Do your locks make you want to pull your hair out? We understand. As women, we spend a lot of time— and a fortune— trying to attain that perfect style. For women of colour, it’s even more problematic. Chemical treatments work, but they leave the strands dry and damaged.
Besides which, chemical treatments are permanent. What if you want to rock an afro one day and switch to smooth and sleek the next? You’ve probably wondered if there are methods to achieve natural hair straightening at home. Relax, we’ve got you covered. And there won’t be a chemical relaxer in sight.
In this post, we’ll let you know how to straighten hair naturally permanently or otherwise so that it stays sleek and sassy as long as you like.
Hair Straightening at Home Naturally
We’ve got the perfect answer to how to make hair straight and silky naturally for you. Our first method is not completely natural – you’ll need a hair iron. While heat occurs in nature, hot irons don’t, and it could dry out your locks a bit. Even so, it’s a lot better than chemical treatments.
It’s also perfect if you want quick and temporary hair straightening at home. If you’re really against using a straightening iron, then these natural tips will help you to learn how to keep your style smoother without using a hair straightener.
Before you check that out, though, why not choose your favourite hair-smoothing treatment at home from the methods below?
We’re not saying that you’ll never want to use your steam flat iron on natural hair again, but these methods will teach you how to straighten hair without heat damage. Also, when you do decide to find the best flat iron for natural hair, these treatments will help to protect your tresses. These treatments will help you keep your straight hair natural and beautiful-looking.
Coco/ Citrus Hair Strengthener
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
¼ cup full-cream coconut milk
This treatment couldn’t be simpler. Mix up the ingredients the night before you want to use them and place in the fridge. The next day, massage into your hair and scalp so that every strand is coated. Leave it on for half an hour before rinsing with a mild shampoo.
Doing this once a week will help keep your locks luscious and protect them from damage as the result of using a hair flat iron or other hair straightening tools. This recipe is one of our top strengthening treatments for preventing damage from hair straighteners. The coconut milk provides moisture and is a healthy hair straightener.
The lemon juice conditions the shaft for the next time you pull out your straightener—whether its the best flat iron for healthy hair or the worst!
Hot Oil Treatment
1 tbsp slightly warm coconut oil
1 tbsp castor oil
This mixture needs to be somewhat warm so that you can mix it. Applying it slightly warm will also give the best effects for temporary hair straightening at home. Mix well and then apply to your scalp right through to the ends.
Make sure the whole shaft is coated for the best straightener effect. Massage into the scalp for fifteen minutes. This massage invigorates the scalp and causes blood circulation to the scalp to increase.
Once the time is up, put on a shower cap and wrap your head in a warm towel. Leave on for another half an hour. To get the residue out, lather up a little shampoo and apply. Rinse and repeat.
This is deeply moisturising and perfect for damaged and dry locks. Repeat twice a week if you battle with frizz.
This treatment matches the results that you get from the top flat irons without all the damage. If you have a problem with dryness, this is the best hair-smoothing treatment at home.
Smooth as Milk
This is another ultra-easy treatment. Take a quarter cup of full-cream milk and spray it in. Each strand must be completely coated with it. Leave it on for half an hour, and then rinse and wash as normal.
Since we’ve been talking about the process of permanent hair straightening at home, this might seem like a method that’s way out there. Bear with us, though. The lactic acid in the milk soothes and straightens, while the fats in the milk act as a natural hair straightener and conditioner. Do this once or twice a week.
Olive Oil and Egg Mask
2 fresh eggs
3 tbsp decent-quality olive oil
Mix well and then apply. Massage it into the roots and brush through to the tips. Leave it in place for about an hour. Rinse out using a little shampoo lathered up together. Rinse again and then wash as normal.
Eggs contain tons of proteins and nutrients. These help to repair dryness and damage. The olive oil is nutrient dense and has similar properties to the natural sebum your body produces. This is a good hair straightener recipe that repairs damage to boot.
It’s a good recipe to use if you use a steam flat iron on natural hair. Even the best iron for natural hair will cause some damage. This treatment can limit that damage.
