The Best Way to Get Straight Hair Without Damaging Your Luscious Locks
All you need is pins, product, and patience!
I love reading about anything beauty related. I love trying new makeup, hairstyles, and beauty hacks.
I usually write about pretty heavy topics, but I’ve decided to try writing about another passion of mine: Beauty.
I have had curly, dry hair for years. Anyone who has curly hair feels my pain: It tangles, dreads, and sheds. I love my natural hair, but combing out tangles every day was damaging it severely.
Recently, I decided that a change in my haircare routine is essential. Since we are under lockdown and I have some free time, I decided to try a different method and it worked!
The old way wasn’t working so it was time to try something new!
Do you want shiny, straight hair without using heat tools? Try this!
We all know that the use of heat tools can cause hair damage. My type of hair (dry, coarse, fine) cannot tolerate heat at all and even using it once a month will damage it.
After my wedding, I could feel the damage from getting my hair styled for “the big day”.
When I let my hair go natural for more than one day, it ends up tangled and frizzy. Each day, I was losing a lot of hair from combing out the tangles!
I decided I wanted to try something different, so I researched ways to straighten my hair naturally and came across something called “wet-wrapping”.
This technique has been used for years by people of color to smooth their hair or keep it smooth after relaxing. It is heat-free and has resulted in me finally having the shiny, bouncy hair I’ve always wanted!
Basically, after shampooing and conditioning, you apply a styling product and wrap your hair, pinning and smoothing it as you go.
The smoother and tighter you wrap, the better the results. I have tried many versions of this but the one that worked best for my hair type was by a young “beautuber” named Krazyrayray.
This is a hack I’ve tried many variations of until I found a version that worked well. There are many ways to wrap hair.
This is the most common way, called the “doobie wrap”. This beautiful beau tuber, Novacashh, does an amazing job of explaining the process!
A few tips I have learned about wet-wrapping:
- I suggest trying both ways of wet-wrapping to see which one works for you.
- This hack works better on hair that isn’t layered but I have gotten good results with layered hair. However, it requires a lot of patience and product!
- For this method, you can use gel, serum, or hair cream.
- I use a small amount of good smoothing cream on my hair before wrapping. I use John Frieda’s “Straight Fixation” creme to smooth my wet hair. The primer from the same line also works well.
- The amount of product you use will depend on your hair type. My hair is bra-strap length and I use a quarter-sized dollop of cream.
- This hack takes a few tries to perfect. Don’t give up if it doesn’t work well the first time!
- It usually takes a few hours for your hair to dry when it’s wrapped. Most people wrap their heads with a scarf and sleep with the wrap intact.
- I use a silk skirt slip to cover my hair at night to maintain the style. You can use any soft material, but silk or satin is best. If you have fragile hair, cotton can snag the hair and cause damage.
- I use pins similar to these:
- Some people prefer using bobby-pins. Regardless of the type of clip you use, try not to pin your hair too thick or else you will get creases in your ‘do.
- This will give you a natural-straight look with bounce and shine, not a pin-straight style.
- If you want pin-straight hair, you can use this method and then touch your hair up with a flat iron.
I wet wrapped my hair yesterday and these are the results:
As you can see, it’s not perfect, but it smoothed my hair quite a bit!
I like the results of this method because it looks natural and I still maintain my volume without damaging my hair!
Curly hair is beautiful but we all need a change once in a while.
In my case, I have learned that straight hair is better for my hair type, I spend less time trying to get it to behave and more time doing the things I love!
If you want a change, try this method. Remember that patience yields results and always deep condition weekly.
Amy Cottreau is a freelance writer who hails from a small city in Atlantic Canada. She enjoys interacting with fellow writers, dreaming of ideas for her next article, and researching a myriad of topics.
