by DHA's DIY | May 8, 2022 | Dominican Blowout, Heat, Straight Hair, Blowout, Hair Straightening, Silk PRESS
Press reverting? Seven major factors make straightened hair reversion-prone.
Took care of the first three and still have trouble keeping your natural curls stick-straight after a dalliance with the iron or blowdryer?
Check out the final four forces acting against your straightened strands in Part II.
Press reverting: The reasons for reversion. . .
We said it before and we’ll say it again: the reason of reasons for premature reversion is not getting the hair straight enough from the start. This makes it more vulnerable to the humidity in the air, ever acting against it, hoping to turn it back into its natural waves and curls. There are seven factors in particular that play into your hair’s general tendency to go back to its roots. We let you know the first three in Part I, so let’s break down the last ones to press reverting here and now:
Press Reverting Reason #4: You got your hair wet
You grabbed an umbrella, a headwrap and a hat when you caught the forecast of a chance of light showers. You wore a towel over the scarf under your shower cap in the bath. But then you went and put in a product without checking the ingredients.
Many products, even, surprisingly, those designed for heat-straightened hair, contain water – an ingredient which is as anti-straightened hair as it is curl-friendly.
Water causes hydrogen bonds to reform in the hair, and for your heat-straightened strands, those hydrogen bonds mean curls.
When you’re scanning the ingredients list, keep in mind that products with “aqua” on the list contain water. And products with humectants on the list invite water in. If you want your press to survive a few more days, then steer as clear of the humectants (common ones include glycerine, propylene glycol and squalene) as well the water, even if it is “just a little bit” or towards the end of the ingredients list.
Instead, seal water out using products with hydrophobic silicones high up in the list; dimethicone and amodimethicone are a couple of excellent sealants to look out for.
There is a caveat, however: If you live in an area of high humidity, be aware that, regardless of your best efforts, some of the H2O in the water-rich atmosphere will make it into your hair.
This, in turn, means that some degree of reversion is pretty much inevitable, as even the highest quality sealants are somewhat permeable to water. And let’s not forget the fact that, even in low humidity regions, after a while, the moisture in the air will slowly seep into your strands, taking them back into alpha state. If this didn’t happen, presses and blowouts would leave your hair permanently straight.
Press Reverting Reason #5: You didn’t get the hair smooth enough
Even if you have hair that’s a little resistant, you can amp up the straightness by making sure you smooth it out as much as possible during, before, and after the straightening process. Once your hair hits a certain level of exposure to heat, it will show little progress in straightening, even though you turn up the temperature and multiply the passes with the iron or hairdryer.
That makes it important to stretch the hair as much as you can while it’s still pliable. Use smoothing conditioners and deep treatments, try rollersets, and work on improving your brush or iron technique, not forgetting to wrap your hair immediately after straightening.
Press Reverting Reason #6: Your sections were too big
Just as sectioning well ensures you get moisture to every layer, and tangles out of every tress, it also ensure you get every strand straight.
If you make your sections too big, then enough heat simply can’t reach the inner layers of the hair, as the outer strands will have a “shielding” effect, preventing the iron from contacting them.
The combination of tension and the little heat that does make it through might be enough for the hair to look straight. . . at first.
Within a few hours, however, the fact that not all the hair was touched becomes apparent, as underlayers begin to shrink, creating a puffy, press reverting appearance. To prevent, this make your sections as fine as possible – no more than centimetre thick and definitely no wider than the iron.
Press Reverting Reason # 7: Your hair has supernatural resistant strength
If you’ve corrected every one of the common mistakes listed and still find your hair won’t get straight then your hair quite possibly has a very high, natural resistance to heat.
While most virgin hair has some significant level of resistance, persistent resistance, over many instances of straightening, is a characteristic found in quite a few heads of hair.
It might be frustrating mid-ironing, pressing or blowout, but your press reverting is something to celebrate; it means your mane is strong in the face of one of hair’s biggest stressors, a strength that can help you attain longer lengths.
If this is the case, then either take steps to smooth your hair without high heat, or forego heatstyling altogether; after all, a straight look is just one of a zillion styling options for the inherently versatile naturally curly hair.
Whatever you choose to do, don’t force the issue. Even if your hair won’t get as straight as you want it, repeated exposure to high heat, trying to get it to do what it refuses to–stop your hair reverting, will eventually destroy its natural protein structure, leaving you with damaged hair that doesn’t look good, straight or curly.
For more on reasons behind your press reverting, see part one.
Image Credits
| Amandeep Singh Asnapal | Vinoth Chandar |Ashley Webb| Lauren Paulsen | Cambio de Fractal |
by DHA's DIY | May 8, 2022 | Dominican Blowout, Heat, Straight Hair, Hair Straightening, Silk PRESS
Wondering why your blowouts never seem to make it till the next appointment?
