Every now and then, I challenge myself to straighten my hair all on my own. I used to do it all the time when my hair was longer, but since chopping it off into the pixie cut (which has since grown out into a bob), I leave the task to my stylist.

Lately I’ve been a little bored with my hair, so I decided to dedicate nearly an entire night to straightening out these strands.

Let’s jump into it.

The Tools:

These are the styling products I used: Mixed Chicks Leave-In Conditioner, Carol’s Daughter Monoi Split End Sealer, Jane Carter’s Nourish & Shine pomade, and Biosilk silk therapy serum.

My trusty wooden paddle brush, my boar bristle brush to smooth down these edges, a skinny comb, and hair clips.

Love this HANA air blow dryer. I use it with the detachable diffuser and a paddle brush when blowdrying my hair.

My friend who is a hair stylist recommended I try the Nano Titanium flat iron by Babyliss PRO. Let me warn you, it gets VERY hot, but it definitely gets the job done. There are heat settings you can adjust from 1-50, so you still have control.

The Process:

I started by washing my hair in the shower, then applied my leave-in conditioner and split end sealer to the ends of my hair. I detangled in sections with my paddle brush,  making sure my hair was damp but not soaking wet while working section to section.

Next I blow dried slowly using the diffuser and my paddle brush. As I moved section by section, I applied a little serum to each area to protect my hair from heat damage.

The shrinkage shocked me! My hair was a lot longer than I thought once blown out. Because I love to color my hair, I go the extra step in a final blow dry all over with the cool setting to seal the moisture and shine in before flat ironing.

I didn’t get a chance to capture the flat ironing step by step process, so here is the finished result! I still ended up adding a touch more serum to my hair even after blowdrying, because color sucks up moisture and can look dry and frizzy if it’s not moisturized enough.

For my edges, I took a little bit of the Jane Carter nourish and shine pomade, dabbed it on my edges, and took my bristle brush and smoothed it down.

And le back…

If you’re wondering how I maintain the look at night, I wrap my hair and tie it up with a silk scarf. In the morning, I brush it out and just flat iron sections that are a little limp on a low heat setting.

Well how do you think I did? lol I think it turned out pretty nice!