Did you know that you can straighten your hair without using harsh products? The Silk Press technique allows you to straighten your frizzy hair without being abused by straighteners.
Find out how to straighten your hair in just 4 steps.
What is the Silk Press?
The silk press is a straightening technique or method that allows you to straighten your hair without using a chemical relaxer. It consists of blow-drying frizzy hair or curly hair, taking care not to dry it out or damage the hair fiber. Then, use a quality straightener with ceramic plates to straighten the hair strand by strand.
Contrary to popular belief, the Silk Press method remains different from Brazilian straightening.
The tools for this technique? Hair products containing silicone , and a quality straightener with ceramic plates.
Why these products? In fact, the silicone makes it possible to weigh down the hair, making it easier to handle, smoother and shiny, without modifying the structure. Clearly, this means that your hair will regain its natural structure with the next shampoo.
The effects of the Silk Press
The Silk Press offers you the advantage of having smooth hair , without using relaxers or other types of aggressive products, which promote hair loss. This is also why many black women have decided to start all over again, by performing a big chop . A little reminder, frizzy hair is fragile in nature, hence the importance of using the right care.
Thanks to this technique, your curly or frizzy hair will be smooth, shiny and silky like silk, hence its name translated into French. By protecting the hair well with a satin cap at night, and without getting it wet, you can keep it smooth for two weeks.
You can perform a Silk Press at a hair salon. But don’t worry, you can also do it yourself. I give you the steps to follow to succeed in this technique.
The 4 steps for a successful homemade Silk Press
Step 1: wash hair
Wash your hair with a clarifying shampoo . The latter allows you to extract all the remains of products and impurities on your scalp . If you want to do a second wash, this time use a shampoo that contains silicone.
Step 2: Apply a conditioner enriched with silicones.
Apply a nourishing conditioner, still containing this component. Then, rinse your hair well with cold water, in order to close the scales and guarantee optimal shine.
Step 3: Detangling and care
Once your hair has been washed, apply an anti-frizz and heat-protective treatment (still rich in silicones) to your mane. It is important to protect your hair against heat, to avoid ending up with dry and damaged hair. Your disentangling is facilitated and the drying time will be reduced.
As a reminder, detangling always starts from the ends, to the roots. Gently untangle your lengths, section by section.
Then, with your brush and your dryer, dry all of your hair strand by strand.
Step 4: Straighten hair
Finally, straighten your hair strand by strand , starting at the root. One pass is enough.
If you are a beginner, I advise you to use the method called “the chase method”, which prevents you from burning your fingers. This method simply involves using a fine-toothed comb to grab and separate the strands as you straighten.
What is the best way to make a silk press?
Stylists and naturalistas may disagree on the best way to perfect a silk press. Best to take a painless approach. Always detangle in sections, dry in sections, then smooth out in sections. This will allow you to achieve a painless hairstyle.
The safest thing is to have it done by a professional.
What is the best straightener for doing a Silk Press?
Have we all seen this woman with the perfect hairstyle? Her hair is long, shiny, without any flyaways. Everything is in place. You wonder how she could have done that. Well, that’s the power of the plate iron.
The plate iron gives your hair the look of straightened without using chemicals. So your hair stays healthy. Straightening your natural hair is not an easy task, hence the need to use the best device to achieve the desired hairstyle.
However, it is important to note that not all plate irons are created equal. Some are good and some are downright bad for your hair. In light of this, we have compiled a list of the best pressure flat irons for natural hair.
- Ceramic Professional HSI.
- CHI G2 Straightener.
- BIO IONIC.
How long does a silk press last?
The average duration differs from person to person. You can keep a silk press for one to two weeks on average. Making sure to wrap your hair every night is the best way to keep your hairstyle the longest. To maintain the hairstyle, you should not apply additional heat when returning home and avoid humidity if possible.
What is the difference between straightening and the silk press?
Simply put, the main difference is that one is a tool and the other is a method. The hair straightener, or hair straightener, is the tool, and its skills go beyond what its name suggests. Most likely, you’ve used a straightener at home to straighten your hair, but also to curl or wave it.
The silk press, on the other hand, is a technique or method that uses a ceramic plate straightener and is usually performed in hair salons. It includes several steps and is mainly used to transform natural hair from frizzy or curly to straight.
The term ‘silk press’ has been around forever and gives the ability to see a person’s hair go from curly to smooth in just one session, without the use of chemicals or straightening.
Who can make a silk press?
The silk press is best suited for people with naturally frizzy, frizzy or curly hair. Relaxed hair is already straight, so there’s no need to relax it. To relax hair with a smoother or Caucasian texture, a simple pass under the straightener is enough.
Why do a silk press?
The silk press is a hair straightening technique that does not involve chemicals and, if done correctly, can achieve more impressive and potentially less harmful results than straighteners.
There’s no denying it, if done right, your hair will look great without any chemicals. The only drawback is that the silk press is a hairstyle that does not last long.
Questions that will interest you…
What is the price of a Silk Press? It depends on where you are, which salon you are going to, and how experienced your stylist is. But in general, a silk press will cost you between 50 and 100 euros.
Does the silk press damage the hair? The main side effect of silk pressing, especially if done frequently, is heat damage. Even if you’ve applied a heat protectant serum to your hair to prevent heat damage, it doesn’t completely eliminate the risk of damage.
Heat damage occurs when keratin melts from applied heat, resulting in a permanent change in the shape of the hair (usually straight), which will never regain its natural curls. Heat around 215-235 degrees is likely to melt keratin. Once the shape of the keratin is altered, the hair becomes dry and limp as it loses its elasticity, making it more susceptible to breakage. Therefore, regular silk press is not recommended.
How often can I do a silk press? It is recommended to do a silk press every three to four months minimum to maintain the health of your hair and keep its length without damaging it by regular heat input. All sources of regular heat present a risk of damage to the hair.
You have all the steps to perform this technique, it’s up to you! Are you used to straightening your hair?
