The Results of a Blow Dry and Flat Iron on My Natural Hair

Greetings all!  This week I decided to go and get my hair flat ironed.  I've been contemplating it for the last few weeks, as this is the month of my big chop 2 years ago.  In December 2008 I cut off the remaining permed ends of my hair and sported 6 inches of natural hair.  I called a shop

that is known to specialize in natural hair and asked a million questions before heading over on Wednesday.  I was very skeptical to go because of my fears of heat damage and getting a scissor happy stylist, however I took a deep breath and headed over to the shop.  I met the stylist and asked about the products used.  She informed me that they used a lot of aveda products.  When she got ready to wash my hair I asked if she could use a shampoo without sulfates or a shampoo for colored hair.  She said that she understood, but first wanted to show me what she typically uses.  It was a clarifying shampoo, which she would then follow up with a moisturizing shampoo, and then follow up with a deep conditioner.  I thought about how my hair was well moisturized with olive oil and shea butter (my daily staples), so I counted that as  pre- conditioning.  I also thought about how I haven't used a shampoo to clarify in probably 2 years and went ahead and agreed this one time.  When the stylist got ready to put the deep conditioner on, I asked what type of comb she uses to comb the conditioner through.  To my surprise she had a large tooth comb ( I had honestly packed my large detangling comb in my purse because I had experienced a detangling nightmare with another stylist in the past).  I asked if she used a heat protectant.  She said that she used another product that protects the hair because some protectants leave the hair with a residue or film on it. I looked at the ingredients on her bottle and it looked ok.  She blow dried my hair with such ease, that I was really impressed.  She didn't pull my hair excessively or yank my head when combing through my mass of natural hair.  The stylist blow dried my hair without using excessive heat, as I didn't feel any heat burning my neck, etc.  Once done, she used a babybliss flat iron to smooth my hair.  Then she suggested that my ends needed some trimming.  I asked how much did she need to take off and she showed me 2 inches of hair. I told her that I measure my hair ( had to let her know that I keep an eye on my length -LOL) and that I would love for her to trim those pesky split ends, however only if she agreed not to obsessively try to even up my hair, as I wear it curly 98% of the time.  She finally agreed and trimmed my ends.  She curled it tightly and my hair looked nice.  When she got done with my hair I asked what did she spray on when she was curling, as I asked was it a holding spray.  The stylist said "no" I don't like holding spray.  I felt relieved, however when I asked to see the bottle I noticed that the first ingredient was alcohol.  I was a little disappointed as even in the past ( 2 other occasions) that I've had my hair flat ironed, I never allow products with alcohol on my hair.  I was so worried about everything else with the styling that I forgot to tell her that I don't put alcohol on my hair, as I don't want to take chances with drying and breakage.  This was my mishap, as I forgot to communicate this to her, so I just sucked it up.  I figured I could attempt to counteract it later with some shea butter or moisture until wash day.  When I got home I measured my hair and it measures at 14' to 15 1/2 inches in some areas.  My hair is longer on the right side than it is on the left.  I kept trying to figure it out, until I finally remembered that I told her not to even it up, just cut the split ends (LOL).  I'm happy with the overall results.  I've been maintaining my hair by wrapping it at night.  It's starting to flatten down though because I have this thing with adding some type of moisture to my ends.  From day one I have massaged a small amount of shea butter to the ends of my hair in the morning and at night.  Again I'm happy with the overall result, and I felt as if the stylist worked with me, listened to what I was asking, and had patience to deal with my many questions and suggestions.  Next time, I'm going to write down all of my questions and comments ahead of time so that I don't forget anything.  It's funny, out of all of the questions that I asked about products, I was so nervous that I can't recall the exact name of any of them.  I just remember that they were made by aveda.  Next time I will definitely take notes.

Check out upcoming youtube video of my flat iron results on my youtube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/barbnaturallyspeakin