Or why your presses peter out well ahead of schedule?
Your hair rapidly reverting is probably due to one of these seven reasons. . .
Reverting: Failed blowouts all have something in common. . .
All of the reasons and rules of unsuccessful presses and blowouts reverting tie into one overarching principle. Call it the law of straightening, whether temporary or permanent, with chemicals or with heat: if you don’t get the hair straight enough, it’s just not gonna stay straight. Here’s breakdown on why you haven’t been getting it straight and why it’s quickly reverting:
Reverting: You put too much product in your hair
So you really wanted to protect your curls before putting them before the fiery blast of the blowdryer. Not willing to leave a stone unturned, you broke out the heat protectant shampoo, treatment, conditioner, and leave in, following up with the blowdry creme, the thermal spritz and a strong dose of straightening balm.
Or, you’re a fan of all things stick-straight and just can’t get over how smooth your hair looks when you run the hot comb over a thick layer of pressing cream.
Either way, you overdid it. In both cases, whether the goal was absolute protection or absolute straightness, your hair was never actually straightened, just momentarily stretched and weighted down by product.
As the product wore off, your curls became less beholden to gravity and started working their way back to wave and cloud formation.
To avoid product getting in the way of successful straightening, limit yourself to one to two leave in heat protectant products.
When you apply, apply only a small amount – i.e., just enough to cover your strands, so you can smooth and protect and still be able to tell when your hair is actually straight. If you use a concentrated protectant e.g., atrActiva Shine Drops Shield Conditioning Leave In Serum, and work it in well, you won’t have to worry about whether you’ve applied enough product as it will be effective with very small amounts.
Reverting: You didn’t go hot enough
Yes, this part is controversial. Too much heat certainly can cause damage; keratin, the protein hair is made from, begins to denature – become permanently deformed – at anywhere from 140-200 degrees Celsius or 210-250 degrees Celsius, depending on the water content and other factors.
Once it’s gone that way, it’s gone; there’s no question of bringing your hair back to its original state or repairing the damage. All should be well, as long as you keep your heatstyling tools well below these temps. The trouble is, on many heads of hair, the hydrogen bonds (the reformable ones that bring you back to curly as soon as water hits your hair) don’t want to let your hair get straight until the heat gets dangerously close to causing permanent damage.
Unfortunately, in this case, if you’ve made sure you’ve covered all the other bases and still have issues, you’ll simply have to make a choice between leaving your hair not-so-straight or taking the hit.
Reverting: Your hair is damaged
So you got your mane shiny and smooth, right from the roots down to just a couple inches away from the tips. Thinking you must have missed a bit, you slide the iron over the ends a couple more times. Nothing happens. You turn up the heat and hit it a few more times. Still nothing.
Your ends won’t go smooth, not because it’s reverting, but because they are damaged beyond repair – either from heat overuse, excessive dryness, tool abuse, or simple, inevitable wear and tear. That is why they won’t straighten again, ever. The only remedy to get your ‘do silky smooth from root to tip is to create new tips – by promptly chopping those worn ones off.
And there’s more. . .
The forces that work against your straightening ambitions are absolutely relentless. Check out Part II on straightening tresses reverting to find out the rest of the seven reasons that make your hair reversion-prone!
Image Credits
| Amandeep Singh Asnapal | Julie Monday |Uneduex | Choo Yut Shing |Helga Weber|
by DHA's DIY | May 2, 2022 | Dominican Blowout, Heat, Straight Hair, Hair Straightening, Silk PRESS, Uncategorized
Scientists have worked out the exact temperature you can straighten your hair at and get your curls back – it’s 185°C.
That temperature is good for up to 50 passes – with perfect curl reversion.
But does curl reversion after heat mean your hair isn’t damaged? Not necessarily – here’s why.
Heat damage: What flat ironing does to your hair
In a groundbreaking study on how heatstyling affects tightly curled hair, scientists measured the difference in curl before and after flat ironing at 220°C (428°F) and 185°C (365°F).
The first article in this series breaks everything down, from how they chose the curl types to how they worked out the safe temperature to straighten curly hair.
Here’s a quick recap: The researchers found that after flat ironing 50 times at 185°C, curls sprang back to their original selves once washed and airdried. At 220°C, that didn’t always happen. In fact, several of the tight curls transformed into bigger curls and even loose waves that were almost straight.
That overall loss of curl indicated the hair was damaged by the higher heat level. Whereas at 185°C, curl reversion – the technical term for when your curls come back looking the same after heat styling – was pretty much reassured.
But they weren’t done.
Heat damage: What temperature is safe to flat iron your hair?
Lack of curl reversion is a strong indication that hair is damaged. But curl reversion doesn’t mean that your hair is not damaged. Remember, even out of the tresses straightened at 220°C, there were some strands that did revert to their natural curl.
