Every natural hair goddess wants to show off their hair length. The only problem is that using heat could cause heat damage. The great thing about natural hair is that it is very diverse and can be styled in so many ways! For all those beautiful, natural women, here are some quick and simple steps to get the fullest, most blown out look without using ANY HEAT! That’s right, no blow dryers or flat irons needed to create fluffy, luscious locks.
Relax!
As any natural woman knows, it can take a while to oil, deep condition, wash, condition and style hair. The best way to get the best result is to always make sure to begin the process at night. Sunday evenings or nights are always the best time because all the steps can be taken care of while doing chores around the house, such as laundry (and binge watching Prison Break on Netflix). Make sure to get a good Pandora station blasting to turn up the mood!
Gather This
Here are the products needed; pony tail holders, a wide tooth comb, an old T-shirt, oils, shampoo and conditioner and a spray bottle filled with water. That’s it! No Blow-dryers or heat products needed.
Before the Wash
Divide the hair into sections so that the hair is more manageable, that way the products can be distributed over all of the hair evenly. Having separate sections also helps with the washing and detangling process. One of the most important tips is to make sure that those natural tresses are oiled up and deep conditioned.
The best way to oil the hair is to use a bottle that allows oil to come out by squeezing. Then mix any oils together. Each time the concoction can be different. In the bottle, there is a mixture of Jamaican Black Castor Oil, regular castor Oil, Olive Oil (from the pantry of course) and a splash of Tea Tree Oil. Another tip is to make sure to put only put a small amount of any essential oil, which includes peppermint, tea tree and lavender oils. Oils like these are very strong, so less always goes a long way.
After applying oil to each section of the hair, use a deep conditioner. Shea Moisture’s Yucca & Plantain Anti-Breakage Strengthening Masque is a really good deep conditioner. Not only will it condition and moisturize, it is also very reasonably priced.
After applying to each section, use a hair cap — or use an old plastic bag to lock in moisture. This is the fun part! During this time, let the deep condition and oil sit on the hair and work its magic. Heatless fro’s can be achieved without these steps, but the hair will be moisturized and more manageable when it comes time to wash and detangle. The hair will also be easier to comb through because it will be softer after the oil treatment and deep condition.
Wash Time
After about a half hour or so, it’s time to wash. Section by section, rinse, finger detangle, shampoo and condition. During this time, it’s good to have the Pandora station blasting, as it will make the process seem quicker. When shampooing, make sure not to use too much on each section. A really good tip is to just use quarter size amounts for each section of hair.
When applying the shampoo, don’t over lather the hair. This is important because too much shampoo could actually strip the hair of all the oils that have just been put in the hair through the oil and deep conditioning process. Just place the shampoo on the roots of the hair and through the process of washing the hair, the shampoo will begin to lather and cleanse the rest of the hair as the water cleans the hair.
Condition, condition, condition! Don’t be afraid to use that conditioner. Use the wide tooth comb to detangle each section after conditioning. It is very important to use a wide tooth comb instead of a fine tooth comb for detangling. With a wide tooth comb, more knots and coils will unravel during the detangling process.
The key is to make sure the hair isn’t being pulled or yanked, as it would be with a fine tooth comb. No matter what, hair will always come out when combing through those curls, but a wide tooth comb is always the best option. See! Not that much hair came out after each section is knot free.
Stretch Time
How are those natural locks feeling? They should be soft, moisturized, and free of any product buildup. Now, starting with the back section, run the comb through the hair one more time just to make sure that the hair is fully detangled.
Twist the section from the roots all the way down to the tips. Before twisting, rub in a little oil to make sure that the hair will dry with some shine to it. The tips of the hair are the oldest parts of the hair, so make sure to place more product on the ends for extra moisture.
Now that all the sections are cleaned, detangled, and twisted root to end, starting in the back of the hair, take each twist and wrap it around (like a Bantu knot). Use the pony tail holders; wrap them around each twisted Bantu knot to make sure that they’re secure. Guess what? It’s finally over! It takes longer doing each step by section, but it’s the best way to retain hair length. Being patient with natural hair is a must in order to maintain health.
Use an old t-shirt to place over the hair so that it will dry and catch all the drops that would run all over. A t-shirt is better to use than a towel. A bath towel would make the hair dry because it is so thick. So now it’s time to sit back, relax and enjoy the Netflix.
Good Morning!
The hair should be dry by the time the day begins. To ensure that, make sure to begin the deep oil condition process early enough the night before to ensure that the hair will have enough time to dry through the night. Place oil on finger tips. This will make it easier for unraveling the twists and add shine to each section.
Take the twists out and the hair should be stretched out. The more you separate the twists, the fuller the fro! So play around with it until desired style is accomplished.
Naturally Fluffy
Long, natural locks can become fluffy and fabulous without the use of heat. A few things to remember: patience is key! Learn to like to do routine stretching. It also helps to have some type of entertainment while washing, so make a playlist of some good tunes and shimmy while you get your natural hair wash day on!
It is not necessary to deep condition and oil before doing this style; it does make the process easier for detangling purposes later, though. Deep conditioning makes the hair more manageable when it comes time to detangle and getting rid of coils. Use a t-shirt instead of a towel to dry hair; an old cotton t-shirt does not take the moisture out of the hair like a heavy bath towel would.
Congratulations! Stretching natural hair is easy, and those curls won’t have any heat damage, because no heat products were used. Now go out there and flaunt that full head of natural hair. Everyone will be wondering how that hair grew overnight!
