The Heat is On

Yes heat is bad for your hair, if you burn it.

I remember when I was about eleven or twelve years old I use to read "Right On" magazine. Then one day while in the local pharmacy store with my mom, I decided to get "Teen" magazine instead. "Oh boy!" I thought to myself as I flipped through the pages, "Hmm, this is interesting." I compared how White teenagers had their teen star crushes to how Black teenagers had theirs. I noticed how their magazine had a lot more posters, fan club addresses. I also noticed how they provided profiles on the following page of the teen star after every poster. I also remembering discovering Leif Garret. Oooh he was cute! I actually liked that song, "I Was Made for Dancing." As I read his likes and dislikes, I came across a word, "pet peeve." While I do not remember what his pet peeves were, I do remember continuing to read to see if it was about some kind of animal. I picked up my "Right On" magazine and noticed that the Black teen stars in the magazine had no "pet peeves." But in the White "Teen" magazine,  the Black teen Stars had pet peeves. So I ran downstairs and asked my mom. "How come Black teen stars have pet peeves in White Teen magazine but none in Right On? Oh and what kind of pet is peeve?" My mom busted out laughing!

Fast forward to today and I have some peeves that still makes me wonder what kind of pet is that? As a cosmetologist there are not too many things that irks me about this industry. But the one that turned my human peeve into a pet peeve is hearing and reading about how heat is bad for your hair.

Steam, electrical, chemical and friction are forms
of HEAT.

I remain perplexed about heat being bad and damaging to hair. Heat can be used in the various forms of steam, electrical, friction and chemical to aid in the myriad of ways people manipulate hair. Heat used in those varying forms are actually good for hair by way of opening and smoothing the cuticle (the outer layer that looks like fish scales) to give us the ability to comb it, clean it, condition it, color it, relax it, treat it, loc it, make it more manageable and shine! Without heat in either of these forms, hair styling would be quite interesting to say the least.  If heat was truly damaging the hair care and hair styling world would cease to exist.

Heat gets a bad rap like liquor. Quite naturally everything is not for everybody.  Anything can be abused. And when in the hands of the wrong person or abused; damage of many kinds will be the result. All hair styles do not require heat in any form. And all people should not use heat as the cure all or the "go to" for every hair care and hair style option. However, it is there to use to do many creative and helpful things to hair. So whenever someone ask me to clarify if heat is bad for hair. I always respond, "Yep. If you burn it."

"Listen honey, listen!" Hair is an excellent conductor of heat. When used properly, all hair types and textures will respond to heat by softening, smoothing or curling accordingly. The key to using heat is to use it when the hair is clean. The second it to have it on the right heat setting. The third is to use the proper tool to soften, smooth, straighten or curl hair.

The "Huetiful Steamer" provides a safe
source of heat for stressed tresses!

Hair responds to heat safely when it is clean. Hair is relatively clean within the first 3 days of shampooing and conditioning it. Do not attempt to use heat in any form on any setting on hair that is not clean. If you do, you will damage or burn the hair along with what is soiled on it. The settings or temperature gauge is very important. Very high heat is not necessary for most textures, especially if you are going to steam treat your hair. In addition if you use a curling iron, flat iron or straightening comb to further style the hair after blow drying it or sitting under a hooded dryer; high temperatures are not necessary. Some heated styling tools have number settings or high, medium or low settings. I suggest buying heated tools that have temperature settings because you will get more use out of your styling tool. If your tool does not have a temperature gauge on it, please read the manufacturers on which temperature is best for your hair type and texture. 

Use heat responsible on CLEAN hair.

Lastly, use the proper tool to assist in getting your hair smoothed or straight. In getting your hair straight or straighter, there is a process to getting it there depending on how straight you would like it. If your hair texture (curly, kinky, wavy or Afro) a, you may need to blow dry your hair first on a high to medium heat setting followed by a flat iron, curling iron or straightening comb. If you are not sure about what kind of blow dryer, hooded dryer, flat iron, curling iron or straightening comb is best for your hair, schedule and appointment with a licensed cosmetologist to help you with you before you waste money buying the wrong or too expensive of a styling tool. Do not get on YOUTUBE watching those videos about "No Heat" styling, co-washing and all that jive. Keep in mind that most "how to" videos rarely depict what is on your head and what you need to do it to get the results you want. Please get a consultation in PERSON!

