Straightening hair. Is this frowned upon now??

[dollydoughnut]

Just been reading another thread about shiny hair etc. and realised that some people said that the op should not staighten her hair anymore.

I straighten my curly hair most days and hate doing it as my hair is breaking and falling out. However, my hair just never looks right curly anymore and I feel like a middle aged frump (which I probably am) with it. Once it is straight, it lasts longer without attention, looks healthy and I feel much younger.

I have been looking at people with curly hair and am finding it much more interesting than obviously straightened hair. But...how do I go about it?

I have the frizz problem too. I think that a lot of straight haired people don't realise that curly hair can be v hard to style and get to look 'neat'. My curly hair could go ok I suppose if I spent ages on it, but I would have to do it every day if that were the case.

I don't overdo it, but I do straighten and then it stays looking groomed for a few days - so I only need to do it twice a week (unless I go swimming/running/get caught in the rain!). I have v thick hair so it doesn't look flat even it v straight.

I also find that if I leave it curly it is very hot and I feel like I am overheating unless I tie it up. Have a squareish jaw too, not a dainty little face, so the curls make me look bigger I think, even though I am not big IYSWIM.

GHDs have been a godsend to me.

I thank God every day for straighteners too! I have very thick, wavy hair which has a tendence to frizz so looks awful even if blow dried. I straighten in small sections about twice a week, using a heat protection spray. I'm not good enough (LOL) to get the ironed look but it keeps it in check and looks quite natural.

My hair is naturally thick and wavy but when left to its own devices looks bloody awful, like I haven't tried at all, no style, frizziness beyond belief.
I tried the straight-look too, had my hair chemically straightened (think reverse perm) on a number of occasions which I thought, at the time, was marvellous. The straightening thins out the hair too so it goes kind of flat - which is a little weird when it's first done - but then I got used to it.
Last autumn, when the chemical stuff had grown out, I thought d'ya know what? My hair is naturally curly so no wonder I look ridiculous on photos, it's time to go back to how nature intended. BUT, because of the waves not being too even, I had a very light perm and absolutely love how it looks 8 months on. Just wash, tip upside down and dry with a diffuser, lovely!
I wouldn't go straight again if you paid me

I have wavy hair (spaniel hair as my hairdresser once said, how kind!) and use straighteners on the top sections, and not all the way through so that it isn't completely flat, otherwise I look frizzy and wild ( and that's before I've been through the hedge backwards!). If you're careful and use the right shampoo/conditioner and use a heat protection spray you will minimise the damage. I don't see myself ever not using straighteners - I hate the way my hair is without them.

When I went on holiday last year we were in the check in line at 4.30am and there were 6 girls all with their hair ironed completely straight, blonde and identically made up - they were going on a hen do so were dressed the same as well. It was unnerving, like seeing 6 clones and it must have taken them forever to iron their hair and slap on the slap at 4.30 in the morning!!! It was then I realised that I'm glad I don't/can't get my hair to look like that!

Couldn't care less if it's frowned upon or not, my hair looks much better when it's been straightened.

I always find my hair looks greasy if I use straighteners so I could never be bothered.

12StoneNeedsToBe10, what sort of perm did you have? I wonder if that could be the thing to do. My hair just looks so awful when I try to have it curly as there doesn't seem to be a style. It's wavy in some parts, curly in others and downright frizzy in the rest!

I have never had a perm and just remember all the horrors from the 80's but obviously things will have changed now .....won't they?!

frostyfingers, it's that look of the 6 girls with blonde, ironed straight hair that worries me.

How does one straighten hair without it being poker straight to begin with? Doesn't it just look as though you haven't quite done it properly?

dolly donut, as others have said - you just run it over the surface, which calms down the pulled through a hedge backwards look, and sort of smoothes the overall effect, but it still looks natural - wild in a controlled way if that makes sense. I think, unless you have nightmarish frizz, which it sounds a few on here do, it is impossible to understand the nightmare of not haveing hair under control. My hair 'au natural' looks as though I have done nothing - well actually it looks as if I have done nothing then slept for a week - even if I blowdry, as others have said. Straightening (once/twice a week lasts for me) is my only hope.

I'm not sure what actual perm it was but I insisted on having big fat curlers rather than loads and loads of tiny thin pink ones.

My hair is naturally horribly straight - I want a perm that gives me gorgeous waves!

Please don't let straight hair be over or I'm doomed