Success Straightening Hair with a Flat Iron

Sleek, shiny straight hair is absolutely gorgeous, and many Hollywood stars know this and wear the look often while out in public. Not only is it a sexy look, it is so much easier to achieve than most hairstyles. Really for a great straight hair look, all you need is healthy hair and a good professional hair iron to smooth out the hair. The emphasis is on good quality hair irons since they are easier to use and are much safer on your hair than cheap models that you may find at a drugstore which will damage your hair and leave it looking less than it’s best.

Once you have you have a good tourmaline ceramic hair straightener and hopefully you have a healthy head of hair, then straightening may take a little bit of practice to get the hang of the handling the tool. You should always start at your roots and the underneath layers of hair and slowly use the flat iron from root to tip in gliding motions. Work your way like this all around your head and from the bottom layers up and you will end up with a perfect straightening job every time with just a few practice glides.

Best Flat Irons for African American Relaxed Hair

The Karmin Hair Straightener is one of the best flat irons for African American relaxed hair. Many hair straighteners straighten hair but if you have African American hair you will know that it is tougher to straighten than any other. Once you have your hair relaxed it won’t stay that way forever, you will need touch ups and such.

figure 1: Before and after relaxing

Once your relaxed hair starts to grow out you can use the Karmin on the roots, or when you want extra shine. There are titanium plates used on the Karmin which provide an even heat distribution and amazing durability under high heats which is important in obtaining the best results possible. Titanium delivers the most negative ions and infrared heat for smooth, frizz free, shiny hair. Another of the great features of the Karmin Km4000 Titanium Hair Iron is the tourmaline, it makes it safe to use on relaxed hair. So instead of getting your hair relaxed too often, which will result in damage, try the Karmin for all the touch ups you will need.

figure 2: After hair relaxer and straightening

Till next time Good Luck,

Niki

Using a Hair Straightening Iron

Tourmaline hair straighteners are the best hair straighteners available to remove the curl from your hair and get the look of long straight luxurious hair. But just having professional hair tools does not make someone an expert at using them. It takes practice and know how to properly straighten hair without causing any unnecessary damage to the hair. The first step to using a hair straightener on your locks is to get a quality professional flat iron hair straightener to use.

To get flat straight hair with the flat iron do approximately 2 inch sections of your hair at a time. Start at the roots and slowly slide the section of hair between the hot plates until you get to the very tip. Start again at the new piece at the roots and slide to the tip. Continuing this process throughout the entire head of hair.

To keep your hair healthy despite frequent use of hair straightening tools you should use a mild shampoo and good conditioner to ensure your hair is well protected. It is also recommended that you use a cream lotion on your hair during straightening sessions to help your hair stay moisturized under the heat and look its best when using hair-straightening irons.

Professional Hairstyling Tips

Here are some tips for various kinds of hair types:

For thin hair always use a volumizer, you should choose products that will specify that it wont weigh your hair down. Wait until your hair is almost dry and blow dry upside down. Do not use your hands to shake your hair while drying, this tends to make hair look frizzy once your done.

Pull your roots out with your fingers or a brush, firmly, hold the blow dryer to the roots for a few seconds, then take the blowdryer away and still holding onto your roots (almost pulling) let your hair cool down before letting go. Do this all over, tugging at your roots and holding hairdryer to them. This will give you volume from the root.

Try coloring your hair, this will give volume, manageability and body to fine thin hair. There are a ton of different colors to choose from and you could always just go with highlights or streaking. (your hair!)

For reviving a perm in between perms try using a curl enhancer.

This look can be achieved by using Aveda curl enhancer, a hair diffuser, ( which is used to blow dry curls that will not seperate them while drying) drying upside down and scrunching.

For thick frizzy, wiry type hair I would suggest using a defrizzer or shiner, a straight iron will also help to flatten, smooth and gives greater control. Bumble & Bumble is just one of many different brands for helping tame frizz.

Although I do not normally suggest buying products from a store I recommend only one if you do and that is Sunsilk. I have said it before and I will say it again, “I have had nothing but good come out of using their products.” They have a whole product line for this type of hair, shampoo, conditioner and defrizzers.

