Maybe you have been wearing your hair natural for a year and you need a change. Maybe you are thinking about quitting relaxers and you want to keep your sleek straight look. Heat training may be a great option for you.
What is Heat Training?
Heating training natural hair involves using a flat iron, an old school pressing comb, or a blow dryer to change and loosen your natural curl pattern. In time, you will experience less single stand knots and tangles and be able to retain more length. You should not heat train your hair every day because it can lead to heat damaged hair.
How do I Heat Train?
In order to heat train your natural hair, you want to use a flat iron on the lowest setting possible.
Always use a heat protectant before applying the flat iron to your hair. Look for products that will protect your hair from the drying and damaging effects of styling appliances.
To reduce how often you use heat, you can alter between wearing non-heat hairstyles and heat applied hairstyles. Once your flat iron hair loses it shape, you should re-twist your natural hair to keep your natural curl pattern intact. You can wear flat iron hair once a month or twice a year. Never flat iron hair that isn’t cleaned on daily or weekly basis.
If you over do the heat, this will result in starting over with a big chop in order to get back the coils you once had.
I’d be afraid to “heat train” my hair because it all just seems like a form of damaging it. To each her own, I guess. (I wish there was a way to get a temporary straighter look that would last for at least 3 washes without harsh chemicals or a salon visit, because I’d like to change it up sometimes, but damage is a fear of mine.)
I use Curlformers 1-3 times per month to stretch and soften my hair. They keep my hair from matting at the root, reduce tangles, all without a blow dryer. The only thing is that it takes too long to put in each week (takes 1.5 hour), and the curls only last for one or two days, but it is worth it because the curls still give me a great (and I mean wonderful) foundation for twist/braidouts.
Bottomline, there is no such thing is heat training. If you are straightening your hair and your kinks or coils do not revert back to its natural form, that is heat damage. You cannot get rid of that except by cutting your hair off & starting over.
i dont really understand why such terrible advice was posted in this article. as the people above me have said, there is no such thing as “heat training”. its just damaging your hair which causes the natural texture/coils/curls to disappear. the thing that bothers me the most is that people who dont know so much about their hair may read this and end up having to big chop as a result of following this advice.
Yeah, some old lady slash kitchen beautician “heat trained” my hair when I was a teenager, and I didn’t realize it then, but after I stopped the heat , it grew back more coily, and then I finally realized that my hair was not heat trained, but thoroughly damaged.
This is some old school advice! This article may as well include tips on how to achieve “good hair” lol Heat training = Heat Damage!
Ummm, anyone else noticing the smoke coming from the strands being flat ironed? The girl’s hair is being burned!
Heat damaged hair is the equivalent of chemically straightened hair. In both causes the outside structure of the hair is broken down to achieve a straight look. The difference with heat is the difficulty in applying an even amount of heat or “damage” to achieve the desired look. Thats wear tools become important. Controlled and even heat is the and it is much easier to have control with a chemical relaxer than heat.
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No disrespect but this article is incorrect. Heat training doesnt exist its either damaged or healthy no in between! If the hair doesn’t bounce back to natural curls after straightening then it is damaged.
THANK YOU ALL FOR TELLING THE TRUTH. THEY JUST WANT TO POST ANYTHING ABOUT STRAIGHTENING OUR NATURAL KINKY CURLY HAIR. OUR HAIR IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH TO THEM SO THEY WILL FIND ANYTHING TO MAKE US LOOK MORE EUROPEAN. WE DONT NEED TO DO ANY TYPE OF HEAT TRAINING. NATURAL IS THE BEST AND MOST BEAUTIFUL WAY TO WEAR YOUR HAIR.
These tips aren’t to bad I know plenty of naturals with great head of hair that incorporates heat, not every natural is obsessed with curl pattern. People need to stop painting, every natural with the same straw and give other people avenues to look at. Yes heat can be damaging but the key is to use it properly and sporadically. For example longhairdontcare2011 youtube is a great example of someone who uses heat properly however not everybody hair can take any qmount of heat it’s about knowing your own hair
I dont understand why some people get so defensive about a person heat training there hair. Heat trained doesnt always equal damaged. Healthy hair doesnt break off, not easily anyway. Even if certain bonds are broken u can still have healthy hair. I stopped relaxing cause i dont want to but those chemicals so close to my brain and it irritated my scalp. Plus i wanted thick hair. But as its getting longer im getting more single strand knots, but my hair is very strong but its very coily in some areas.
My hair has been going straight by itself in the back of my head. It is not heat damaged at all and is silky smooth. I’ve had natural hair for over 10 years. I never knew or heard about heat training. I only mind it b.c it throws off my hair.
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