Using Bands
If you have long hair, friction is not your friend. This method prevents your hair from getting tangled while you sleep and helps it dry more naturally. This process should be done just after washing your hair.
Divide the hair into two equal pigtails, and secure loosely with bands. Place the bands along the length of the ponytail every five centimetres or so. The bands should be tight enough to hold things in place, but loose enough that they don’t leave marks.
Take a silk scarf and wrap it around your head loosely. Secure in place with bobby pins and let the locks dry naturally. This reduces the amount of friction experienced overall and stops tangling. It’s a great natural hair straightner for long, coarse tresses in particular.
Natural Black Hair Straightening Tips
Natural black hair is beautiful if you’re happy to leave it as is. If you want to tame some of the dryness and frizz, it’s going to take a little more work. We’re going to suggest using a good flat iron for natural black hair in conjunction with a keratin hair straightening treatment.
We do recommend doing some research into the best flat iron for natural black hair. You want to find a reputable brand that has developed their flat iron for natural African American hair.
Spending a bit more here to get a flat iron for black natural hair is going to be one of the best investments you’ll make. These products consider the tendency of the hair to become dry and brittle with too many heat treatments, and so use higher quality plates.
A titanium hair iron will be the best flat iron for natural hair as they require less heat to straighten the hair.
Don’t Overdo the Heat
We are going to make this proviso, though – don’t overdo the heat. Even the gentlest flat irons for natural hair are going to do some damage. Make sure also to give your hair a break every now and again. Learn fun ways to style your hair naturally and make sure you give it a lot of TLC.
Letting your hair rest occasionally will help to prevent heat damage and also keep your hair more manageable. Why not try some of the treatments that we outlined in the previous section for a change every week to help strengthen and repair your tresses.
We also recommend using a treatment that helps to protect the hair before you start to heat set it. Coconut oil is a good choice here and will help tame frizzy fly-aways.
If you do need to heat set, we’d recommend using the lowest setting you can get away with. Keep it on your locks for the minimum amount of time possible. Otherwise, they’re just going to fry.
Use a Keratin Hair Treatment
In a perfect world, you would be perfectly happy with your hair, and leave it styled all the time naturally. We don’t live in a perfect world, and we all want more options with our hair. Using a keratin treatment is going to be the best approach as far as how to get straight hair naturally permanently, or as close to it as possible.
The advantage of this treatment is that the effects are longer-lasting. It’s the best straightener for natural hair outside of a professional hair tool or salon visit. The results will last for at least a few weeks.
More importantly, though, you don’t have to worry about heat styling your hair every day. Now, we’re all about natural treatments, but here we’ll make an exception. If you use heat styling every day instead, all it requires is some humidity to undo your efforts.
A keratin treatment will mean not having to use all that heat, and so it won’t do nearly as much damage. A bonus is that keratin is a naturally occurring protein that repairs the shaft. As a result, the treatment will also help to restore some of the proteins that your locks need.
Do I Need to Go to the Salon?
A professional stylist will say that you must go to the salon for a keratin treatment. That’s out-dated advice. Home care products have changed a lot since they started hitting the market. Manufacturers are beginning to understand hair better and are creating products more suited to a variety of hair types.
Just stick a reputable brand and a high-quality iron, and you’ll be fine.
Keratin Hair Straightening Treatments
Our final tip is on how to get permanent straight hair is to use your home treatment with a high-quality keratin flat iron. Our favourite product is the Silver Bullet Keratin Gold Titanium Hair Straightener (See full review).
We love this keratin flat iron because:
· You have a choice of three different plate sizes: The biggest plate will allow you to cover 50 per cent more hair. That means less time spent styling and less heat exposure.
· You get to choose if you want titanium or ceramic plates: Titanium is better if you have a strong curl because the ions it produces help speed up the time it takes to flatten out the kinks.
· You can adjust the heat: The maximum setting is 230°C, but you can adjust this down if you like. That means that you get to find the perfect setting for you.
· Fast and even heat distribution: For the best results with a keratin hair straightener, you need heat fast and evenly applied.
