Breakage

In my "Random Thoughts" comment, I stated that I was experiencing some breakage after my hair trim. After my Dominican Blowout, I also experienced some breakage so it got me thinking about the two procedures. The only common denominator for the two procedures was that direct heat was applied to my hair via hand held blow dryer set to high heat. With that being said I am going to listen to my hair and not apply any direct heat to it while I an in transition. I may try to heat again once I am completely natural and see is I get the same results. I am a firm believer in listening to my hair and paying attention to how it behaves with various styles and products. Since I did the blowout, I have been paying extra attention to conditioning my hair and keeping it well hydrated. It seems to be working and my hair is not breaking like it was right after the blowout. I will definitely have to update this when I get all the way natural because I want to have options with my hair whether its straight or curly but not at the expense of my hair breaking off. I always said that I will transition my hair for as long as it is not breaking so its on to the next chapter.

Dominican Blowout

I have some cousins in Atlanta that swear by Dominican Blowouts so I decided to give it a try. I went yesterday to Bonita's in Colonial Heights, VA and paid $45. Apparently they charge extra to do natural hair and since this is my first time, I am not sure if that is normal or a good price. Anyway, the process started with a wash and condition followed by a roller set and about 1.5 hours under the dryer. After she took the rollers out, I almost told her to leave the curls as they were cause they were big and bouncy but I decided to follow the procedure to the end. Next my hair was blowed dried again using a hand held dryer and a small tooth comb. I must say the dryer was very hot and it caused me to jump a few times. Finally, my hair was flat ironed with some sort of heat protectant, I just don't remember what it was called. The final result was my hair was very straight and had great movement. I think this process worked better than when I was getting relaxers. I did put some curlers in my hair and was able to create some big bouncy curls and they looked great. So all in all it was a good experience but it is one that I will not do too often just because of the intense heat that was used but a couple times a year would not be a bad thing. I will say that I took my daughter, who is relaxed, there and her hair is doing much better health wise. Her hair was breaking off very badly but after two visits, her hair is shedding normally now with no breakage at all. For those who are looking for straight hair without the relaxer this would be a great option. However, I'm not sure what this is going to look like after I work out and start sweating. As a side note, I am very lazy with my hair and my arms get tired when I try to flat iron it myself so if you are like me in that aspect, this would be a great alternative.