How To Care For Flat Ironed Hair While You Work Out

I know, I know, for most of us seeing the words “flat ironed hair” and “work out” in the same sentence together can make our souls cringe.

Because for those of us who work out, we have experienced many times where our freshly blown out swangin hair becomes a thing of the past as it converts itself into a frizzby mess after a nice work out session.

Instead of reveling in the accomplishment that you’ve just made by getting through an Insanity workout, you are practically in tears because the 4 hour straightening session that you endured the night before was all for nothing. Le sigh.

Well this nightmare of a thought will become a figment of your imagination with the “keep your hair straight while exercising “ action plan that we have laid out for you below.

Here’s how to continue to have wearable straight hair workout after workout.

The Wash

This is the most important part of the whole frizz-proofing process.  This part ensures that your straightened hair can hold up to just about anything.

To start, clarify your hair . You will need to get rid of any buildup than may be present, this will allow for your hair to not be weighed down and will also ensure that your hair absorbs enough moisture during the wash.

Next, you will want to pull out the most delicious and moisture filled deep conditioners that you own, apply and let it sit in your hair for a good hour and a half. Why the lengthy deep conditioning* session? Ain’t nobody got time fo’ dat! I hear you say?

Well, because you would want the maximum amount of conditioning to penetrate your hair strands. This will help reduce majority of the poofiness that happens when your hair absorbs moisture from the atmosphere. If your strands are already ‘full’ of moisture then your hair remains straight longer.

If you don’t already own a hair steamer* this is the perfect opportunity to invest in one!

 Leave Ins And Heat Protectants

When it comes to leave ins and heat protectants, most who are pros at keeping flat ironed hair straight says the less the better. With leave ins, you would usually add a dime to quarter size amount of leave to your whole head.

This is to prevent your hair from being weighed down. One major tip to remember is that your leave ins should be anti-humectant or anti humidity (sorry ladies, no glycerin allowed to this party), this is to prevent your hair from poofing and swelling up from just a drop of vapor.

As for heat protectants, it’ll be best just to add enough to coat the strands. I have had experiences in the past where I have added too much heat protectant*  and my hair actually steamed up during flat ironing because of this. No Bueno!

So while heat protectant* is important, it can quickly become detrimental to the cause when used incorrectly.

The Straightening Process

So, we have finally arrived to the straightening part. The first thing that we have to do is figure out the proper straightening temperature. This highly depends on your hair type and how much heat your hair can handle.

Now, because of the pre- straightening steps we followed above (you did follow them, right? just checking) there should not be anyone straightening their hair above 400 degrees farenheight.

Most have great long lasting results between the temperatures of 320- 375 degrees farenheight so you can choose the heat setting that fits your hair’s preference between this range to prevent heat damage.

 After Straightening Care

Okay so now that we have finished the straightening and we are marveling at the bling and swing, we need to figure out how to protect our hair even more, especially before we start the sweat session.

Now, earlier I mentioned a bit about humectants like glycerin and how they are no-nos for keeping sleek straight hair, well there are anti-humectants that you can add to your hair after the straightening process to give your style extra staying power. They work by repelling humidity and keep your hair straighter for longer.

A good natural anti-humectant is castor oil*. Since castor oil* is pretty thick, just take a fingertip amount of castor oil and if necessary thin it out with a bit of coconut oil*, olive oil*, or grapeseed oil* and then apply just enough, to coat the strands.

Other good commercial anti-humectants are Aveda Brilliant Anti-Humectant Pomade, Sabino Lok and Blok or any good anti-frizz serum.

Another good defense to let the sleekness last longer is the actual style that you wear your hair in before exercising. There are plenty of ways to wear your hair to protect it from the frizzies.

Styles such as buns, pin curls, and loose French braids are excellent choices that keep your hair off your neck. Or you can simply tuck your ends under to create a faux bob.

Another great tip is to keep your hair up until the sweat has evaporated from your scalp and while you cannot completely prevent some reversion near the roots, keeping either a sweat band or silk scarf* should prevent your edges from reverting.

Okay, one more thing.. How can I keep my sweaty scalp clean if I have a straightened style?

I know this is one of the biggest questions and concerns so it is only right that I squeeze it in. It is not essential to clean your scalp every time you sweat because your sweat won’t really have an adverse effect on your hair.

But if you are planning to keep your hair straight for more than a week then one of the best ways to keep your scalp clean is by using witch hazel.

Witch hazel applied with a cotton ball, is a great way to make sure that the sweat itchies stay away. Witch hazel being a liquid will slightly revert the hair close to your scalp but it’s a reasonable trade off for a clean scalp! You can also apply neem oil* to your scalp which is a great cleanser and it’s antibacterial too.

So that’s it guys, I hope that the action plan that we have provided above can help aide in keeping your straight strands sleek!