Blow Drying Technique for Kinky Hair

 Hi everyone!
For sometime now I've been looking for easier and faster ways to dry and stretch my hair. I have tried blow outs before but I usually end up with dry, coily, or knotted ends.
During the holidays, my little sister wanted to get extensions and we all know that the best way to do this style is with stretched hair. After washing and deepconditioning, the poor child was too tired to do the 'proper-after-wash- procedures'. So  she put her damp hair in 4 huge sections and went on her way...me sef don tire so I ignored her :)
By the next day, her hair was still damp and she was running late for an appointment with a stylist. So we decided to try our luck with the blow dryer once again. After taking down a section, I detangled with my fingers, applied coconut oil and blow dried hair with the blow-dryer set at medium.
I tell you, that was the first blow-out I had ever done that came out without wahala.

 See how smooth her hair is? The stylist kept commenting on the softness and 'obedience' of her hair. "You know how difficult natural hair can be when you don't take good care of it...."

Excited to try out the technique on my hair, I sprayed water on my newly washed hair to dampen it. I then applied coconut oil and proceeded to blow-dry. Below is my result

Although I loved the results I still worried about my ends as there were alot of hair strands in the pik nozzle. I also noticed hair strands in the sink...not shed hair but hair strands that looked like they had been snagged ripped. So the results were good but a bit disappointing. I imagined how scanty my hair would be 2 years from now if I kept this up and I decided to chill till I found a better way.

pik nozzle:source 

Then came the post on BGLH that featured MsAlicia James. I read her regimen and got intrigued. She had a video on her site that shows how to blow dry type4 hair without putting heat on the ends. I tried it and there you have it....success!!

 

So what's new?

• Follow the method I came up with: wash, dc, apply leave in, braid and let hair air dry.

• Delete the part were I use the pik nozzle.

• Hold unto a small section of your hair, while covering your ends that must have been air dried using your fingers, then blow dry.
• Twist or braid section and move to the next.  

That simple!!

 

MsAlicia's technique is more than welcome, as it protects the ends from heat.

Lessons Learnt:

Had to put  hair in braids immediately after taking pictures...heat wan nearly kill me

• Because the ends  are the oldest part of your hair they must be treated with care. If you are three years natural, then they can be three years old too. Hence the dryness and tight coiling when not moisturized and properly handled.

• With age, the ends can be the most difficult part of type4 hair. If not treated right, they will rebel against you by coiling and knotting up which will lead to your cutting or trimming them off. Remember that the more you cut, the less length you retain.

•  I don't know about yours, but I think my ends hate direct heat! And from now on, this blogger would have to be very careful to avoid that. 

• Lastly, type4 hair can deal with a little heat as long as the ends are well protected. 

Note: For those of us who prefer the no-comb regimen, this technique is you. You can finger detangle before blow-drying a section and after completing the blow out. The beauty of MsAlicia's technique is that the fingers pass easily though the hair strands making it easy to maintain hair without the use of a comb.