Sleek Straight

 

 

Always start any thermal styling process with clean dry hair, after a good shampoo and conditioning. Use a leave- in conditioner to protect the hair during the drying and thermal styling. A build up from previous styling will only result in stickiness, clumping and possible damage, so cleansing the hair before thermal styling is essential. However, the hair must be completely dry

Use the right sized tool for your hair. Unless your hair is well past your shoulders in length, you should choose a flat iron that is approximately 1"- 1 1/2" wide. The smaller tools offers better control, is lighter in weight, and therefore much wider to handle.

Work with the hair in manageable sections and use only as much heat as necessary to straighten the hair. If you try to straighten too much hair at once, you end up with an uneven application of heat, as the hair against the heating plates gets most of the heat, while the hair in the middle isn't heated enough.

Divide your hair in sections no wider than the heating plates of the iron and straighten slices no thicker than half the width of your flat iron. By working with small sections and slices, you can apply the heat evenly, and get the desired straighten with fewer passes of the iron. 

There is also the danger of damaging and burning the hair if you use too high a setting iron. You should always test the heat level of your iron if you are unsure of how hot the iron gets. Take a piece of tissue paper that has been misted with water and place it between the heating elements. If the paper scorches, then lower the heat setting.

Use a light amount of styling product to maximize the life of the style. By lightly misting the slices you are straightening with a bit of hairspray and allowing it to dry fully.