals. Huh? Come again? And that we should just go get a relaxer since we choose to straighten our natural hair.

What is Heat Training, Anyway?

First, I think we should ban the terms "heat trained" and "heat damaged." It's a misnomer. Just because you use heat doesn't mean that your hair is damaged. Trained means that your hair needs to be "obedient." Sure, some may see straightening as a form of obedience. It's not for me; it's another option for verstaile hair.

Using heat and "heat training" are two very different things.

Secondly, I don't see why we get our panties in a knot when it comes to who is more natural than the other. Let me be clear: I wore flat ironed hair/pressed hair exclusively from 1996 to 2006. Rarely wore it curly, with the exception of a curly ponytail. Since 2008, I've worn my hair exclusively curly -- with the occasional blowout, of course.


The Natural Po Pos Are At It Again

That doesn't make me any more natural than anyone else. I was no more "natural" then than I am now. There's this jockeying about who is more natural in the natural community that absolutely disgusts me.

Colored hair? You are not natural! You wear blow dried hair? You're not natura!  I'm so tired of the natural police with their rules and sweeping generalizations. Please, please, please! Can we all just do what works for OUR hair without making others feel like their hair is less natural because of it?

This is what relaxed women dislike about naturals,  and I can see why... it's that looking down on a fellow natural because of how they choose to wear THEIR hair.

If you want to perm your hair, go right ahead. If you want to flat iron your  hair every week, that's your perogative. Do YOU! Damn what anyone else says or thinks. Know your hair and do what works for you.


Can We All Take Several Seats?

My hair is blowdryed/flat ironed occassionally. Do I feel any less natural? No!

My curls have ALWAYS come back without any  problem. It works for MY hair, though I realize that not all  naturals can do this. I am seriously thinking about ramping up my Dominican blow outs from every three months up to once a month.

For MY hair (and yes, I realize all naturals are different) heat just isn't the devil that many naturals make it out to be. I'd venture that this many naturals have a similar experience. After all, pressed and flat ironed hair were the "natural" style of choice (though we didn't call it that back then) before twist outs, braid outs and wash and go natural hair styles became all the rage. 10 years ago, if you were natural, you more than likely wore your hair in braids or flat ironed.

Heat is Not the Devil

Why is that so bad now?

I think that most of us got along just fine with our flat ironed and pressed hair. Now, it seems as if there's this this huge backlash against naturals who choose to wear their hair straight -- and that we should just get a perm if we are going to wear our hair straight.

So not true. Naturals who use heat in moderation often have healthier hair than relaxed hair. Period. For me, straight hair is just a style. That and nothing more. Must we ALL wear our hair the same way? Just because it's working for me, why would I down someone else about THEIR style?

Naturals can be so damn hypocritical, and it's almost as if you have to "justify" wearing straight hair. Isn't this just as bad as when relaxed ladies try to have natural ladies "justify" their natural hair? Hmm ...

Why I'm Going To Blow Out My Hair More

I'm reevaluating my options. One too many SSK (single strand knot) and matting.  The longer my hair gets, the more this is an issue. I've tried not using gels (used aloe vera gel), less wetting my hair, stretched styles, the Curly Girl method (conditioner as as styler), even tried twist outs.

Same results -- tangle and matting city. Used to never have this problem, and I've lost some length as a result.

For me and MY hair, blowdrying stretches it -- enough so that my curly hair doesn't curl around itself. I'm more scared of that than I am sparingly using heat every 3-4 weeks. For me, the curly styles just ain't working.


My New Regimen

Going to do a few things:

1. Add more protein. Used to henna. Seriously considering going back to it -- or add a stronger protein condish. This will probably  help  my hair no matter what state it's in.

2. In between Dominican blowouts, I will probably blowdry or at least African thread my hair to stretch it more. For me, stretched styles are key. I won't always wear my hair bone straight, just stretched.

3. Adding heat back to my regimen. At most, a Dominican blowout every 3-4 weeks.

I will let you know the results.

Do you think that naturals who straighten their hair are any less natural than those who don't?

The Curls Are Back

After 3 weeks of straight hair, my curls are back. Was fun but I started to miss my curls.

And since straight hair and water don't play nice, my curls came back after splashing around in Lake Lanier with the family yesterday. It appears that there's no heat damage.

I don't plan to wait as long to straighten it -- maybe September, when it's time for another trim.

Rocking the curls again at work

The Switch Up

After nearly two months of curly, I switched it up and flat ironed. I parted in in the front and did two twists. What do you think?

Is Heat Bad?

For years, I was a heat-trained natural. I was the queen of the press and curl and, later, the flat iron.

From my last touch up for my wedding in 1995 through 2008, I rarely wore my natural hair "out" if it wasn't straightened. Except for the two times when I texturized my hair after I chopped it off into a short do in 2006 and 2007, I wore it fried and laid to the side.


When my hair wasn't flat ironed, it was slicked back with gel and bunned. Sometimes, I wore my hair in a curly ponytail, but for the most part, I didn't rock my natural tresses. I don't know why, but maybe I thought I didn't have any options back then?

I saw my first wash and go in 2003 -- curly spirals that were so cute!

I asked the lady how she got her hair like that and she told me she used gel. I never thought my hair could do that -- and remember, this was before products like Miss Jessie's and Kinky Curly were mainstream -- even though I rocked a curly pony tail with gel dating back to the late 1990s.

So, I kept on rocking my presses. Since my shrinkage is a straight beast -- I'm talking from chin length to bra strap length when straightened -- I've always been told my hair "holds heat." I don't know what the hell that means; I assumed it meant that my hair straightened easily.

For me, presses done professionally get my hair straighter than a perm. Except for the two times when I texturized my hair after I cut all my hair off in 2006 and 2007, I've been sans perm.

Beat the Heat?

Fast forward to 2011, and there are so many naturals who swear off heat that at one point, even I thought heat was "bad." Heat damage may as well have been a four-letter word, judging by the ire it gets on forums and blogs.

Really, though?

Naturals swear off blow dryers like they're the plague -- even indirect heat.

While this may be very unpopular to say, let me be clear: I don't think heat is bad all the time.

I think it totally depends on your hair and how much you use heating tools. Sure, there are some naturals -- a minority, perhaps, but I don't have scientific evidence to back that up -- that can't use heat at all.

Flat ironed hair

And then there lies the rest of us: Our hair will probably do OK as long as we don't straighten it excessively. What constitutes excessive can vary by person, but I'd say flat ironing every 3-4 weeks, using temps no higher than 350 degrees and no excessive number of passes.

Do I like straightened hair? I do, and I've begun to incorporate straightening my hair once a month myself.

Do I have a few more split ends because of it? Probably so, but not major damage.

As my hair has gotten longer, I've experienced more knots and tangles. I'm talking about middle of the strand knots, which I've never had before. Stretching my hair by flat ironing it once a month --- or a blow dryer at the very least -- has helped me, surprisingly, retain length by cutting down tangles.

Flat twist on flat ironed hair

As much as I wear wash and go hairstyles, the gels, conditioners and constant moisture are taking their toll on my hair the longer it gets. I can't do the same things I did a year or even 6 months ago.

What do you think about heat? Is it bad or good for your hair?