3 Tips for Stretching Your Natural Hair
Now that the weather is getting cooler, we know that many naturals like to wear their hair in a variety of stretched styles, such as blow outs, rod sets, flat twists and more. This blog post will explore three easy tips for stretching your natural hair.
Tip #1: Thoroughly Cleanse Your Hair to Get Rid of Any Oils, Butters, Grease or Product Build Up
It’s imperative that you thoroughly cleanse your hair with the appropriate shampoo type to properly remove environmental debris and product buildup from the scalp and hair. Based on how dirty your hair is will determine which shampoo you should use. We typically suggest using either a clarifying or all purpose shampoo.
“Clarifying shampoos are stronger shampoos designed to remove buildup from product and environmental sources allowing the bare hair strand to be exposed, whereas All Purpose shampoos are typically used more regularly (based on your individual lifestyle) and have the ability to remove dirt, oil, build up and environmental debris.”
Tip #2: Thoroughly Condition & Detangle Your Hair
As shampoo removes sebum, residual styling products, dead cells, environmental factors and dirt from the hair and scalp, it also lifts the cuticle slightly and allows water to swell the hair strand.
Conditioner reduces the swelling, shuts the cuticle down and leaves a layer of protection on the hair. The conditioning and detangling step is also crucial, as conditioner is your sealant that helps prep the hair for styling. Also, proper detangling will ensure that you rid your hair of any knots or tangles which will ensure that your hair is smooth for styling.
“Shampoo should always be followed by a quality rinse out or deep conditioner.”
Tip #3: Prep Your Hair Strands for Stretching Using a Heat Protectant, Leave-In Conditioner & Possibly a Blow Drying Cream
Below are steps we recommend that you follow to prep your hair for heat styling:
Towel dry your hair after you’ve thoroughly shampooed and conditioned. You want to leave a little bit of water behind, however your hair should be damp and not soaking wet. The water left behind helps to smooth the hair out and helps your products used for prep evenly distribute onto the hair.
Apply a heat protectant spray to your hair. Heat protectants help get your hair prepared for the heat source of your choice by using silicone compounds to coat the hair with a water-resistant and heat-protective layer.
Please note that this step only applies to those with coarse surface textures. We recommend that coarse surface textures use a blow drying cream to provide smoothness and weight to the hair. For individuals who don’t want their hair weighed down or with fine, silky hair strands can skip this step.
Apply a blow drying serum to add sheen/shine to the hair and to help reduce frizz.
“Pro Tip: All these prep products should be added to the hair before a heat source is used. You do not need to apply anything else to the hair, even if you decide to press it out after you blow dry.”
In need of more tips to achieve stretched styles on your natural hair? We have robust video content from blow outs, to rod sets, to flat twists available in our digital course community—The SeeSomeCurls Visual Library, with new video content available weekly.
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