Most products from the store are watered down and contain wax. Next time you shampoo your hair put a little baking soda in with it and wash normally. You will feel a huge difference in your hair because you just stripped all of the store bought products out of your hair. But DO NOT USE if you have to go out, you will have what looks like dandruff but is in fact flakes of all the stuff that we call wax coming out of your hair. Do the baking soda method a few times until you do not see any flakes. Unbelievable isn’t it?

Salon products are concentrated and are PH balanced for your hair. A normal ph balance is around 5.5.

To keep your hair in the style that you like, you must see your hairdresser regularly. A good haircut must be maintained and I suggest not waiting any longer than 6 weeks between visits. Until next time…Good luck!

Niki

Hairstyles For Thin Hair

I can tell you almost anything you want to know about our blog topic today. I, myself am a thin hair wearer! Yes, yes, I know, I have cried a many night. But…after becoming a hairdresser, and getting use of all professional hair products and seeing tons of styles for thin hair, I have become a Thin Hair Master! All of the photos you will see are of women who have thin hair, hard to believe isn’t it?

If you use the right products, you would never be able to tell that your hair was thin or fine. One product that comes to mind in the be wary of, is Infusium. If you can help it do not use this if you want to help your thin hair. For those of you who have used Infusium (leave in conditioning treatment) did you notice that once you started, you had to keep using it? This product actually dries your hair out, making you think that you need to use more . It is just a way to get you to continue to buy and use the product. Shampoo for thinning hair is not so hard to find, I do not recommend buying from the drug stores and nowadays you can get decently priced products from Salons.

I have found one exception though, Sunsilk. This shampoo for thin hair did not weigh my hair down and I could use it over and over again. I like to switch back and forth, and when I do I use Naturelle Hemp hydrating shampoo.

It balances moisture levels, increases elasticity and smooths the cuticle. For best results, only shampoo the roots and let the water run down the rest when rinsing. Conditioning the hair is not always a good idea for help in making thinning hair appear thicker, it leaves hair with static and brings on flyaways.

If you do need to use it use a small amount, massage around the ends of your hair, not your scalp and quickly rinse out. I use Paul Mitchell Moisture, the only conditioner I have ever used that actually doesn’t weigh my hair down. It gives you a daily dose of soy proteins and shea butter to help strengthen and moisturize and protects against sun damage.

Haircuts for thinning hair are not so cut and dried…no pun intended! I have been told “oh you can’t have layers, they’ll just flop on your head,” or “if you get a perm you’ll look like a poodle”. This is just simply not true. I have had many different thin hair styles, layers, bob, all one length. It simply depends on what product and what process you used. Gosh, I even had a mohawk a LONG LONG time ago. The one thing I was afraid of using was a hair straightener. Well, truthfully after using the Karmin Hair Straightener, my worries are no longer…It doesn’t tug on your hair as you slide down with the straightener, you feel nothing. I just make sure before I use it I blow dry my hair upside down using a root lifter and blow dry on the medium setting. Try to wait until your hair is almost dry before blow drying, this will result in less damage. Damage will result if you blow dry on a continuous basis while your hair is soaking wet. One more product that is the creme de la creme of hair therapy is Biosilks Silk Therapy Serum .

The absolute best product for fine thin hair EVER. Use it on wet or dry, you can even use it on your skin. It tames flyaways and adds extraordinary shine. This product is amazing and I would not go without.

You see, thin hair is not a curse, you just need the right products along with the right tools to accomplish the “thick” look. And yes, it can be done!

Niki

How to Use a Hair Straightener

I wanted to do a quick post on how to use a hair straightener because I get quite a few emails from customers asking how to get the best results from their Karmin Professional Flat Iron. Also, I occasionally come across someone who has never used a hair straightener before so this is for those of you who want to know how you can use your hair iron to it’s fullest potential and get the best results every time!

*It is important that you know a few things before using your hair straightener, such as having clean hair and using a heat protectant to prevent from heat damage.

Once you know what you need to do before you start, you’re ready to use your flat iron! Turn it on to the desied temperature and as it heats up follow step 1.

Step 1. – Section clean, dry hair and pin up with hair clips.

Step 2. - Taking your flat iron in one hand, grab a 1″ section of hair from the first layer and starting as close to the roots as your are comfortable with, put the section of hair between the plates clamp your iron onto the hair. Slowly glide the iron down the section until you reach the ends of your hair.