To check for actual damage, the researchers had to use some standard laboratory tests.
They took 50 strands from each of the hair tresses they had flat ironed. First they used a tensile apparatus, which applied stress onto the strands until they broke. The break stress – the amount of pulling it took for the strand to break – was used to determine whether the hair’s tensile strength had changed. If it had, that meant the hair was damaged.
For the hair flat ironed at 185°C, nothing had changed. The hair fibres didn’t break any easier than before straightening and they hadn’t lost any of their original stiffness.
But the tensile testing showed that the hair straightened at 220°C had lost its natural stiffness and started to break more easily. Its break stress was less than half of hair that hadn’t been straightened.
Then they broke out the DSC machine – a gadget that scans and analyses heat to detect changes in proteins.
Just like the curl loss and poor tensile strength indicated, the DSC analysis showed that the internal structure of the hair ironed at 220°C was damaged. The equipment revealed that there were fewer bonds in the hair’s molecular framework.
The internal structure of the hair flat ironed at 185°C, though? It was unaffected. Its internal structure was intact.
Why hair straightened at higher temperatures gets heat damaged
When hair is exposed to high temperatures, this causes the hair protein to permanently change shape or denature, like what happens when you cook an egg.
If the heat level gets high enough, it starts to break apart the disulphide bonds and the alpha keratin backbone that give your hair its internal structure.
This doesn’t happen at 185°C because there isn’t enough energy to break those bonds.
Why do looser curls mean your hair is heat damaged?
The disulphide bonds that hold your hair together and give it its natural structure are also responsible for something else – shape memory.
When hair that has been safely heat-straightened gets wet, it returns to its natural curl pattern – that’s because the water activates its shape memory.
That’s what happened to the hair that was flat ironed at 185°C. Because it wasn’t heat damaged, its ability to revert to its natural curl pattern stayed intact. As soon as it got wet, the shape memory kicked in and it curled right back up again.
Heat damaged hair has lost some of its internal structure, which takes away that shape memory. So when it gets wet, the strands are unable to revert to their original curl pattern.
That’s what happened to the hair that was straightened at 220°C. The structural damage from all that heat meant that many of its disulphide bonds were broken.
Without those disulphide bonds – the same bonds that get broken by a relaxer when you chemically straighten your hair – the hair experienced an overall loss of curl.
This is what caused the “shift to lower curl types” or the change from tight curls to loose curls and waves which was observed by the research team.
Avoid heat damage: turn down the heat
So the moral of the story? To avoid frazzled, permanently straightened, heat damaged hair, be cautious with the temperature when you flat iron. Resist the temptation to turn the dial up past 185°C. There are other, better ways to get your hair straighter and smoother.
And remember: the heat protection from staying at 185°C has only been confirmed up to 50 passes – cumulatively. Bear that in mind if you’re a 2+ passes to straighten kinda girl. It all adds up even if you space hair straightening out.
And if you colour your hair, you might want to keep the temperature even lower. Heat damage on dyed hair can change its colour.
If you straightened your hair on max before you saw this post and now wetting won’t bring your curls back, there are some steps you should take before cutting the damage.
If you’re about to blowdry or straighten your hair, or plan on using heat at all in the near future, you can prevent heat damage if you know the maximum safe temperatures for your type of device, your heatstyling method and your hair type.
You can download this FREE Heat Damage Thermometer Guide with the scientifically proven maximum safe temperatures for using heat on different types of hair.
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
by DHA's DIY | Apr 15, 2022 | Conditioning, Dominican Blowout, Heat, Straight Hair, Blowout, Deep Conditioners, Dry Hair, Hair Straightening, Silk PRESS
The Perfect way to use Silicon Mix
What’s the best way to use Silicon Mix? If the only thing consistent about your hair lately has been its dryness and resistance, then this Silicon Mix-atrActiva combo might be exactly what it needs.
This Silicon Mix-atrActiva treatment combo is designed for distressed, damaged or rebellious tresses. If you’re lucky enough to have tresses that don’t currently fit any of those descriptions, you can use it as a preventative measure to make sure your hair stays happy, or even to revitalise that bundle of Remy hair you were hoping to reuse. Whichever reason, this treatment combo gives such deep conditioning moisture that it carries you through the week.
The penetrating nutrients, hydration and slip that atrActiva-Silicon Mix delivers and seals in, makes your hair healthier, more elastic, more manoeuvrable, and thus easier to style.
It works because Silicon Mix is the ideal sealing treatment, created to form a protective layer over damaged tresses, smoothing uneven cuticle layers along the way. By locking in the nutrients and moisture needed for strong healthy hair, Silicon Mix acts like the haircare equivalent of that final coat of sealant on a freshly painted wall.
