Can you give me some tips on?

I straighten my hair often, Guys/Girls, any advice or tips you can give me to keep it healthy?

• Hi I am a 25 year old guy who has almost medium length jet black hair. I use a Chi flat iron hair straightener. My hair is naturally curly, but I do straighten it often because I like it a lot better that way. I wash my hair with Paul Mitchell Shampoo & Conditioner about twice a week & when I have the conditioner in my hair I keep it in for at least 5 minutes & I comb my hair while the conditioner is in it to de-tangle it. Once a month I get my split ends trimmed & I get it texturized to keep it straight & loosen my natural curl pattern & to also add less stress on my hair when I straighten it by a very good hair professional who I have known for a very long time. Through the years I have tried all kinds of hairstyles & have changed my look a lot. I like to experiment & change things up a bit rather than stick with the same old look & hairstyle. I like variety. Plus I am one of those guys who is into looks & beauty & yes I am 100% straight!!! My main goal is to be as attractive as I can be to girls & to get a girlfriend because I am single right now. I am confident & I do also dress very nice & workout almost everyday to keep my self fit & attractive to women. So back to my hair, after I wash my hair twice a week with the Paul Mitchell Shampoo & Conditioner set, I make sure my hair is completely dry by letting it air dry & I almost rarely ever use a blow dryer, then I use a little bit of Men's Aveda liquid pomade as a serum & heat protectant because it gives it a nice look. I then run the serum through my hair, then I comb my hair & I use my CHI flat iron hair straightener & I straighten my hair which gives it a nice smooth silky straight look & I always go slow & take my time on it & I do it by small sections so it straightens my hair a lot better. Once I am finished with straightening my hair, I use the silk elements heat protective spray with olive oils (in the green bottle) to give it a nice wet look & that keeps my hair soft, smooth, & shiny. Now I do straighten my hair almost everyday & most of the time I to do have to do touch ups for when I go to work, because when I work-out & I sweat, my hair gets messy again & when I take a shower, I always wear a good shower cap so my hair doesn't get wet. Unless I am going to wash my hair then I don't wear a shower cap, but it's just on the back & the sides of it & that I need to do the touch ups on, I never re-straighten the top of my hair because then it looks messy & gets a little too loose, so I usually just comb it. I make sure that I use Silk Elements spray for the rest of the time that I straighten my hair as a heat protector because it is one of the best heat protectants out there & it keeps my hair soft, smooth, & silky. I only use Men's Aveda liquid pomade serum only after I wash my hair as a base to straightening my hair because it gives it a nice layer to the top & it parts a lot nicer too. I do also comb my hair often to keep it de-tangled & if I feel that I don't need to do any touch ups then I don't because I know that heat damages your hair. But I really like how my hair looks when I straighten it, I do get a lot of compliments & it does look a lot nicer & neater than when I don't straight it. So Guys/Girls, is there anything that I am doing wrong? Is there anything that you recommend that I do better? Is there any advice you can give me? I am trying to keep my hair as healthy as possible & I do eat healthy, take my vitamins, & workout almost everyday too. Right now I am just maintaining my hair length & if it gets too long, I go to my stylist & get it trimmed so it looks neat & clean. What tips do you have for me? Thanks so much for your help & for answering & I am sorry about this being so long, but I wanted to be as descriptive as I can so you guys/girls could understand better & to give me the best advice that you possibly can!!

• Answer:

  Hi, My advice is to give your hair a break and learn how to take care of your curls. Curly hair, just like straight hair, has the potential to look great on a guy and, trust me, you will get just as many (if not more) compliments from ladies if you have a healthy curly mane. Straightening your curls will ultimately damage them and you will become, what I call, "hair iron" dependent, since you will have to keep straightening your hair because unstraightened, you curls will look bad due to the damage you've done. By all means, keep straightening your curls if you like it like that but also look at the other possibility of embracing your curls. You are not alone in embracing your curly hair as a guy, I am a male with curly hair too and we have the site Manly Curls which is all about making good use of your curls as a modern male. I recommend you to browse it in your spare time as there are plenty of tips and advice for curly haired men. The site is here: http://www.manlycurls.com/ If you want to give your curls a break and go with your natural curls, do this: 1) Get a deep conditioner and apply it on your hair. I know it sounds girly but you need to deep condition before anything else so sit down for half an hour with the goo on your hair, it's cool, read the Manly Curls site in the meantime to make it less girly. 2) Start using a normal conditioner 3x week. Apply for 2 minutes while in the shower, then rinse. 3) Use a leave-in conditioner everyday. After the shower. 4) Do NOT use hairbrushes. Style with your fingers only. Give it 4 weeks, your curls will look solid and you will now have another hairstyle to rock other than straightened locks. Lastly, read here for more tips on curly hair for us guys: http://www.manlycurls.com/2012/02/tips-curly-hair-men-wavy-kinky/ Hope that helped, and be proud of your curls, dude!