Let's Talk Straight Hair | My First Silk Press!

Hey Daizies!
It’s been almost 2 months but I still wanted to recap my experience getting my hair straightened for the first time since being natural. Following through with my curiosity of getting my hair silk pressed took about 5 months. Around January I was really interested in seeing my length with my fro fully straightened. My worst fear was heat damage and I would get really close to straightening it then change my mind at the thought of horror stories I’d heard. Plus, I didn’t want to straighten my hair during the cold winter months when rain could fall from the sky any moment. But when spring had arrived and I had done my research to find a stylist near me with experience styling natural hair, I was finally ready for my first silk press!
If you have thick natural hair, be prepared to be in the salon all day lol! The process took about 4 hours so I’m glad I chose a Friday which is when I had no class. I got my hair washed, deep conditioned, and a well needed trim! I do now see the value in getting my hair professionally trimmed. Since my big chop in 2015, I have been trimming my own hair. At the salon, my hair was fully blown out and I could definitely see that there was way more portions of split ends that I couldn’t see when trimmed in twists. About an inch and a half was cut. I was a little sad because when my hair was about armpit length but I know cutting those split ends would be for the best. I was now slightly below collarbone length but my hair looked and felt so healthy! Deep conditioning every week and moisturizing every day definitely paid off. Compared to when my hair was straight during relaxer days, it felt thicker and silkier.
I LOVED my silk press and couldn’t stop swinging my hair when I got out of the salon. It felt very different with a lighter load on my shoulder lol.

 
I kept the silk press for 15 days. After a few days, I used leave-in conditioner and literally within a few seconds I could feel my roots start to revert. I blow dried the roots to preserve the style and learned absolutely no water based product could be used. I moisturized my hair with coconut oil instead.
After a week and a half I couldn’t wait to wash my hair and couldn’t stop scratching the middle of my scalp. When this happens, using ACV (apple cider vinegar) is so help and cleanses the bacteria and dirt as well as helps balance the pH balance of the scalp. The moment of truth was seeing my hair revert and making sure I had no heat damage. I mixed conditioner and water in a spray bottle and began spraying my hair in sections. During the 3 seconds of not immediately seeing my texture revert my heart started beating so fast in a panic lol. But after a few sprays and after 5-10 minutes, I saw my curls come back to life and I was so relieved!
I’m so happy I finally followed through with getting my hair silk pressed. I did it on my own time and it felt great. Getting the trim was so beneficial. I had some vicious fairy knots and tangles but afterwards my hair didn’t have such tangles and problematic ends. I plan on investing in a quality blow dryer to trim my hair while completely stretched at least every 3 months. I don’t plan on getting my hair silk pressed more than 1-2 a year but could play with some straight hair wigs to get the same look. Hooray for my first silk press and no heat damage!
Xoxo,