I stopped straightening my hair & here’s what happened :)

Hey Lovelies,

Do you remember life before hair straighteners? I sure do! I even remember the time people would use their clothes iron to straighten their. Then there was hair relaxing, Brazilian hair treatment and permanent hair straightening.

Enter the hair straightener!!!!!

GHD was all the rage and expensive as well. Soon more affordable brands entered the market and we were all hooked on straightening our hair everyday to make it look as perfect as everyone else’s.

So I got married last year and I decided to grow my hair out as I wanted it to be really really long and flowy for the wedding. When I went on honeymoon the island life did not really require you to do much to your hair as it was way too hot and after just a week of not using a hair straightener I noticed how alive my hair looked.

Island hair

When I got back to SA I decided to continue to not use a hair iron. That was in May last year and I have been going strong ever since 🙂

The consequences

As with all decisions the consequences of going cold turkey on straightening meant that I had to spend more time styling my hair after washing, which is usually twice a week. I needed to use the concentrater  from the hair dryer (the attachment that comes with the hairdryer) to set the ends and smooth out my hair. I also needed to get a nice brush to set my hair with. I got a Tressemé brush that’s pretty gentle on the hair.

On a daily basis I would sometimes just need to use the hair dryer on the ends to make them look neat and then I would apply some leave in setting spray. Some days I just set the ends with me leave in spray and carry on with life, this saves me so much of time in the morning :). The wavy ends gave my hair some dimension and made it look fuller.

In the beginning it seemed so weird not to put on my hair iron and run it through my hair but soon I was in a routine. I would only ever use my straightener to curl my hair, which would be a few times a month.

When I visit the salon to wash and set my hair the stylists would look at me so weird when I said that I did not want them to use a straightener on my hair. The stylist kept asking me if I am sure lol….it was like I was the first person ever to ask them to just set my hair with the hair dryer.

After a few months I did not even think about using my straightener, I was doing good and so was my hair. I had to invest in better brushes and hair products but I was willing to see where this hair adventure was going to take me.

The benefits

After about 6 months of no straightener I remember looking at my ends one day and I could hardly spot a split end. I definitely had way less split ends than ever before.

I had less hair falling out & breaking off as well which was awesome! My hair was growing much faster than before and I know this because it took quite a while to get to the length I needed it for the wedding. Once I had stopped using my hair iron it really seemed to be growing so much quicker. Well there goes the myth that cutting your hair makes it grow faster :p

My hair also did not feel or look as dry as it used to before. You guys know what I mean right, after a while you usually begin to notice the damaged dry ends even if you are using protective treatments.  Due to this I was not using my hair treatments as often as before as it was not necessary.

After a year of not cutting my hair it still looked overall healthy and thicker than before. I eventually cut my hair after 14 months as my layers had grown out and my ends were uneven. I did have split ends but they were so much less prominent than before.

I was actually saving myself so much of time by just embracing my natural hair. I really cannot believe I had not done this sooner 🙂

Overall, my hair feels better than ever before. I also like that it is bouncy and not flat (straightening made my hair look really flat). Damage, split ends and dryness is far less noticeable on my hair now and I am loving it.

My thoughts

Have you ever really thought about the damage using a hair iron every day does to your hair? I know I didn’t. The temperatures on most hair irons go over 200 degrees and we directly apply it to our hair everyday. How effective are those heat protection products that we use? We buy them but do we actually see the required benefits from them?

We all want gorgeous healthy hair and we go out there trying to find products & processes to add to our routine when maybe we should look at what we can stop doing to damage our hair. I know now that eliminating using a straightener has really opened my eyes and allowed me to embrace my natural hair. Using a hair dryer already puts strain on your hair so find ways to minimize the heat applied to your hair.

I did start using more styling products in my hair but I will take that over increased heat on my hair any day. Maybe one day I will eliminate the hair dryer as well from my routine.

So lovelies, start analyzing your hair and your hair routine and see if there is anything you can do to help your hair be the best it can be 🙂 If you have any tips for me leave them in the comments below.

Thanks for stopping by guys.

XOXO Beauty & the Bronzer