The argument of blow dryer versus hooded dryer need not be one. For they are designed to do different things with the hair. Neither are a cure all or is bad for the hair styles they were made to produce. The same can be said about the flat iron versus the straightening and curling iron. All three have versatility. In the hands of a trained and experienced person, 99.9% of the times when they use it to style hair, they do not burn it out nor are they damaging the hair to the point havoc.

Heat, Technique & The Right Tool
a.k.a
The Three Amigos!

Because no two heads of hair are alike, it is imperative that you personalize your hair care and hair styling regimen. Do not fall into cultural ruts of doing the same thing that society says do. For example, shampooing hair every two weeks or shampooing your hair daily. The heat is on, as it relates to how we should look and feel. Do not succumb to the pressure to NOT perform and take care of your hair yourself or even pay someone if you like. Do not allow haters of heat, lovers of smooth hair, advocates of texture and proponents of curls, spikes and flips tell you what to do YOUR hair. Within reason, when used on clean hair; heat is safe for hair. Do what you like and do what know is right. And if that person doesn't like it, tell them and to take their pet peeve and go walking with the other dawgs!

A Few of My Favorite Things!

A Few of My Favorite Things

Raindrops on roses; a Aston Martin to get in
Bright copper jewelry and brown furry mittens
Brown leather Chanel purse and a lot of bling bling
These are a few of my favorite things..

In the spirit of holiday singing and shopping, I revised this song just for this blog!

And, I would be some kind of blogger if I did not write about a few of my favorite and not so favorite things as the year comes to an end. In 2014 some creative folk introduced some interesting hair styling tools to help make this "getting cute thing" easier. Play The Supremes as you read this blog to see if any of your purchases or interests makes the list. 

Throughout the year, I periodically relapse into Ladosha the Hair care junkie. I just can't help it. I'm a hair stylist is my excuse. I try very hard to stick with tradition and stay on course. But then it hits me; the magazine articles, the sales reps, the customers exciting inquiries of "have you heard about..." and it's all down hill before I slip into the abyss of hair styling tools that I just swear will make my work day and my own hair styling better.  So as the year comes to an end my cravings for hair styling tools does as well. During my on again off again binges, I have spent my money and time playing around with and trying out these tools trying to get my next hair fix. Not that I am trying to encourage or discourage anyone, but here is my take on my 2014 hair fix relapses. Some have been worth the trip and others brought me back to reality. Drum roll please...

Air Curler

The Air Curler, in the infamous words of former President, George W. Bush, "Not one iota." In the very vast multi-trillion dollar world of hair care and it's infinite options of what to buy to style your tresses, this one does not cut the muster. Enough typed. Nexxxxxxt.....

Mira Curler

The Mira Curl by BaByliss Pro got my goat. It was the one tool that catapulted my relapse into the abyss! There I stood in the supply store that is supposedly "exclusively" for licensed cosmetologists, in awe as my heart raced as my eyes peered over at this apparatus. Initially, I tried to resist. I thought, "Now this supply store is suppose to be for licensed cosmetologists and barbers only, even though over half the products are sold over the counter how credible can this thang be?" You would have thought the price would have deterred me, but noooooo (in my John Belushi voice), like a feign; I tried it any way and I bought it. And, I liked it. That thang actually worked. It worked on all hair textures, hair weaves. It worked exactly liked the directions and the advertisement said it would. Of course that is rare, but hey this styling tool "creates perfect curls every time!" If you must, treat yourself. I even sold a few to my customers! 

The In Styler, a team of "esteemed 
hairstylists Bruno Meglio, Claudio Marino a design engineer and entrepreneur Michael Ragosta originally partnered with co-inventor Dave Richmond and invented this apparatus" as quoted from their website. While they may be esteemed, creative, dynamic and probably wealthy; they obviously have not consistently tried it on their own hair. I tried to desperately work this one out. However, because I specialize in hair care and not hair styling, I gave this one a

thumbs down. The "In Styler" is to hair what the "Fat Burner Belt" is to belly fat; not very effective. It sounds good in theory but what about practice? In theory, hair has many layers. The first layer is the cuticle (outer layer- what hair is mostly comprised of). Then there is the second layer, the cortex (where the strength and integrity of the hair is). The third layer is the medulla (this layer is absent in fine hair and the verdict is still out on why it's absent in fine hair).  Now considering your hair has all these layers, in practice, when you take a metal coated heated spinning barrel rotating in unison with a synthetic brush bristles, what do you think you get? You do not have to be a hair stylist who specializes in hair care to figure that one out.

