Straightening Black Hair

Straightening black hair does not mean you have to end up with flat, greasy, burnt hair! Using a ceramic flat iron is an effective and easy way to get relaxed or natural hair straight. Follow this step by step guide to get straight, silky hair that is swingalicious!

Step 1 - Cleansing Your Hair

The best way to prepare to straighten your hair is to start off with a clean slate.

Wash and deep condition your hair. Use a a moisturizing or spray leave-in conditioner like Salerm 21 or Motions Nourish and comb through your hair. Separate your hair into 4-8 sections and pin the sections up with duckbill clips.

Step 2 - Drying Safely

After shampooing and conditioning, you're ready for the next step in straightening black hair which is to get it dry.

Take one of the sections of hair and pull it taught with your hands. Take a blow dryer and on the cool setting, run the dryer up and down the hair until it is dry. Do not over dry it. Keep your hair in the 4-8 sections as you do this. Check out my review of the Chi Rocket Hair Dryer.

This part will take some time so you may as well get comfortable. Grab a chair and put it in the bathroom while you do it. Put on some music and grab some snacks!

Step 3 - Straightening Black Hair

Leaving your hair in the same 4-8 sections you are ready to begin straightening.

You'll need a high quality ceramic flat iron and a non-greasy heat protectant spray. Here are the most popular ceramic flat irons:

Solia Flat Iron
Sedu Flat Iron - My personal choice!
Chi Ceramic Flat Iron

It's much easier to straighten black hair when you make small individual 1 inch parts. You want to do this within each section that you've made.

Spray the section with the heat protectant and then quickly and smoothly, flat iron the section. Do this all over.

Step 4: Styling after Straightening

You're done at this point but you can take a ceramic curling iron and curl your ends or you can curl the hair with your flat iron.

If your edges are a little fuzzy, use the Tancho wax stick and brush them lightly. Then put on your scarf for 15 minutes or so. For tips on getting a smooth hair line, check out this article and get your edges to lay down.

Step 5: Maintenance to Keep the Straightness

At night, always detangle your hair. Add some Neutrogena Shine serum to the ends. You can then wrap your hair to preserve the straightness. You can also put your hair in a high ponytail and roll the ends for a slight curl using satin covered sponge rollers..

Put on a satin scarf. In the morning, take down your hair and gently comb through. Add a tad bit of serum if necessary and you're good to go. Click here to read my article on bed time care.

A few tips:

Your hair texture, whether it's relaxed or natural, it's damage level, and your knowledge of using flat irons will determine the temperate you need to get the best level of straightness.
Always start off with a lower temperate to see what works for you.
Do not over straighten your hair! If you're natural, this can lead to permanent straightness of your hair. This does typically happen if you use a high quality ceramic iron like Sedu or Chi.
Generally, it is not a good idea to straighten your hair more than once every two weeks. Give your hair a break in between with a roller set. Read my article on how to rollerset hair.
Save up this technique for special occasions.

I hope that my technique on straightening black hair has been helpful to you.. I love using this technique when I have a special occasion to attend like a wedding or a party.

If you'd like me to help you figure out a technique for you, please don't hesitate to contact me.