Contents
Girls cannot be pleased: those whom nature has endowed with perfectly straight hair dream of curls, and the owners of chic curls always strive to straighten their hair with an iron. The main thing is to do it correctly – so as not to injure the hair.
How to prepare your hair for straightening
Pay attention to the coverage. Ceramic has good thermal conductivity, such irons easily glide through the hair without injuring them. Perhaps the only drawback of such a device is that it heats up for a long time. Very good stylers with tourmaline, ionic and sericite (it is also called “silk”) coating of the plates. They make hair silky and shiny, curls after such styling are not electrified. Recall that thermal protection is required regardless of the coating material.
The optimal width of the plates depends on the length of the hair. For long hair, you need as wide as possible, for short and medium length hair, narrow enough. It is good if the plates are with rounded edges: this saves from creases in the hair.
You don’t like your hair? Check yourself – are you taking care of them correctly?
How to straighten your hair with an iron
To properly straighten your hair with an iron at home, you first need to rinse well. Best of all – shampoo marked “for smoothness”, and then apply and rinse (according to the instructions) conditioner from the same series: such products smooth hair, make it manageable, make styling easier.
After washing, the curls should be well get wet with a towel and apply a straightening spray or cream.
Ideally, it’s best to dry your hair naturally, but if you don’t have time, use a round brush and blow dryer.
While your hair is slightly damp, you can apply thermal protection. Pay attention, this is a very important point! “Sometimes hairdressers are of the opinion that heat protection is only needed for those whose hair is already damaged, or if the flat iron is used daily,” says medical expert Vichy Ekaterina Turubara. “But preventing hair damage is easier than restoring it later. Most thermal protection products are based on silicone, which, having a low thermal conductivity, helps to evenly distribute heat and protects each hair from excessive moisture loss and damage. You just need to choose your format of the product: cream, spray or oil. You can be guided by the rule: the thinner the hair, the lighter the texture.
Let your hair dry and then heat the rectifier up to 150-180 degrees (150-160 will be enough for weak and thin hair, 170-180 for thick and hard). Yes, with such heating, it will not work to quickly straighten the strands with an iron. But still, the main priority is the health of the hair, right?
Start straightening your hair with an iron from the back of the head. Step back 2-3 cm from the roots. Divide the curls into several thin strands. Leave one, pin the rest with clips so as not to interfere. Pull the strands away from the neck or face so as not to burn yourself, and gently stretch them with a straightener, moving from top to bottom, to the tips. “Iron” the strand quickly, in one motion, without stopping in one place so as not to burn the hair. In order for them to be perfectly even, just 5-7 seconds are enough. To beautifully straighten your hair with an iron, while maintaining volume, first use a round brush to twist the strands at the roots, and then stretch them with tongs. To stretch the hair with an iron as beautifully as possible, make a C-shaped movement at the ends, as if rounding them inward. This technique will allow you to give the hair a natural shape, to make sure that the hair does not fluff.
After all the strands are straightened, sprinkle them with any fixative or warm a couple of drops of oil in the palms of your hands and spread over the entire length.
Do not forget about thermal protection: everyone who does hot styling needs it. © Unsplash
Thermal protection overview
The main thing that thermal protective balms, creams and gels do is to protect hair from high temperatures and overdrying. They seem to lock moisture inside each hair. As a result, after using a hot iron, the hair does not become thinner, do not break or split. And closer to summer, stylers with an ultraviolet filter become relevant, because the active sun damages hair no less than irons and curling irons.
Cream from fragility Elseve “Checked with a comb. Ultra Strength, L’Oréal Paris
This editorial favorite of Healthy-Food helps protect hair during hot styling. The cream works effectively at temperatures up to 230 ˚С. And biotin, vitamin B5 and arginine in its composition make hair more beautiful and durable.
No Scissors Leave-in Care Cream for Long Damaged Hair, L’Oréal Paris
As part of the product – vegetable keratin, castor oil and vitamin B5, which strengthen hair and prevent brittleness. The cream can be used before styling with a hair dryer or straightener, it provides thermal protection up to 180 ˚С and hair straightening.
Complex leave-in care “SOS hair saver 10-in-1”, Garnier
An excellent remedy for very damaged and split ends with amino keratin and amla oil. Care helps to restore hair – smoothes them, strengthens, softens, adds shine. And besides, it can be used as a thermal protection: it protects against high temperatures up to 230 ˚С.
What else you need to know about the correct stretching of hair with an iron
So that the hair after styling is less tangled and does not wrinkle, it must be combed before straightening. During the procedure, a comb can also be used: brush through the hair, and then smooth the curls with an iron. What else you need to know about how to straighten hair without harm? Below are tips from our experts.
Can you straighten wet hair with an iron?
No way. If the strands are not properly dried, you can ruin them with a curling iron during the first hot straightening. The procedure is performed only on dry, clean hair after applying thermal protection.
Can I straighten my hair with a flat iron every day?
How beautiful to straighten your hair with an iron, while maintaining volume?
Straighten the hair of the upper layer, do not touch the strands in depth: they will create volume. And after the procedure, you can apply a little mousse or any other volumetric styling product to your hair.
How to apply a protective agent?
Can hair damage be avoided?
Unfortunately, with frequent straightening, the hair will inevitably split and break. If you use the flat iron as safely and as infrequently as possible, do not heat it up to extreme temperatures, include balms and masks in your beauty routine, straighten your hair regularly and cut split ends, this will allow your hair to look alive and healthy (and beautifully styled, of course).