No Reason Needed: PRACTICING SAFE STYLING... PT.1

SITTING, WAITING, WISHING. WASH AND REPEAT. SIT, WAIT, AND WISH FOR THOSE COUPLE ADDED INCHES. I KNOW-I KNOW, LENGTH ISN'T EVERYTHING.. BUT TO ME, IT SURE DID SEEM LIKE IT. I FELT LIKE I WOULD FINALLY START TO GAIN SOME GROUND, JUST IN TIME TO NEED YET ANOTHER TRIM. SERIOUSLY, THIS WAS THE STORY OF MY LIFE UNTIL ABOUT A YEAR AGO.

I HAD JUST RETURNED HOME FROM VACATIONING IN TAHITI FOR MY HONEYMOON, AND MY HAIR FELT BETTER THAN IT HAD IN YEARS. HOW COULD THIS BE? I HAD DEFINITELY BEEN INDULGING IN MY FARE SHARE OF SALT WATER AND SUN FOR 10 DAYS STRAIGHT, SO THIS REALLY DIDN'T MAKE MUCH SENSE. THEN IT DAWNED ON ME. I HADN'T APPLIED ANY HEAT TO MY HAIR WHATSOEVER DURING OUR ENTIRE VACATION. THAT HAD TO BE WHAT DID THE TRICK. I DECIDED TO FURTHER TEST MY THEORY BY RESTRAINING FROM HEAT FOR THE NEXT COUPLE WEEKS. THOSE WEEKS TURNED TO MONTHS , WHICH TURNED INTO WHAT HAS NOW BEEN OVER A YEAR. AND GUESS WHAT, I DON'T MISS IT A BIT. I LEARNED TO LOVE AND APPRECIATE MY NATURAL TEXTURE, AS WELL AS THE EXTRA TIME I HAD ON MY HANDS NOW THAT I WASNT BLOWDRYING, STRAIGHTENING AND CURLING EVERY MORNING.

FINALLY, I WAS ON THE FAST TRACK TO GROWING LONG, HEALTHY HAIR AT A MUCH FASTER RATE THAN EVER BEFORE BECAUSE IT WAS NO LONGER BREAKING OFF DUE TO SPLIT ENDS AND WEAK SPOTS WITHIN MY HAIR STRAND. EVERY WEEK IT WAS NOTICEABLY GETTING STRONGER. DON'T GET ME WRONG, IM NOT 100% HEAT FREE. OCCASIONALLY I STILL LOVE TO CREATE SOME HAIRSTYLES THAT REQUIRE ME TO USE HEAT, BUT WHEN I DO, I ALWAYS PRACTICE SAFE STYLING :) I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH JUST HOW IMPORTANT THIS IS. UNFORTUNATELY, IT ONLY TAKES ONE TIME OF USING HEAT WITHOUT A PROTECTIVE BARRIER TO BURN AND WEAKEN YOUR HAIR, WHICH RESULTS IN SPLIT ENDS.

WHILE MY HAIR IS STILL DAMP FROM CLEANSING AND CONDITIONING, AND BEFORE I BEGIN BRUSHING, I APPLY THESE TWO PRODUCTS. UNITE 7 SECONDS DETANGLING SPRAY, AND KEVIN MURPHY YOUNG AGAIN SERUM. THE COMBINATION OF THESE TWO HAVE BECOME MY SAVING GRACE. 7 SECONDS IS HANDS DOWN THE BEST DETANGLER THAT - GET THIS- ACTUALLY WORKS! HAVING A GREAT DETANGLER ON HAND IS CRUCIAL BECAUSE IT SOFTENS THE CUTICLE. YOUNG AGAIN IS GOING TO RESTORE THE ELASTICITY IN YOUR HAIR. BY DOING SO, YOU'LL ACTUALLY BE ABLE TO COMB THROUGH YOUR HAIR WITHOUT CREATING BREAKAGE. CONSISTENT USE OF BOTH OF THESE PRODUCTS WILL REPAIR, STRENGTHEN AND MOISTURIZE HAIR. BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, THEY BOTH CONTAIN HEAT PROTECTANTS THAT ARE GOING TO PROTECT MY HAIR AGAINST UP TO 427 DEGREES OF HEAT. *NOTE: MANY FLAT IRONS CAN REACH AS HIGH AS 450 DEGREES, BUT RARELY DO YOU NEED MORE THAN 350 DEGREES TO ACHIEVE GREAT RESULTS. ALSO, YOU DONT WANT ANY EXCESS WATER LEFT IN YOUR HAIR TO DILUTE THE PRODUCT YOU JUST INVESTED IN, SO MAKE SURE YOUR HAIR IS TOWEL DRIED BEFORE PRODUCT APPLICATION.