My First Ever Hair Straightening Experience

Bonjour tout le monde!

Guys I know it's been ages since I lasted posted but I'm still here, you can't get rid of me that easily! I've been overloaded with college work and Christmas that I've put everything else on the back burner but I'm here don't you worry.

So today I thought I'd share with you an experience that happened about two weeks ago, my first ever straightening experience. Now perhaps some of you may find it weird that this is my FIRST EVER time using intense heat on my hair but you better believe it baby!

So I must admit, this really wasn't something I'd planned for. Initially, I went round to my friend Amy's house just to visit and chat with her and her mum. I had showed them both a hair treatment that I wanted to get done for my birthday, one that my friend Tomiwa did a review on, a silk press treatment. They both fell in love with the results I had shown them and Amy's mum wanted to have a go at straightening my hair. Now I'm not a big fan of someone who isn't an expert with handling natural black hair doing anything on my hair but I thought I would let my guard down for a minute. The agreement was for her to ONLY straighten a section of the back, just so she could see how it would come out:



This was how my hair came out. I was pretty impressed as I had never seen my hair so straight before so it was definitely a new sensation for me I must admit. Heat protection is a must when applying such hair levels of heat directly onto your hair so we used the 'TRESemme Keratin Smooth Heat Protection Shine Spray' which gave my hair a lovely finish.

So after that I thought I was finished, but boy was I wrong. My friend's mum insisted on carrying on as 'the back row has come out so lovely, why not continue!' and so I begrudgingly allowed her to continue.






Here are some more pictures:

So as you can see, my hair continued to get straightened and we continued to see the results. It took all in all around two hours because my hair is so thick it had to be straightened in really small sections. Here is the final result with my hair tied back:

Now one thing I must say is that my hair didn't come out bone straight. Now I don't know whether that was because of the straightener used, my hair or the products that were in my hair but it instead came out like a super blow-dry in my opinion. Nonetheless, the final outcome was very nice and I really liked how it looked on me!

I did take me some time to adjust seeing how different my hair looked in the mirror but overall it was fabulous.

After my straightening experience I have two pieces of information to share with everyone:

1. HEAT IS NOT THE DEVIL - many people paint heat use to be the 'be all and end all' and that you must 'stay away from it at all costs' however I'd beg to differ. When used in moderation with the appropriate hair products, heat can be your friend. If you aim to use heat only once a month with the necessary heat protection then there is no problem with heat at all. On the other hand, if you prefer to only apply heat twice a year then there's no problem with that either. However regularly you choose to apply heat to your hair is completely fine once the necessary precautions are taken.

2. DO NOT FORGET TO MOISTURIZE - I noticed that my hair was more susceptible to dryness and becoming brittle from the harsh weather conditions of London whilst my hair was straightened. So I decided to up the moisture in my hair regime and moisturize my hair nightly before bed and then tying a silk scarf around it. This allowed the moisture to penetrate the hair and keep it hydrated in its straightened form. I also took extra care to reduce the manipulation as it's very easy to comb your hair excessively whilst your hair is straightened but this can aggravate breakage which wouldn't have otherwise taken place.

I hope you guys all found that useful, feel free to contact me if you have any questions!

Au revoir x