How to Flat Iron African American Hair

For African Americans who do not put straightening chemicals in their hair but want that straight look from time to time, should consider using a flat iron. With the art of using a straightening comb on the fire fading away as less and less people become skilled in using it, a flat iron is a great substitute. Here is a tutorial for flat ironing African American hair.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Conditioner

Prepare the Flat Irons

1. 
   Chi flat iron

   First you need a high quality Chi or Sedu Ceramic Flat Iron as you need a great deal of heat to straighten African American hair.

2. 
   Slim ceramic flat iron with teeth

   Second, you need a skinny flat iron with teeth. This second flat iron will untangle ends and straighten edges.

3. 
   Flat iron with removable teeth

   Be sure the teeth are not removable, because they can come off at the worst time. You can be injured using a flat iron with removable teeth.

Prepare the Hair

4. 

   First shampoo and condition hair. A deep conditioner is recommended before applying heat products.

5. Blow dry the hair gently using a large-toothed comb. Try to not dry out the hair when blowdrying it.

6. If you have time, do not blowdry the hair. Instead, comb the hair out, separate it into sections, braid or twist it and let it air dry.

Flat Iron Hair

7. With your dry hair separated into sections, take the skinny flat iron with teeth and run it through the hair first to loosen tangles and to straighten the edges at the hairline and neck. Do the entire hair with this flat iron first. It will get the hair reasonably straight. For a child's hair--to make a pony tail with their hair--this is straight enough.

8. 

   Apply a leave-in heat protection conditioner on the ends of the hair to keep it from drying out. They come in liquid and cream form.

9. Comb all of the hair forward so that it hangs over the forehead. Alternately, you can separate it into sections. I prefer to comb it forward as it keeps the hair I haven't straightened (the second time) out of the way.

10. Starting from the back, using the chi flat iron, slowly run it through sections of hair parting thin rows and straightening as you go. The hair will come out silky and shiny and offer no resistance when you run your fingers, or even a small-toothed comb through it. Continue until you get to the front and all of the hair is straightened. Your hair should be bone straight at this point and ready to style.

Tips & Warnings

• When I am in a hurry, I do both steps at once (this is best done by someone else). To combine steps, you use both hands to run both irons through the hair with the skinny toothed iron in front of the chi flat iron.
• Do not flat iron wet hair as it will boil the hair and damage the cuticle.

[plummy]

on 11/2/2009 can't seem to find the skinny flat iron with teeth. any ideas where i can find one? Thanks !!

[ladyt06]

on 6/16/2009 flat iron with teeth is a good tip, help the straightening process a lot! good job

[Mocha]

on 1/9/2009 Thanks for sharing, I am going to try to straighten with a flat iron with teeth.

[AHermitt]

on 10/5/2008 I have had my chi for a couple of years, and it works fine, but we don't use it daily, or even weekly. There are new flat irons on the market daily though. Just make sure it is ceramic.

[lwill108]

on 10/3/2008 Are there any other good flat irons out there besides the chi? I heard they loose their heat after a year.