Style tip - If you have super curly hair blow dry hair straight before using your flat iron and follow hair straightener on the section of hair with a comb to help smooth hair as you straighten it.

Style tip - If you want a super straight look, keep the iron straight and let the ends come out from the iron. If you want a bit of a flip at the ends twist the iron in a flipping motion either direction when you near the last inch of hair. Twisting the iron out will flip hair out, whereas flipping it in will flip hair under.

Super Straight Hairstyle

How To Flip Hair

Flipping Hair Out

Flipped Under Hairstyle

Flipped Out Hairstyle

Step 3 - Continue Step 2. over the rest of your hair, section by section. After completing one layer, let down the next and so on.

Step 4 - When you have completed your entire head of hair you can touch up any needed areas.

Step 5 - When you have your desired look set hair with an anti-frizz shine serum or flexible hold hairspray.

Style Tip - If this is your first time using a hair straightener and you are a little intimidated, try using the iron with the heat off or very low to get a good feel for the iron.

How to Straighten Curly, Thick, Coarse Hair
How to Curl Your Hair Using a Hair Straightener
How to Get Super Shiny Hair Using a Flat Iron
Cleaning Your Hair Straightener

How to Curl Your Hair with a Hair Straightener

Personally, I love the way my hair straightener curls my hair. I find that when using a professional flat iron versus a regular curling iron I get longer lasting curls. Curling your hair with your hair straightener may sound strange, however it is extremely simple, fast and gives great looking curls.

There are a couple ways to curl your hair with a hair straightener, either way start with clean dry hair. For the best results use a 1 inch Professional Hair Straightener, as well as blow dry your hair straight with a paddle brush or round brush first. Always use a heat protectant before using heated styling tools.

The different methods also produce different looking curls so try playing around with the different methods to see which curl you like best and/or what method works best for your hair type.

Method 1 – Scissor Curl

This method is my favourite, it’s quick and easy and is also a great way to add waves and volume to your hair. I use this method to add waves like the pictures above by following the steps below except instead of starting close to my roots I start about half way down my hair and by pulling my hair in different directions while rotating the iron.

1. Section your hair by layers from bottom to top and secure with hair clips.

2. Taking 1 -2 inch sections at a time clamp the hair iron at the top of the section staying about 1 inch away from your scalp.

3. Twist the iron around 180 degrees and pull the iron down the section of hair while continuing to twist the iron around. The faster you pull the iron down the looser the curl, the slower the tighter the curl will be.

Method 2 – Twist & Pull

This method of curling creates more of a spiral like curl on your hair. Again, the faster you go the looser the curl, the slower the tighter.

1. Same as Step 1 above.

2. Take a 1 – 2 inch section of hair and hold it at the ends.

3. Place your iron over the section about 1 inch away from the roots and wrap your hair around the bottom plate.

4. Clamp plates together and glide your flat iron down towards the ends of hair while rotating the iron outwards. Keep rotating your iron while gliding it down the section until your hair comes out from between the plates.

Hair Dryer Diffuser – How to Use a Finger Diffuser

The most common hair dryer diffuser is also known as a finger diffuser.

This dryer attachment is one of the most popular attachments as its main purpose is to add volume and define curls without frizzing up hair. It allows your hair dryer to give a softer blast of air instead of blowing your hair all over the place like a hair dryer will do with out an attachment.

A diffuser is best used on a lower heat setting, and although it makes for a bit of a slower process the end results can be very rewarding. A more defined curl, less frizz and softer looking curls or waves. The fingers on the diffuser work to help separate the hairs from each other for a fuller more voluminous effect.

HOW TO USE A HAIR DRYER FINGER DIFFUSER

To add volume using a diffuser tilt your head upside down and place the diffuser at the roots of your hair and move the diffuser down to the ends of hair as hair dries.

To help shape and define curls start with the diffuser at the roots and with circular motions work your way down the hair. Be sure to move in the same direction down the hair. To add volume with this technique lift the roots by keeping the diffuser at a 90 degree angle from the scalp.

Always use your dryer on a medium heat setting and at a lever 1 air speed.

To help set the hair finish with a cool shot.

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