I’ve gotten a few questions regarding straightening my hair, so here are the answers…

Q. Do you put Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) in your hair before the heat protectant or after?

A. I use EVOO before the heat protectant. On freshly washed hair, I apply EVOO (and sometimes a leave in conditioner), then blowdry. 

Q. How much EVOO do you use?

A. I section my hair into 4 quadrants before I blowdry it and I use a little more than a quarter sized amount of EVOO in each quadrant. I pay extra attention to my ends

Q. Do you blowdry then flat iron?

A. Yes, I blowdry my hair first on medium heat, to dry it, not straighten it, then I flat iron. 

Q. When do you apply the heat protectant and EVOO?

A. First, I apply the EVOO to wet hair, then blowdry. I do not apply the heat protectant to blow dry my hair because blow drying on medium isn’t enough heat to cause heat damage to my hair. 

Second, I apply the heat protectant to each small parted section just before I flat iron it. I make sure to smooth it very well over the length of my hair. 

Q. How do you not have heat damage?

A. It probably depends a lot on hair texture and resilience. I know some people can get heat damage just from blow drying their hair. The most important thing is to know your hair and know what it can take. Obviously, everyone can’t do the same things, or even the same way. 

To flat iron, I never use temperatures greater than 350 degrees. I do 2-3 passes per section. I’ve read others say that they set the temperature to 450 degrees and do one pass. I’m pretty sure my hair (and probably yours too) would burn at 450 degrees. I’d rather use a lower temperature setting and pass the flat iron over each section an additional time or two, until I achieve the straightness I desire. 

While I’m flat ironing, I make sure that I don’t see steam or anything coming from the flat iron as I’m passing it through my hair. That would be my indication that the temperature is too high. I cringe when I see videos of hairstylists flat ironing and there’s a ton of steam as they flat iron. 

Just because you think your hair is coarse or extra curly, it doesn’t mean you need more heat to straighten your hair. Your strands could actually be fine and require less heat. 

Tip: It’s better to start at a low temperature and adjust it up accordingly, than to start at a high temperature and unnecessarily burn your hair. 

In addition, always test out the temperature on a small section before continuing to do your entire head. 

Hope this helps! 

XOXO,

Rece