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More and more men are straightening their hair temporarily or permanently. Straightening your hair has become in the last few years something quite easy to do, just like cutting your own hair!
To help you, here are some methods that will allow you to go from curly, wavy or frizzy hair to straight hair .
Model : Jérôme C
Methods to straighten your men’s hair temporarily
The Brushing
First of all, you need to wash your hair with a mild shampoo or smoothing, this will relax the frizz. Blow-drying is done once the hair is wrung out and combed. Avoid using a dry shampoo before using a straightening iron.
To protect your hair from the heat, you can moisturize it by using argan or coconut oil; the oil is applied from the roots to the ends. You can also use Christophe Robin’s Sandalwood Day Cream, a product I really like.
I recommend using a round brush for smoothing, pulling the strands outward one by one while drying them with a hair dryer
It is important that the temperature of your hair dryer is medium. To avoid burning and damaging your hair, do not blow dry the same strand several times.
To give your hair more shine and reduce frizz, I suggest using a smoothing serum that you apply from the ends to the roots, in very small quantities.
The straightening iron
If you have short hair and you want to use a straightening iron to straighten your hair, I rec you to choose a straightening iron whose plates are less than or equal to 3 cm wide. Just like blow-drying, you must wash your hair before using the straightening iron, but your hair must be completely dry, so as not to damage it.
To avoid any problems, perform a test on a strand of hair before proceeding to straighten your entire hair.
It is preferable to put a serum on your hair to protect it from the heat. Put your straightening iron on the lowest setting, take a strand between the plates of the straightening iron, and move the iron from the root to the tip. To avoid burning your hair, do not leave the iron on the same strand for more than two seconds.
As with blow-drying, apply a serum or moisturizing smoothing cream at the end to nourish your hair and give it shine.
Read also Men’s hair: All about Brazilian straightening from A to Z!
Solutions to straighten your men’s hair permanently
The use of a chemical product will allow you to make a semi-permanent straightening that will last several months. Before doing this treatment, you should not wash your hair for at least two days.
Choose a product that corresponds to your hair type. After reading the instructions carefully, you will apply the product to your hair with a brush, strand by strand. You will need to leave the product on your hair for about 8 to 12 minutes and then you will clean your hair with a neutralizing shampoo, as it will remove all the straightening product.
I strongly advise you to do this with a hairdresser to avoid any risk of burning and damage to your hair, some damage can be irreversible if it is not done in the rules of art. The advantage of this method is that you will have a great haircut that will last!
Read also How to choose a flat iron for men ? Men’s haircut tips
How to take care of straightened hair ?
Whether it is a temporary or permanent straightening, it is important to take care of your hair. I advise you, in order to moisturize your hair, to make a care of type mask hydrating and smoothing once a week.
In general, it is applied after shampooing and should be applied for 1 to 3 minutes. Afterwards, you can rinse with clear water. Personally, I use an after shampoo to detangle my hair.
What are the risks of permanent straightening if you are a man?
Permanent hair straightening is a solution that is becoming more and more popular among men. However, you should know that this irreversible act is not without consequences and involves some risks.
Whether it is with or without soda, permanent straightening remains harmful to the health of hair and scalp. It is an aggressive process that is carried out with the help of a chemical straightening product. The alkaline or thiolated product, depending on the nature of your hair, will break down the keratin of the hair and remove the natural moisture to modify its structure and give it a straight hair appearance.
Of course, straightening is permanent and definitive, but so is the fragility of the hair. By acting in depth, the relaxer damages the hair fiber and the balance of the scalp, leading to slower and less vigorous growth. The scalp then becomes prone to dandruff, irritation and burns due to the extremely powerful components of the relaxer.
This is why swimming pools, flat irons or sea water should be avoided at the risk of weakening your hair structure even more. Once relaxed, the hair requires much more maintenance for the regrowth and needs intensive weekly care to limit breakage. Moreover, if you have dry and brittle hair, I suggest you turn to gentler techniques at the risk of seeing it fall out in clumps from the first application.
In the long run, repeated and poorly applied straightening can lead to hair loss and alopecia. Worse yet, in the most severe cases, permanent straightening could also make you irreparably bald.
So, is it worth it? I’ll let you decide, but one thing is for sure, if you want to take the plunge, I advise you to opt for a salon application.
