Transitioning hair is neither easier nor harder but merely a different way to leave chemical straighteners in your past and embrace a more natural method of hair care. Women who choose to transition are usually on the hunt for hairstyles and methods to make working with two textures easier. Damaging their strands is also high on the list of what not to do, so it comes as no surprise that many are leery on some popular straightening methods. Tanya.Bryant posed her question on our Curly Q&A section, and while she may not be transitioning, these tips can help her decrease the potential for thermal damage.
Question
I am 6 months natural. Am I supposed to let my hair air-dry now only or can I still blow-dry it?
Answer
Air-drying is always going to be less damaging than blow-drying. The combination of heat and tension with a comb attachment or brush can cause breakage along the hair shaft, especially at the line of demarcation. If blow-drying better enables you to style your hair, then try incorporating the steps below to protect your hair from further damage, as transitioning hair is fragile.
Deep condition
After cleansing your hair make sure to deep condition. Never skip deep conditioning when you cleanse your hair, as it moisturizes and strengthens the hair. Moisturizing treatments should always be done prior to any type of heat-styling or manipulation to your hair.
Heat protectant
Apply a heat protectant prior to using any thermal tools. Heat protectants are usually formulated with silicones, which coat the hair and reduce the potential for damage. Using a thermal protectant might not be necessary if you are only using cool air for your blow-dryer, but it is still necessary if you decide to straighten.
Use the lowest or the coolest setting on your blow-dryer. Heat on transitioning hair can be the enemy, as it can rob your hair of moisture and may cause damage. To minimize that make sure you are using the lowest setting that will allow you to still blow-dry effectively without harming your curls. You can have a beautiful blow-out that is not bone straight, which is great if you love volume.
No high heat
Watch the temperature. This can be gaged by the current condition of your hair. Is your hair coarse, fine, color-treated, or damaged? The finer and more damaged the strands, the lower the temperature. If you are straightening, then the rule of thumb is usually nothing over 350 degrees. Coarser (not tighter”> textures can usually resists higher temperatures, but it should be monitored.
How To Blow Dry Transitioning Hair | Tension Method
JourneyToWaistLength gives a quick and easy way to successfully blow-dry your transitioning hair using the tension method on a cool setting. This gives her braid-out a uniform look from the relaxed and natural hair despite their very different textures. It is a great way to stave off tangles, dry your hair quickly and keep a gorgeous look for up to a week or longer.
These tips can be used by everyone who wants to limit their chances of heat damage, especially transitioners. Transitioning is a beautiful journey and we just want it to be positive and productive.
Let’s play a game. What do you think of when you hear the word “mousse?” If you’re anything like me, it may bring up associations with crunchy curls, the 80s, and drying alcohols, but you should know that things have changed. Hairstyles, techniques, brands, and product formulas have all evolved since the days of teased, crispy curls. But because we still get flashbacks when we pick up a bottle of mousse, we spoke with a few curly hair experts about when to use mousse, who should be using mousse today – and who shouldn’t.
Why use a mousse?
Brooke Michie, curl stylist and owner of Lyric Salon in Austin, Texas, first made me reconsider mousse when she used it in Grace’s wavy hair transformation. She loves using mousse on her curly haired clients because it’s “easy to apply, economical per use, has buildable coverage and hold, and can be layered with so many other types of products.”
Maya Smith, International Master of Natural Curls and founder of The Doux®, a haircare line she created specifically for naturally curly hair, says mousse can be used for “any style that requires definition and light hold. It can be used not only to set wash & go’s, but for twist outs and rod sets as well.”
As I’ve been starting to experiment with mousse more, I’ve wondered if I can use it on my dry hair as a refresher on second-day hair. According to Maya, “Mousse is best applied to wet hair for Wash & Go styling, but it can also be used to set a dry twist-out and to redefine the curl pattern. I wouldn’t recommend using it to replenish moisture on next-day hair.”
What causes that crunch?
Maya says, “It’s common for mousse to be combined with gel or cream because most mousse on the market contain alcohol to make the hair dry faster. They are also polymer-rich, which creates a sticky coating on the hair, much like a hairspray. This can leave hair feeling dry and stiff. We formulated our Mousse Def as an all-in-one solution for this problem. It creates the shine and definition of a mousse, yet leaves hair soft and touchable with no flaking.”
Maya recommends watching out for ingredients such as sodium laurel sulfate (SLS, Isopropyl, and Prolyene, which “have been found to cause breakage and dry out your hair). The best way to achieve healthy hair is to have that balance between protein and moisture.”
Brooke says it depends on the mousse, “lightweight, airy mousse or foam is great for wavy hair. Denser mousse is great for 2s and 3s and as a thin layer of added hold for more definition over a moisture foundation for well-hydrated 4s even!” For Maya, it depends on the hairstyle: “I recommend mousse for hair up to Type 4B, depending on the desired results.”
But before you rule mousse out for your Type 4C coils, Gerilyn Hayes, NaturallyCurly Senior Copywriter, loves using mousse on her 4C wash and go (like Camille Rose Spiked Honey Mousse). “I use about 5-6 pumps of mousse in my hair after shampooing and conditioning. I do this because I want to make sure that I’m starting with a clean scalp and curls that are free from any other previous products. And because my curls are very coarse and need lots of hydration, I make sure that my curls are soaked with water (which is why the shower is great for applying mousse to my hair).
To avoid product and water getting into my eyes, I flip my head over and scrunch my curls’ ends to my scalp. Although I do not have a lot of length, I still use this ends-to-root scrunching method to get the optimal curl definition. Sometimes I rake the mousse through my curls and then wrap them in a scarf, giving them more shine. Although rake versus scrunching may look similar to any onlooker, the textural differences are apparent to me!”
Who shouldn’t use mousse?
“Curls with moisture as the number one priority,” says Brooke, “or those who don’t need a product with general hold, but seek more of a product/product combo to hydrate than seal.” So if your curls are thirsty and your top priority is moisture, then you may want to opt for something like the LOC Method, which layers a leave-in for moisture, an oil to seal in the moisture, and then a cream for hold.
When to use mousse
Brooke prefers “the lightest weight mousse (she loves Bread Beauty Supply Hair Foam) in wavy hair for primary, general hold,” and this is how she recommends applying it:
On freshly rinsed detangled hair in the shower, glaze a small amount over the surface area of the hair.
Then flip and glaze another small amount over the underneath surface area.
Then, apply the majority of it via scrunching and distribute it in your palms, making sure not to flatten the airiness of the foam.
Before scrunching the ends of the hair up toward the scalp with a flat palm into a clenched fist motion, rotating your head to reach curls on either side.
Once a leave-in or moisture foundation is either combed through or scrunched in sopping wet hair.
Then add a little denser mousse by finger combing detangled sections, or for longer curls, scrunching as above.
“This will create a cast of hold,” says Brooke, but before you worry about the crunch, remember you need to break that cast by scrunching out the crunch. “Release the cast once hair is fully dry by touching curls gently, or scrunching once more to release the wet-looking hold that was necessary during the drying process to maximize definition.”
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