I use this one weekly!

Next up, the Maxi Glide. The name says it all. It gives the maximum performance in SAFELY gliding through textured hair resulting in silky smooth, tangle free hair. This one was highly recommended to me during one of those, "Hey, have you heard about..." customer who came to the salon after relocating to Cleveland, Ohio from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina wiped away her community. I recall anxiously staying up late; night after night to catch the infomercial she told me about. For nights, I missed it. Then finally, I caught it. I watched it and in my Judy Tenuta voice, I said, "It could happen." So I called the 1-800 number to purchase it. I use it to this very day. It is the next best thing to a Kentucky Maid straightening comb (for those of us with thick, dense, wavy, curly and Afro textured hair). For the cry baby, for beginner, for those who do not like taking hours to flat iron and for those who are afraid they might burn themselves...this IS the perfect flat iron.

Speaking of Kentucky Maid, that leads me into my next favorite thing, the Kentucky Maid Straightening Comb. While Madame CJ Walker gets all the credit for inventing the straightening comb, her great great grand daughter Alelia Bundles wrote a book about the life and times of her great great grand mother that includes the truth behind her not inventing it. In fact, it

Ol Reliable a.k.a Kentucky Maid Straightening Comb

was just a few days before Christmas. It was on December 21st, to be exact, that the United States Patent Office awarded Walter Sammons, an African American inventor his patent. And the rest they say is history. In the trained and skilled hands of a licensed beautician this is the "ol reliable" of hair styling that is safe for the scalp and hair. If you have not be taught the family tradition of pressing or straightening hair; then do not attempt to teach yourself or practice on anyone. In the hands of an untrained person, practicing on real people can lead to more than burnt tresses. So, be sure to have someone teach how to properly use it first.

If the good ol' fashioned straightening comb is one of my favorites, you can only imagine the next hair styling tool I like. You guessed it, the Cast Iron Marcel Iron. If you are a new to the career of hair styling, this styling tool may seem to like an ancient artifact. Though it is not as old as a dinosaur, it will remain in the beauty industry until it gets as old as a dinosaur. If one is blessed to learn the "intricate finger twirling heat observing, determining when to actually curl the hair with it" art; they will have a career in hair styling until they retire. Why you ask? The electric curling irons and flat irons always stay at the desire temperature. They never cool down. Well, the Cast Iron Marcel Iron does. Once the desired temperature is achieved to curl the hair, it immediately begins to cool down as the hair is curled. And all hair stylists know that cooler curls lasts longer.

Ol Reliable Jr. a.k.a Cast Iron Curling Iron

Electric styling tools are always hot. When a someone has fragile hair, electric styling tools are not a wise choice. Instead, cast iron combs and curling irons that can be heated in a oven apparatus where a skilled hair stylist can determine how hot the utensil should be throughout styling the entire head are the best option. Using these tools accordingly will result in safe heat hair styling. This tool is best for the discriminating skilled and caring hair stylist. 

The expensive flat iron that works wonders.

Back to the future, the Flat Irons. Flat irons, flat irons and more flat irons. Flat Irons are like smart phones. Both are multi-faceted and can be very expensive. As multi-faceted as smart phones are, for some odd reason, people opt to use them for one common thing and will pay a lot of money for one. At the end of the of the day, rather it is an iPhone or a Droid, both are smart phones. Though they both have different operating systems, both can still make phone calls, allow you to go online and take photos to name a few. The same can be said about Flat Irons, at the end of the day the expensive flat irons and the inexpensive flat irons are still, flat irons. Though they have different heating mechanisms on the inside and different names on the outside; both will still straighten hair, curl hair and shut off if they are left on too long even though people will simply opt to just smooth out their hair. My best advice for this favorite thing is to shop within your budget. If you are $30.00 shopper; go for it. If you are a $180.00, go for it. To keep you from going over board, just look at your phone!

The LESS expensive flat irons that works wonders. 

When the snow drizz makes your hair frizz; it will make you feel so sad. I want you to re-read my blog on My Favorite Things and then you won't feel, soooooooooooo bad (yass, in your Diana Ross voice)!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!