by Portia of huneybflyy.com
With the summer ending and fall on our heels, it’s nice to see some natural ladies showcase the versatility of their hair. Some may not agree, but it’s totally possible to flat iron, blow dry, and use a curling iron on your hair and still maintain your hair’s health. Here are a few Instagram ladies who prove that a little heat on your hair doesn’t always leave you with a damaged and unhealthy head.
@Jazzling
Jaselle may be known for her incredible hair and makeup skills, but her hair is just incredible. On a typical day, Jaselle can be seen wearing her ombre locks in a braid out or natural curls. However, every once in a while she wows her followers with a bomb roller set or a straight and sleek look. In the pictorial above, Jaselle washed and deep conditioned her hair, blew it out on low heat and used a medium barrel curling iron before setting her hair with cold wave rods overnight. The results are fluffy bodacious curls.
@_Jnatay
This Morgan State graduate is known for her larger than life hair. Not only is her hair super gorgeous, but it is very healthy even though she prefers to flat iron. What I love about Jasmine is that while she may love a good blow dry, she’s still an advocate for healthy hair. She may use a flat iron, but she makes sure she uses a great heat protectant. She maintains her hair by doing roller sets until she’s ready to flat iron again in two weeks.
@Mandajesspanda
This curly girl truly demonstrates that natural hair can have just as much volume straight as it does when it’s curly or kinky. Manda Panda, as she’s known in the natural hair community, recommends straightening your hair with minimal product because too much product can weigh the hair down, making it difficult to achieve volume. A little heat protectant and a small amount of serum or moisturizer is all she recommends. She admitted that she had a few heat damaged strands from a flat ironing, but she wasn’t afraid to snip, snip, snip.
@Chigirlmakeup
Here’s another natural beauty who’s known for her impeccable makeup skills, but her hair seems to be the topic of conversation lately. Shaun states in her Instagram bio that she’s definitely a natural girl at heart, but she also loves a good weave! Shaun’s hair is incredibly thick and she loves her flexi and perm rod sets. On the days that she’d like to switch up her look, she flat irons her hair with a Babyliss Nano Titanium flat iron. She never lets her flat iron get hotter than the 25 mark because she doesn’t want heat damaged hair. She recommends to start flat ironing on a low heat setting and work your way up. She also blow dries her hair on a cool or medium setting, but never HOT.
Do you flat iron or blow dry your hair regularly? Do you have any tips?
Portia is a wife and mother who enjoys making things and people look pretty! As a graduate of Rowan University, Portia has an insatiable craving for natural hair, beauty, and fashion, but she also enjoys traveling and home decor. If you’d like to know more about her, visit her blog at huneybflyy.com
Wow beautiful women with beautiful hair. Very inspirational :)))
I went to college with Jasmine…she did some box braids for me too lol. Great to see her on here.
Her name is actually Jaselle…yall got me calling her by the wrong name lol
In the end, it’s a matter of preference. I prefer my kinks/curls/coils all 100% in tact and besides, I think bigger hair frames my face better so I wouldn’t want to risk looser my fullness for this reason. I think they all look great and anyone else who is able to maintain a head full of luscious looking strands using heat that’s awesome. As long as you are comfortable with the state of your hair then that is all that should matter. However, I would like to point out something. I notice that not all but some heat trained ladies… Read more »
Q: “does it matter whether you type your natural unaltered texture at the roots because that is what you are born with, or should you type your heat trained hair since that is the state of the majority of your hair?”
A: IMO the hair naturally growing from your head. Otherwise it’s equivalent to someone with a perm (relaxer) typing themselves as 1b. HOWEVER, when a brunette dyes their hair red, they call themselves a ‘redhead’, or ‘a natural brunette’. So likewise maybe those with permanent heat straightened hair could say ‘I’m a natural 4c’.
I definitely agree. I was just curious to hear other opinions because in the comment sections of that hair icon article, a lot of people were offended by the comments that expressed the same opinion as yours, including the featured natural and I couldn’t understand why? They took it as far as saying that people wouldn’t have questioned her hair type if she was light skin? It was ridiculous.
ahh youre talking about moknows hair. her roots dont look anything like 3c/4a hair. those commenters were reaching.
No i think her name was lovemarie?
Each of these ladies had gorgeous hair, straight or curly. The one thing I think they have in common however is their hair isn’t fine.
While heat styling can certainly be overused by some, it’s definitely not the kill all of long, healthy hair. On the flip side, when your hair is fine even the slightest amount of heat can cause damage. For us fine hair curlies, regular heat use is definitely not recommended. I keep my heat usage down to 3 times a year or less.
Yup! With all the information out there on hair care people tend to forget that in the end their individual hair and lifestyle needs will determine what works for them.
My hair is thin and fine. Regular heat usage would definitely cause damage the same way regular relaxers did. There’s no use lying to myself about that.
Anyway, I love my hair and when I need breaks I find time to install some kinky twists and call it a day.
I agree I also think porosity plays a big part as well I have high porosity and I am almost certain that it’s due to all the heat styling I used to do so I don’t want to make it worse by continuing to heat style. I think roller setting then wrapping the hair works wonders and also curlformers and flexi rods give nice “straight hair” look with curl and body
Not against flat iron in away. I choose to stay away from flat iron because its just so much easier for me to rock a braid out. Laziness makes me defer to braid out and low buns. Flat iron takes too long in my opinion. Besides I look so much better with curly hair than straight hair.
TOO MUCH HAIR FLYNESS FOR ONE POST!!!! These ladies have awesome hair!
All this luscious hair!
I blow dry my hair about every 4- 6 weeks. I use Giovanni ‘Frizz Be Gone’ as a heat protectant. I get it from Whole Foods.
