In my intrepid quest to keep on trying new hairstyles, I spoke to my hairdresser about straightening my hair. I wanted to try it for a number of reasons:
1. I had seen it on a lot of YouTube videos and thought it would be cool to see how my hair would look like straight. This was a way of assessing how long it had grown and to continue showing It’s Natural readers that natural hair is versatile.
2. I reasoned that if I suffered extreme heat damage, resulting in a permanent loss/alteration of my natural curl pattern, then cutting off all my hair would not hurt as much, since I had only been growing it for a year anyway. I was prepared to lose my hair if it went wrong.
3. Since my last visit to the barber shop in April 2010, I had never actually trimmed my hair. Previously, I religiously trimmed my hair every six to eight weeks. This was during my relaxed days and during my 5 years with dreadlocks.
So, I went in for a treatment and then, my hair dresser proceeded to blow out my hair and then straighten it with a flat iron. As I sat in the chair and looked in the mirror, I could not believe what I was seeing. I was texting my friends like mad. My natural hair was long straight as though relaxed. I was happy to learn that my untrimmed hair only had some dry ends, but no unhealthy wisps or split ends. I was very happy, actually.
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| It felt a little weird at first, but I soon got used to it |
I got in my car to drive home and kept checking my rear-view mirror in excitement. Was I excited to have straight hair? Not really. I was more excited that I had done something completely different and unexpected, which would cause friends and family to do a double take.
I stopped off at the shopping centre and was amazed how my hair was bouncing and swinging on it’s own, each time I turned my head, even slightly.
I prayed that it would not rain and quickly made my way to and from the car park, into the store and back again.
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| This is how the hair looked from the top/back |
As it happened, I needn’t have worried about anything. It didn’t rain and I suffered no heat damage whatsoever. In fact, I left the salon around 6pm. By 8pm, my hair had already begun to shrink. So, by the time I got to my friend’s place and had her take these pictures at 9pm, my hair had shrunk from my shoulder to the nape of my neck. It basically looked like a regular blow-out that high school girls do. I was very disappointed that no one (except my hair dresser), got to see how great my straightened hair looked.
I tried to read up on why my hair reverted so quickly, and I think it is because I only used the iron about three times on my hair. Some of the sites I read said you should pass the iron over your hair 10 to 15 times. I guess that makes sense, but I think I scared the life out of my hair dresser since I went in convinced I would lose my hair so she exercised extra caution.
Most of what I have also read, advises not to heat style your hair too much. Especially flat ironing it. So, I will try this again in about six months, when my hair needs another major trim. I have the intervening months to decide if I will be willing to suffer permanent heat damage and chop it off of things go wrong.
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| I just love this picture and had to put it on here |
By the following morning, my hair had shrunk almost completely. This was aided by sleep, although the top remained soft and fly-away. I wore my hair in a afro puff and afro for the rest of the week. It was very easy to style because the hair itself was so soft and very light.
In truth, I didn’t like it very much because my hair was just so light. It didn’t have it’s usual weight, and of course texture. I like texture. Also, I got the impression (though probably imagined), that my normally black hair looked brownish. That I most definitely did NOT like.
ZedHair 
Atleast I got to see it. The perks of being a "photographer " enjoying zedhair. Loved the article on Carol. Maybe, one day I will take the plung.
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