· It’s also a keratin curling iron: It features the patented surround heat tech to help lock in your style for longer. You can curl or flatten as you prefer.
· Advanced plate design: The plates float on the handles. This helps it glide.
· Settings can’t be changed accidentally: The settings are inside the handle. This means no accidentally knocking them to the wrong settings.
· The settings are variable: Choose the right one for you.
· You get a lot of extra goodies with your purchase: You get a styling comb, paddle brush, sectioning clips and handy pouch to store everything in.
· The keratin flat iron reviews are great: Those that try this keratin straightner rave about it. The most common comment is that it makes keratin hair straightening at home look like it was done professionally.
Use Your Keratin Hair Styler to Lock in Your Keratin Straightener Treatment
Using this keratin smoothing iron gives you salon-quality results at a fraction of the price. Your friends won’t believe that you used a keratin-infused flat iron. Let them in on the secret and encourage them to buy their own keratin straighteners, and you’ll be their hair hero. The key is to choose a reputable brand and treatment product according to Cosmo.
Finding the Right Product
Be sure to check what other users are saying about the product. Look for a product that has overwhelmingly good reviews. Next look at the ingredients. If Formaldehyde is one of them, move along. Also, look out for chemicals that release formaldehyde like:
· Glyoxal
· Polyoxymethylene Urea
· Diazolidinyl Urea
· Imidazolidinyl Urea
· Sodium Hydroxymethylglycinate
· Quaternium-15
· Methyl Glycol
· DMDM Hydantoin
Stay away from these formulations. They make it easier to get rid of kinks, but Formaldehyde is not a safe chemical to be around.
Preparation
Get a clarifying shampoo that removes residue from the strands and scalp. Hit the showers and massage the shampoo into your scalp and through to the ends until it forms a rich lather. Leave in for about three minutes or so, rinse out and then repeat.
Dry Your Hair Properly
These products work best when on dry locks.
Divide into Equal Sections
Divide the hair into at least four even sections and clip securely into place. If you have thicker locks, make more sections. You want to be able to get the product on each strand and then be able to heat it evenly.
Follow the Manufacturer’s Instructions
This isn’t the time to wing it – read the directions carefully and follow them to the letter. You’re going to want to coat each strand evenly to a point where it’s covered. Comb it section by section to help the distribute it properly. Clip each section away and leave it in according to instructions.
Get to the Treatment Part
It’s not the product that sets the treatment—it’s the heat. Normally you don’t have to rinse the product out first. Just check what your instructions say and dry as directed.
Now Use the Iron
Don’t forget to check what the optimal temperature for the product is and don’t go above that. Style using the iron, section by section, and you’re done.
Final Tips
- You should normally let the product sit there for three days without washing it out. You can use dry shampoo to keep things tidy if need be but avoid styling it.
- You’ll want to avoid clips and ponytails for at least the first two days, so find a more relaxed, messy style.
- Maximise your results by using a sulphate-free shampoo when necessary. The less you mess with your hair, the longer the results will last.
- Crazy sleeper – check out these steps to help keep your hair straight and under control at night.
Conclusion
There you have it. Three great ways to tame unruly tresses. The natural recipes that we suggested will work whether your hair is coarse or fine. If yours tends towards fine, leave the ingredients in for a shorter period and stick to once a week.
When it comes to African American hair, learning how to get permanent straight hair is tougher. That doesn’t mean that you need to resort to harsh relaxers or chemicals, though. These products will end up doing more harm than good – it’s better to stick to something more natural. You’ll need a bit of extra help to loosen the bonds in each additional strand. The Silver Bullet helps you get salon-quality results at home with far less damage. It can help you with day-to-day styling or locking in your keratin product.
The advantage of using treatment of this nature is that it offers semi-permanent results. It does alter the chemical bonds to relax the hair a little. This is not nearly as damaging as formaldehyde-based treatments, though.
Overall, it’s basic common sense. Learn to work with more natural styles, nourish and protect each strand, and keep heat styling to a minimum.
On a mission to learn more about your hair? See more hair articles here.