For all the acclaim it gets on its own, to really put Silicon Mix’s super-sealing powers to work requires an equally powerful underlying deep treatment, one which can provide the healthy nutrients and vital moisture that Silicone Mix is designed to lock in.
Enter: atrActiva’s Multivitamin Treatment, La Reina of long-term moisture. atrActiva’s Multivitamin Treatment’s plentiful nutrients (it includes Vitamins A, D, E and K) make it the ultimate, nourishing underlayer.
Not only that; it’s formulated for longlasting hydration of dry, damaged, hard-to-smooth hair. If you’re struggling to find a conditioner that actually absorbs into your low porosity hair, atrActiva Multivitamin is it; its silky micro-emulsion is designed to sink into resistant textures that most conditioners fail to penetrate.
like paint…
To get the best out of these two conditioners, you don’t mix them; you treat them like paint and layer. While mixing won’t result in flaking or clumping, these two Dominican conditioners work best together when you plaster your hair with one on top of the other. Since atrActiva Multivitamin Treatment is a super-moisturizer, and Silicon Mix is a super-sealer your hair gets the most benefit when layering Silicon Mix over atrActiva, on freshly washed wet hair. This way you’ll be moisturising with atrActiva Multivitamin Treatment, and sealing with Silicon Mix Treatment.
Now, you are ready to begin
For best results, there are 5 steps to take when using Silicon Mix:
Step 1: Cleanse
Step 2: Rinse
Step 3: Apply atrActiva Multivitamin Treatment
Step 4: Apply Silicon Mix Treatment
Step 5: Rinse
Step 1: CLEANSE
Sometimes conditioners, grease, gels, leave-ins, pomades and even certain shampoos leave residue on our hair shaft that prevents us from getting the ultimate benefit from deep treatments. So, the first step of reaping the benefits from your deep treatment is to thoroughly clean your hair.
You’ll know your tresses are thoroughly clean when water droplets run clear from your hair (non-coloured hair only), there is no hint of a layer of grime on your scalp, and your strands feel free and move with ease.
The best way to ensure that your hair gets thoroughly clean, (and to prevent tangling) is to section your hair. Wind it up it into 4 parts, and shampoo each section separately (big twists, or slide-in clips usually facilitate ease in unwinding and help hold hair well).
Step 2: RINSE
Rinse for longer than usual, ensuring that all shampoo suds have been washed free. Use warm water and remember to maintain your hair’s sectioning; by taking one section at a time, carefully opening it up to rinse through it thoroughly, before winding the section back up, and moving on to the next.
Step 3: atrActiva Multivitamin Treatment
After using a towel to blot the water droplets out of your freshly shampooed hair, start with your first section and generously apply atrActiva Multivitamin Treatment along the perimeter of the section, from scalp to tips, squeezing it through the section before taking smaller subsections, and gently working it through. This way, atrActiva begins detangling your hair before you divide the sections further. Continue to ensure atrActiva is applied from the root to the ends of your hair.
Then secure this section before moving into the next.
Step 4: Use SILICON MIX
2 minutes should have passed in between layers. Waiting a little before you start applying Silicon Mix Treatment gives atrActiva time to soak into your hair and moisturise your strands inside out and generate serious slip.
If you have been sticking to the 4-part method, then there is no need to wait an additional 2 minutes; simply start with the first section you applied atrActiva to, and in small finger length and width sections, slip a coat of Silicon Mix over the lengths of your hair, from root to tip.( As you already have atrActiva underneath apply only a thin layer of Silicon Mix).
Then move on to do the same to your second, third and fourth sections.
Comb through each section, and massage* scalp for up to 5 minutes. Then cover with a plastic cap for at least 15 minutes without heat, 10 max with heat.
(*Skip the massage, if you have high blood pressure or have been advised accordingly by your doctor.)
Step 5: RINSE AGAIN
Rinse thoroughly and enjoy your super moisturised, super smooth, super fortified hair! Using these two superconditioners in combo should leave your tresses sublime for up to a week. Repeating this treatment weekly will allow your hair to accumulate the benefits of each treatment, for longer, stronger, shinier tresses.
From step 5 on, it depends on your styling plans; if you are blowdrying or straightening, then protect with atrActiva Shine Drop Serum first. If you’re letting your hair air-dry, then try your favourite pure oil on wet hair first, before adding leave-ins when dry.
This Silicon Mix-atrActiva Multivitamin Treatment works fantastic on Remy hair as well, so if you want to extend the life on your weave then keep a lookout for your step-by-step post coming soon.
use silicon mix use silicon mix use silisocn mix use silicon mix use silicon mix use silicon mix use silicon mix use silicon mix
For a mini-course and FREE printable on straightening without heat damage, look here.
