Hair straightening is an excellent way of giving your fizzy summer hair a sleek, straightened look without making trips to hair salons.
For you to get the most from hair straightening, you need to ensure that you do it right. This calls for you to avoid making mistakes.
The most common mistakes that many people make when straightening their hair include:
Failing to use a protectant layer
For you to have straight hair that won’t frizz up or go limp by midday, you should always use a heat protectant. Unfortunately, many people ignore this, which leads to badly straightened hair.
The purpose of the protectant layer is to provide a barrier between your hair and high temperature. The protectant absorbs heat, reduces frizz, and ensures that the straightening lasts for a long time.
Using the wrong shampoo and conditioner
Good hair starts in the shower. You should always ensure that the hair is clean enough before you style it. You also should ensure that you clean it with the right products. When you are lathering it up, ensure that you use the right shampoo and conditioner.
It’s always wise that you use hair care products with “smoothing” qualities. While the products won’t magically give your hair a straight look, they will help you in achieving better results.
Is this the first time you are straightening your hair? You should ask a professional to guide you in choosing the right product for your hair.
Setting the iron at the wrong temperature
While some people use the wrong hair care products, others set their iron at the wrong temperature. As you might guess, setting the iron at the wrong temperature leads to serious damage to the hair.
The best way of going about it is starting the temperature at 300-350 degrees then add more heat if you have thicker hair.
When you are passing the iron through the hair, ensure that it’s hot enough. This is to avoid having to repeatedly run the iron through the hair, causing more damage to the hair.
Some people set their irons at the same temperature as the professionals—450 degrees. While these temperatures are impressive, you should avoid them. You should only leave them to the experts as you will most likely end up damaging your hair.
Failing to section the hair
When you don’t section the hair when straightening it, you often end up doing it for a long time. For you to take a short time, you should divide the hair into small, even sections, then brush through the sections before you apply the heat.
You should note that the iron can heat up so much hair at once; therefore, when you try heating up a lot of it at once, you won’t get ideal results.
When you take a lot of hair, you are forced to go through the hair once or twice, which as mentioned above, puts your hair at the risk of getting damaged.
Straightening wet hair
This is usually common with people that prepare their hair in the morning. These people will wake up late then realize that their hair is wet and they don’t have time to let it dry. They go ahead and straighten it, while still wet.
You should never try straightening your hair while dry as it’s incredibly vulnerable. The heat from the scalding flat iron also tends to sap its moisture, leading to damage.
When you are straightening the hair then you notice a sizzling sound and burning smell, its proof enough that your hair is being fried, rather than getting straightened.
When the hair is wet, you shouldn’t go straight to hair straightening. The best way out is to start with rough blow drying.
Moving the hair the wrong direction
If you ask many people, they will tell you that you should glide your straightener vertically down the hair. Experts working in hair straightening salons Rockville recommend that you move the hair horizontally.
You should start at the root of the hair, then slide sideways. For you to move fast, consider pulling the hair taut at the tip.