NO HEAT STYLES

If you've been following us for a while you know that I have been almost 9 months without direct heat and I feel that it is the reason for my great progress. In September of 2009, I had shoulder length hair and decided that I wanted healthier, longer hair. In May 2010, less than a year later my hair is now bra strap length. Contrary to popular belief, Black hair does grow and although individual hair growth rates vary, on average Black hair grows just as quickly as women of other races . Our problem is with retaining length.

I have received a lot of messages from people stating that they just cannot style their hair without direct heat. I feel your pain because for so much of life I believed only heat and professional stylists could tame my hair. I felt hapless when it came to caring for and styling my hair, and like many of you I was willing to pay almost any amout of money to anyone who claimed they could give my hair that well coiffed look.

The truth is you can style your hair without direct heat and I will prove it to you and even teach you how to do it for yourself.

First up is airdrying..... I'll never forget the first time I tried this my hair was a hot mess... There is just no other way to say it. I swore it off immediately but recently I revisited airdrying and I've found a system that works..

Here are my steps

Pre-poo

Wash

Coffee rinse

Deep condition

Applied leave-ins... I used our own moisturizing leave-in and shea butter moisturizer

Parted my hair down the middle and then ponytailed one section

Using a wide tooth comb to evenly sepaprate the hair I gently combed the section that was not in a ponytail. Take ponytail down and repeat on new section of hair.

The ends dried fairly quickly but the roots were still damp afvter many many hours so I sat under the hooded dryer for about 15-20 minutes on cool.

Afterwards, my hair was still very stiff so I added more moisturizer so that I could shape my hair and return the softness...

Now ya know I wouldn't leave you without pics

this is immediately after



and this is 3 days later...as you can see it got progressively better




Maintenance: I didn't wrap it because lately wrapping my hair has been causing serious tension on my edges. Instead I parted my hair down the middle and did 2 french braids and then slept on my pillow case... In the morning, I take down the braids and shake out...it does leave a little wave pattern to my hair but I like that

Protective style I tried after airdry