As you know this is “wash and go” season, and many of the blogs you read or even the videos you might watch will be showing you awesome techniques that are geared towards a dope ‘wet based’ style.
The thing is, not all of us wash and go during the summer, some of us actually still use heat as part of a stretch regimen for our natural hair.
If you like to stretch your hair and keep it stretched for weeks at a time the hot humid Summer months will be a challenge for you unless you know what to do to combat it. Here are 5 ways to keep your hair stretched during the Summer days.
Straight hair for a whole month might not be realistic
Let us set some expectations depending on where you live. If you live in areas that have a dry heat then you can probably get away with straight hair for a week or two. If the weather is humid, you might get one week straight and the other weeks with big curls from flexi rods*, perm rods* or rollers.
Either way, your hair remains stretched enough to avoid single strand knots and you also get to do some cute styles other than just bone straight.
Get a weather app that tells you when humid days are ahead
If you can determine when humid days are coming then you will know just what to do with your hair. On humid days, I wear a cute top knot regardless if my hair is curly or straight.
Sometimes you cannot fight the frizz even if you use a ton of frizz ‘be gone’ products so the best thing to do is put your hair away for the day. The protective style will do you some good anyway!
Leave the flat iron alone
If you have bone straight hair from the first style do not keep using the flat iron every time you see a little shrinkage.
Like I mentioned use other tools to get a heatless stretch, like flexi rods*, braid and curls with perm rods, corn rows with perm rods* or flat twists with perm rods. You have to maintain the health of your hair during the Summer and too much heat will lead to heat damage.
Set your hair with coconut oil at night
Coconut oil* is a great barrier against the humidity so if you want a sleek set, use a little coconut oil* on your hair before putting in your hair tools.
You can also use products like heat protectants or silicone based serums to block the humidity but sometimes using a healthy oil like coconut oil is better.
Deep condition with protein
During the Summer we can lose protein in our stands and if you do heat style it is imperative that you use protein as part of a regular deep conditioning* regimen.
You can do a DIY protein treatment using eggs or greek yogurt or you can purchase a protein based deep conditioner* to help keep your hair strong.
There is nothing wrong with keeping up with your stretched styles during the Summer days you just have to use a few tricks to beat the weather.
This post was first seen on www.emilycottontop.com
