My First Blow Out & Natural Hair Straightening

I know I haven't talked about hair much lately and it's because I haven't really done much different with my hair lately... that is, until now. A few months ago, I did a light blow out to attempt a braid out on stretched hair. While the blowing out was not easy, the outcome was worth it.

Yesterday, I decided to flat iron my hair after a year and 1/2 of being natural!! What?!?! Yes, I had been terrified because the first time I just used the blow dryer and it was a hot mess. Yes, it was... just wait you'll see in the pics. But, in true form, I've been researching the best way flat iron natural hair with the least amount of heat. 

My process: Sunday morning I co-washed, oil rinsed, detangle and applied my leave in. I then put my hair into twists (maybe 10 total), put a beanie on it and went to church. Yep, that's how I roll. :-)! Once I returned home, I took care of household stuff and around 6pm, I took down each "section", spritzed with a heat protectant and while it still damp, it was more manageable. Using the comb attachment on my dryer and using the "cool" setting only, I dried each section gently. 

As far as straightening, I used the chase method. A very common method of using a comb to guide the flat iron down the section of hair. This method allows for straighter hair with 1-2 passes of the flat iron. I used 250 degrees - there was no steam or burned hair smell and it worked like a charm once I got the hang of the comb. 

Here is a video of the chase method from one of the ladies I follow on YouTube. Her video is short and sweet. This is LHDC-TV and you should check out her channel:

 Okay, so now for the pics:

My Big Chop - July 26, 2013

My first "soft" blow out - August 2013 (excuse the crazy look)

My first braid out on blow out hair - August 2013

My first flat iron - Today

Man! My hair has grown! For fun - here's a comparison of me last year the first week of December.

Dec. 2012

Dec. 2013

My hair is longer now than before I big chopped! While I loved seeing my "true" length, I can't deny that my natural hair is still my preference. Yes, natural hair is unpredictable but it's effortless if we allow it to be and above all MY natural hair is healthy! 

How do you prefer your natural hair? Curly/Kinky, stretched, straight, twist/braid out?

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