I tension blow dry (moreorless) every other week. It keeps my hair detangled and huge, and makes big messy buns easy even though my hair is neither long nor thick. Also, it transitions to twistouts well..
Loosened curl pattern is still damage, its just not damaged to the extent of stick straight ends. I have S curls and spiral curls if one day my spiral curls loosened to the point they are S curls I have experienced damage, i.e. my natural curl pattern has been altered. Regsrdless that my hair still has a curl of some sort if it isnt what it use to be damage has occurred. I get annoyed my YTers who say they haven’t experienced heat damage and their ends are boiled spaghetti noodles compared to the rest of their hair, or their… Read more »
I was on the edge, struggling and contemplating whether to get a relaxer. I’m glad you guys posted this article. I’m going to try pressing for a while and see if I like it.
They all have great makeup as well. Does being able to do hair= being great at makeup cause I haven’t really mastered that art.
I wish they would showcase some 4c naturals. Although these ladies hair is gorgeous, I just wanted some girls I could relate to…
I feel like this site in general is great at repping kinkier hair…but I did notice that all of the examples of damage free heat users seem to have a looser curl pattern. Couple that with Michelle’s observation up thread (they all seem to have coarse strands too), and bam! I have a theory on why some women have no troubles regularly using heat. If your hair is more loosely curled, it takes less heat to straighten it than it would someone with kinkier hair. If your strands are coarser, it might take more heat to straighten than someone with… Read more »
I don’t know how coarse/fine Dominique’s (LongHairDon’tCare) hair was, but she was a type 4. Then again, she mostly blow-dried and cornrowed her hair during her hair journey, I think.
I agree that this article lacks anyone with kinkier hair but like the poster above says, it’s usually girls with looser hair who need less heat to get straight hair that find heat training agreeable. If it works for them then cool. With the return of style icons, I think we’ll see more 4Cs here.
This video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7g93FLbUYQ is a good place to look for 4c natural that uses a blow dryer regularly.
the last girl kinda looks like althea from love and hip hop atlanta
“the the” lol
I can’t find Jnatay on IG 🙁
Her IG is @_Jnatay
We can’t thumbs up posts anymore!?!?!?!
I have absolutely loved getting familiar with my kins and coils and curls.…I.am the wash and go . queen. …Wash day takes 45 mins tops…I.also lobe blowing out my hair and a nice sleek flat iron/press job…I went natural because of the desire for versatility with minimal damage. A relaxer was not necessary for me (or anyone) to achieve sleek styles then return to my beautiful curly fro…I know.some naturals prefer to not use heat or to straighten and I commend them…But I am a.heat addict.…and I have perfected the method of straighten with no damage…or reversion.…
I have fine mostly-4b hair. A long time ago I used to straighten my hair once or twice a year. I never experienced heat damage and my coils and kinks always “bounced” back…and I attribute that mostly to not using high heat and choosing the right kinds of leave-ins. I preferred going over a section a couple of times with a cooler iron than burning it off with a hotter iron. I never achieved relaxer-straight hair with this method (only a stylist could do that for me) but it was straight enough. Even on the few times I had it… Read more »
It is all about getting to know YOUR OWN hair. Some people can take heat and some people can’t.
Thanks ladies all responses were informative. Good information. I must say Shanna summed it up know your own hair what works for one doesn’t work for all remember just be beautiful with your own hair.
I have to add my two cents. I used to use heat regularly (I flat ironed rarely and my heat weapon of choice was the blow dryer) and thought my hair was healthy too. I have to add to this discussion because I have been natural 12 years now and have gone through trials. My hair is also very thick too. About three years ago I decided for the first time to apply bleach to my hair and voila damage galore! The only parts not damaged were my newer hair and new growth not touched by heat. Add to the… Read more »
I’ve been following @_jnatay or jasmine on ig for sometime now and even visited her website and I just love her hair. Obsessed is a better word for it. I found we do a lot if similar things on my hair journey. I use heat in my hair, at least a blow dry if nothing else, probably every week after I wash
I don’t have ig. What is her website?
I love all these ladies hair. I’m scared to flat iron my hair! I live in Texas and it will be back to a fro once I walk outside. I think I may flat iron it this winter.
Try the Basic One Step Treatment…its not a chemical (no formaldehyde) and it fights humidity. I tried it (I live in Texas) and I love it!
LOL they have funny hairstyles„
i am following ’em
I love the versatility of natural hair!! As a 10 year loc wearer I recently took my locs down (Yes I combed them out!) I realized my curl pattern was more loose then I remembered. I had straight ends even when I put water on my hair. If I hadn’t had locs for 10 years and obviously not used a blow dryer or flat iron, I would’ve believed I had heat damage and cut my hair off. It wasn’t until after a couple of washes that my hair fully reverted. I believe that just because your curl pattern is more… Read more »
I love my natural hair, but thanks to my dad, I have really thick & dense 4a hair. It seems that my hair & I get along better when it’s straight or (at least) blown out. I’ve been working on different stretching techniques, but I haven’t found what works yet. Wish me luck on my journey to waist length.
Wash and goes and wet styling aren’t for me. I’ve been natural for 3 and a half years and I’m learning that I’m one of those naturals whose hair does better when stretched and dry.
I usually cowash, deep condition for 30 mins and airdry then stretch it out and style. Leave it alone for a week
As a natural, I love wearing my hair in all types of styles. I use heat on a regular basis especially in the fall and winter with no problem. I don’t believe heat is the enemy. I believe the misuse and abuse of heat is the problem. How much heat one person’s hair can or cannot take varies from head to head.