You all are cracking me up with these comments.

I don't have the best of straightening irons, so to mitigate the heat damage, I use tea tree shampoo and conditioner to clean out my hair, and then I do the Heat Seal to condition my hair and minimize breakage. I also don't keep my hair straightened all the time. I'll go a few days with it straight, let it get wet and curly again and then let it rest a while before straightening it again. I don't shed nearly as much as I used to, and my hair is pretty healthy now. It just takes some time getting used to being in dry warm air in Arizona. At least I'm spared some frizzies.

yngjock, I have two straight hair photos in my gallery. The one you're probably thinking of is the first one I did a while back with the blondish locks in the front. The other photo, "Tutorial Complete," was taken yesterday. I'm closer to my natural hair color now. There are medium brown highlights, but not that all over bright bleached-out chunky color.

And Ladies, trust, when I get "someone to do my hair" money, I'll go back and get stuff done. Other than beer and video games here and there, I'll treat myself out to hair stuff.

Very true

OMG, Dee, I think you used to have a picture of you with straightened hair or maybe it was in a posted pic or something. Anyway, I thought it was just amazing.

LOL @ bantu knots. That's so Arrested Development circa '93. Don't forget the dashiki.

Footlong - very true. It's easier all round when a person admits mistakes. But especially for the person who made them. Often they have the greatest difficulty dealing with their own mistakes.

As a hispanic female with thin ungodly frizzy hair.. I feel you.

If I don't straighten my hair EVERY morning I look like frankensteins wife. Seriously, it's bad.

My hair is also naturally curly (something most people don't know)...
It's a real pain in my ASS.

Naughty is correct, bantu knots are the cute little buns moms put in after brushing and greasing your hair.... followed by *tssshhh* "ouch". "I didn't hit you ear it was the steam - sit still!"

I do not wear them out, but they make drying my natural hair for flat ironing an easier and smoother process.

When I have worn my lily munster streaked hair in bantu knots I get Ask a black girl kinda questions! Most frequently asked question is "Ooooh may I touch it" Actually I would love someone to say, "If I turned your knob would you be AM or FM" LOL! Just so I can give them the "Pardon me?" look.

Bantu Knots are the made up name for the way your mother would twist your hair into mini buns after she had washed it and before she dried it or did anything else to it! When I first saw them I thought "Someone let you out of the house like that?"

Dee - have you not considered that getting your hair done by someone else is a really good way to meet chicks (or guys - depends what you want and where you go). Just a thought. A guy looking like you in a Ladies Hair Salon is going to get a lot of attention - could be worth the extra $$$ making friends in a new town

NJ - I found this:

Black Hair Media Hair Forum: Bantu Knot

What the heck is a Bantu Knot? It sounds like something a sailor should know. Not something to go in your hair.

Dee, have you considered not selling out to the white mans idea of beauty and just letting your natural, woolen tendrils cascade about you like a halo?

Mornings can be dark...
How we like to pretend the sun will save us from our demons..
as if they don't only linger,
gnawing at the sun until it too disappears...


Until it too withers away from the moons grasp.

Truly adore you Stu.

I would love to get called for jury duty, but alas, it never happens. I think it would be pretty cool.

You shouldn't be running the iron through more than once, that causes damage. Also, you want to start at the back and work your way forward.

I air dry my hair in bantu knots or baids in 8-10 sections and flat iron in small strips starting at my "kitchen" and working forward.

Like Jason mentioned, you need a good iron, but not chi because they break. But Hai is good!

Why, thank you, Jason.