Our hair is made of scales that become raised through daily wear and tear. The more these scales are raised, the worse your hair looks. The image to the left shows a magnified hair strand. You can clearly see the difference between a healthy hair strand and a damaged hair strand. Conditioners work by smoothing and coating the strand to flatten the outermost layer of the hair strand. This makes our hair appear smoother, shinier and healthier. To help conditioners work better, we can also smooth our hair with our fingers. Think of your fingers as flat irons and smooth your fingers down the hair shaft. Smoothing your hair with your fingers along with using a good conditioner will give you optimal results: shinier, less frizzy healthy-looking hair. I use the smoothing technique when I am conditioning my hair in the shower and also when I'm wet setting my hair. I quickly smooth my hair 10-20 times per section or until it feels completely smooth. If I feel a rough patch, I add more conditioner or water until it feels smooth. Smoothing is important for natural hair because it helps to define curls and reduce frizz. I have noticed drastic changes in my hair when smoothing became an integral part of my regimen.
Definately will try this...
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy these tips for curly hair. Please keep them coming!
ReplyDeleteI've been trying this lately in the shower and have noticed a big difference. I try each tip after you post it; can't wait until the end of the month to link my friends to the full index of all 31 of them!
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting these tips!
ReplyDeletethough i do this, i find that my results are still not that great. been doing wash and gos for the summer and smoothing helps some but i had hoped for results more like yours! alas, i think my curls are far more unruly (and most of them smaller) than yours. perhaps i need to try another conditioner...
ReplyDeletePennerad, you can't expect to see the same results as me if you have a different hair type, but you should definitely see more clumping, less frizz and your hair should feel smooth. If your hair doesn't at least feel smoother then you should try another conditioner.
ReplyDeleteHi! I love your blog I have been following it for a while. I tried smoothing, I always raked my product, but didnt really smooth it in. I have to say that the results are awesome, detangling was a breeze, my hair had super shine and less frizz! I have been natural for 17 months now (did a BC) and I can't believe I never tried this. Do you get a lot of shrinkage when you smooth? Bc my hair shrinks a lot! I think our hair types are similar so, I just wanted to know your thoughts on this. Shrinkage doesnt bother me anymore, just wanted to know your thoughts and do you smooth your hair in large or small sections? Sorry about all the questions and thanks!
ReplyDeleteGreat, glad it worked for you. Smoothing will help define your curls and could possibly cause more shrinkage once your hair is dry. You can use a blow dryer to stretch your hair if you want to reduce shrinkage.
ReplyDeleteI don't really notice a difference in shrinkage on my natural hair since I don't wear wash 'n gos. Because I wear braid outs, the smoothing helps to stretch my hair more so that I have less shrinkage.
I smooth in both large and small sections is depends on the window of time I'm working in. Large sections when I'm in a rush and small sections when I have more time.
I usually do braid outs and I play with different sizes, so the amount of hair I use when smoothing depends on the size of braids I'm doing and that's also based on time constraints.
Great, glad it worked for you. Smoothing will help define your curls and could possibly cause more shrinkage once your hair is dry. You can use a blow dryer to stretch your hair if you want to reduce shrinkage.
ReplyDeleteI don't really notice a difference in shrinkage on my natural hair since I don't wear wash 'n gos. Because I wear braid outs, the smoothing helps to stretch my hair more so that I have less shrinkage.
I smooth in both large and small sections is depends on the window of time I'm working in. Large sections when I'm in a rush and small sections when I have more time.
I usually do braid outs and I play with different sizes, so the amount of hair I use when smoothing depends on the size of braids I'm doing and that's also based on time constraints.
I do this before setting my hair (braiding, twisting, bantu knotting, etc). It makes my sets come out more defined. I also think it helps keep my hair detangled while it's in a stretched state.
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