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

Is Heat Damage Real?

After reading the umpteenth article warning about heat damage -- and naturals swearing off heat like it's the Bubonic Plague ---  I'm starting to wonder if *some* heat damage is in our heads.
Note: This article is only my opinion, and by no means scientific. I'm sure this article will ruffle some natural feathers, but put down the heat protectant and hear me out.

If you read any of the articles about the use of heat, you'd swear that 90% of naturals who use heat -- pressing combs, flat irons -- get heat damage. If you've got heat damage, by no means am I saying you don't have it.

Do You Believe the Heat Damage Hype?
Heat damage is real, especially among finer hair naturals, but I wonder is it as common as some would have us to believe. Many naturals swear that just one use of heat can cause lasting damage. Many, many naturals claim that heat training -- the process of regularly using flat irons and pressing combs to obtain straight styles -- is nothing but heat damage.

Not gonna dispute what's going on in any other naturals' head, but let me give you something to think about:

I don't believe that all this heat damage is a "natural" phenomenon. Think about when you had a relaxer. Chances are, you had a relaxer, blow dry, and then your hair was curled to death. Especially if you had a short style. Why wouldn't our relaxed hair -- which, would be chemically weakened by relaxer bonds -- suffer the same, if not worse fate, when it came to heat damage?

Is Heat the Devil?
Why does it seem that heat damage is a new term circa 2000s, when black women have been wearing relaxers and frying their hair for at least have a century? If you read most hair blogs and naturals' avowing any use of heat, you'd think heat is the the devil.

I can only use myself and others I know as examples. Except for a brief dalliance with a texturizer in 2007, my last relaxer was in 1995. I know, a long time ago. But, I'd get my hair blow dried straight, flat ironed and finally a slight curl with curlers in a super hot Marcel iron. Lots of heat.

Full disclosure: I was a heat trained natural on and off until 2008, when I began wearing my hair curly. I have never experienced large scale heat damage.

Does a No Heat Regimen Work For Everyone?

Again, no scientific study here, but I'd gather that my regimen was much like others. And if you had short hair, you had even more heat, with direct heat from those curlers, applied throughout the hair, concentrated on each strand.

Pressing curls and stove curling irons are by no means new; they've been around quite some time. I find it hard to believe that our hair in a relaxed state was stronger than our natural hair. Am I anti-heat? Depends on your hair.

I know that I've not used heat for months at a time. And guess what? My hair still tangles, knots up and gets SSKs in the crown -- the thickest portion of my hair. I can either risk heat damage or have to cut out knots in my head. I don't know which is worse.

Why Heat Damage Now?
Up until 2008, I never heard of folks chopping all their hair of because it was damaged. I can't count the number of flat iron and pressed styles I had with naked, no product hair. We knew nothing about heat protectants then, and we cranked that heat up! My stylist routinely gave me a deep conditioner, but you were lucky if your stylist put a little oil in your hair before flat ironing or pressing.

True, most of us didn't wear our hair curly, so we never knew if it wouldn't revert back to curly; we only cared that it was straight. However, if the same heat damage in dictators were used then as used now, we all had heat damage, right?

Is Relaxed Hair Stronger Than Natural?
I mean, we'd still have split ends, right? I've read plenty of stories of naturals getting their hair flat ironed once and then reporting split end city. Some so severe over a length of time that they do a big chop to get rid of the damaged ends.

When I was relaxed, I never recall anyone who cut all their relaxed hair off because of heat damage. I know some folks who had their hair fall out because of bad allergic reactions or poor applications of relaxers, but never anyone who did a big chop because of heat damage on their relaxed hair.

Yet, I can't tell you the number of naturals who will do a big chop after just one application of heat. Does it depend on how much heat you use? Of course. If you are flat ironing your hair every week, you can expect some damage.

All I'm doing is asking critical questions; I'm hoping to get answers. I hear lots of naturals experience heat damage, but I've never seen anyone admit to heat damage when they had relaxed hair. Did it not exist then? Am I saying that heat won't damage our hair? No, it depends on your hair.

Just wanted to give you some things to think about.



What do you think? Is heat damage now as naturals as common as some would believe? Did you ever experience heat damage when you had relaxed hair?

Hair Challenge

Most hair challenges usually involve a regimen -- protective styling, no-heat, sealing and moisturizing, etc., for a specific period of time.

This is a different kind of hair challenge. It's about the challenges our hair experiences-- dryness, breakage, single strand knots, unintentional dreading and matting, thin edges, split ends. Whatever particular challenges you are having.

As my hair has grown, the challenges I'm experiencing now are quite different than the ones I used to have. As I've said before on this blog, I think my wash and go days are done. They once worked marvelously, but now the gel and conditioner do nothing but tangle my hair.

I'm talking about bad tangles and knots  -- the middle of the hair kind that does drastic damage on hair length. I've tried to pick them put, separate it with my fingers. But it's so matted together that I usually just get my scissors and start cutting.

As a result, I've lost some length in the crown :(

On the positive side, my hair has grown a lot thicker over these past few months. I'm finding that my thick area -- a circle-shaped area near my crown -- requires a lot more attention. That area tangles ridiculously. I've been using the finger method for that area, and let me tell ya, it ain't working. I think all the gel I use doesn't help either, and I'm not quite sure how to fix this, other than banning my beloved wash and gos.

After a mini blow out and twist out last week, I had nothing but mats and tangles, and that area has been severely affected. Not quite sure what to do, since I'd been wearing my hear in braids and out occassionally from my wig.

It's time to refine my regimen. I don't ever recall my hair tangling this badly in that area, so it's time for some serious detangling sessions every week. Armed with my Herbal Essence Hello Hydration, I'm gonna be a detangling fool.

Not too much, but enough to make sure my thick areas - a 3-4-inch area near my crown - stay tangle-free as possible. I'm also going to try oil rinses with olive oil. They work really well on by daughters' hair, but I've never used them.

This whole experience has forced me to reevaluate. The only thing differently I'm doing is using Dax on a regular basis to seal, and I tried a protein Silicon mix deep conditioner.

Oh, and I'm also going to be be straightening my hair for a minute to aid in detangling. I've gotten better at twist ous and flat twists, so I'll be wearing my hair that way when it's not flat ironed. I really need to get better at documenting my regimen by photo. Pictures don't lie.

What are your hair challenges and how are you overcoming them?

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?