by DHA's DIY | Apr 28, 2022 | Dominican Blowout, Roller Setting
Ways and Reasons to Successful Dominican Blowouts
In the Dominican Republic, conditioning treatments are applied like clockwork, every week at the salon, where women often spend hours being pampered and beautified while socialising with friends, family and neighbours who also share their steadfast commitment to keeping themselves beautiful.
Hairdressers are regular and efficient with trims and their customers oblige; they can see that their hair is growing lengthy and lush as easily as they glimpse the flashes of silver as the stylist puts the shears to work. It’s as essential an element to their results-based beauty regimen as the multiple applications of conditioner.
Speaking of which, even when Dominican hair is done at home, the routine doesn’t alter. Usually, there are not just two but four or five conditioning steps of a Dominican blowout; sometimes including a pretreatment which takes the number up to five.
Dominican Blowout: 5 steps of conditioner options you can use
BUT WHAT DOES IT DO???
Using several conditioners allows each to provide the hair with its unique benefits (e.g., one product, typically the deep conditioner will add strength, while the rinse-out conditioner adds detangling slip). And all conditioning layers either infuse or seal in moisture; the key factor in shiny, healthy hair.
With Dominican blowouts, when it comes to taking hair from coils and spirals to straight, well-moisturised strands are also much more flexible and amenable to styling so it’s easier to smooth them out. In addition, well-conditioned curls are usually markedly looser, so using several strong conditioners back to back actually takes out some of the straightening work.
Dominican Blowout: WHY ROLLER-SET THEN BLOWDRY?
Using two levels of straightening is also key to a Dominican Blowout, as are the types of straightening methods used. Rather than blowdry wet hair at a high temperature, exposing it to direct heat which could literally boil the water inside the strands and crack the hair shaft, a Dominican stylist will usually dry the hair in rollers first, under a dryer.
This has a trio of benefits:
- Lower stress to the hair from limiting exposure to direct heat
- Roller-set hair is smoother and bouncier, making it easier to finish the job with the blowdryer and allowing for extra straight and extra flowing end results.
- Longer lasting straightness
A Dominican stylist will often forego a flat iron, so limiting again the exposure to damaging direct heat, though some will run it through the hair quickly to “seal in” the straightness so the look, of the Dominican blowout, lasts longer.
Dominican Blowout: WHY DON’T THEY LEAVE SOME CONDITIONER IN?
A surprising aspect of Dominican Blowouts is that, despite the many layers of conditioning, leaving a lot of product in the hair is not encouraged. Dominican hairdressers are usually extra-judicious about rinsing every last drop of conditioner from your hair, to the amazement of many first-time clients since, in mainstream hairdressing, leaving some of the conditioner in has long been de rigeur.
But after generations of honing their technique, Dominican stylists have realised that minimising the amount of product in the hair not only allows it to have more movement, it also means that the stylist has a better idea of when the hair is actually straight as she moves from section to section.
Hair that is weighed down with excessive grease or heat protectants will often temporarily appear straight during the styling process only to revert soon after. Using less product means the stylist can tell easily when the hair is straight enough. And getting the hair properly straight at the outset means that the straightness of the Dominican Blowout will be more longlasting.
by DHA's DIY | Apr 17, 2022 | Dominican Blowout, Roller Setting, Straight Hair, Hair Straightening, Rollerset, Silk PRESS, Thicker Hair
Roller sets: Why is it that Dominicans insist on rollersetting hair, when they could just straighten it with a blowdryer?
The lofty place of los rolos in the famed Dominican method of hair straightening is not without reason.
Roller sets give your straightened hair that extra edge, volume and vitality. Here’s how. . .
Roller sets = Less heat
Using rollers as a step in straightening your hair means your strands spend less time in contact with direct heat, which is the most damaging form of heat for your hair.
The rollers stretch your hair out and smooth it out as it dries under the hood dryer, allowing you to build in straightness before you go toe-to-toe with the blowdryer, and possibly the flat iron.
Blowdrying hair from wet is a no-no in the Dominican tradition. In contrast, when you roller set first, by the time you use the other tools, a lot of the straightening has already happened, meaning you need less direct heat time to achieve your desired look.
Roller sets = More volume
The big curl given by the rollers (for a traditional Dominican Blowout, your stylist will use the biggest size roller your hair can take, in order to maximise stretch), imprints your hair with volume, all the while temporarily smoothing away your natural curl. This tension-based, more 3D method of straightening – as opposed to the flattening effect of the flat iron – conserves and builds in body, leaving your hair as full as it is smooth when done.
Roller sets = More smoothness
Getting the hair to lie tautly stretched over a roller as it dries has a strong smoothing effect that just can’t be replicated with a blowdryer or a flat iron.
Done right, rollersetting is tension-based straightening that takes advantage of your hair’s flexibility when wet, allowing the roller set to mould your hair into straightness – as opposed to nearly melting it and deforming it, which is what direct heat styling tools do.
Just make sure you avoid common rolling mistakes and use the right methods and products to ensure your hair lies smooth on the roller – and the right rollers to maximise the stretch, with minimum impact on your hair.
Roller sets = Hair with movement
Rollers give your hair some serious bounce and flow! The curved shape which the rollers form your hair into comes with its own spring. And not only that: using a roller set beforehand preserves precious moisture, and moisture = movement.
Straightened hair can often suffer from lack of movement when achieved by blowdryer, flat iron or pressing comb alone.
This is largely because the hair loses so much moisture after sustained straightening at higher, direct heat, which has a stiffening effect.
An authentic Dominican stylist will lay your hair in rollers under the dryer before even contemplating the blowdryer. And by the time she unravels the springy roller set, your hair has some serious movement to it, most of which will stay intact during the blowdry phase, as, in the Dominican Blowout – despite the name – this part is kept to a minimum, reducing the stress on your hair.
Roller sets = Straighter hair
Even if you’re pressing your hair old-school with a hot comb, getting some of the curl out beforehand with the rollers means you can get your hair more straightened before it reaches the point of resistance, which most of us know only too well.
After a certain amount of time under the blowdryer, flat iron or pressing comb, healthy hair tends to reach a point where it refuses to be straightened any further. Usually, when this happens, you have to hit it up again the next day – meaning more heat, which is not good at all for your tresses.
Rollers are just about the best way to stretch out your cur beforehand, meaning you start the manual straightening process with hair that’s already partway straight.
Stretching your hair beforehand means you get to maximise the impact of the time during which your hair is straightened with direct heat, since you give it a little headstart. It also means you spend less time using these tools in your tresses – a very hair healthy bonus.
Using a combination of methods always gives your straightened hair more mileage. When a Dominicana rollersets your hair, blows it out and then wraps it into el Doobie, your hair gets imprinted with a multilayered straightness, allowing it to stay straight for longer. A Dominican Blowout can last a good 1-2 weeks, especially if you know the right way to stretch your Blowout. A whole lot of that longer-lasting straightness is due to the amazing stretching powers of a roller set.
Ready to see what a good roller set can do for your hair? Check out our step-by-step guide on how to rollerset your hair. Happy rolling!
Image credits: Anna Maria Liljestrand | Steve Hodgson |Naomi Stelrose |Drew Heron
