As Glamor Magazine tells us, your hair can be severely damaged if you use unnecessary chemicals for styling purposes. Drawing from that, we’ve assessed that straightening your natural hair with a silk press procedure is much healthier than doing it with chemical interventions.
But then we’re riddled with this question as a consequence: what is a silk press? This is an absolutely important area that needs to be answered for the sake of our consumers’ hair quality and well-being.
Our article keeps the concentration on the silk press matter only, aiming to tell you what this actually is. We won’t stop there, as we’ll describe the entire process thoroughly so that you can do it at home without using any harmful chemicals!
So keep on scrolling to learn everything you want to know about silk presses, and there’s a post-care guide at the end to give you a complete package on the matter!
Contents
What Is A Silk Press?
Many people get confused when they hear the term silk press and mix it up with flat iron or straightening in general. There are certain differences between the two that you should be aware of to avoid further misconceptions.
A silk press is actually the name of the procedure of straightening curly or natural hair without using any kind of chemicals. This is generally achieved through using a flat iron, but the process and outcome are significantly different than a regular straightening operation.
Silk press aspires to make your hair soft, smooth, straight while retaining the shine after completion of the procedure. It doesn’t generate sticky or rigid hair once everything is over, rather your hair becomes lightweight and fine that flows gently in the air.
Such a degree of fine hair from natural hair is achieved by taking things slowly. With the proper method, you can get away with a straight texture so delicate that you’ll simply fall in love with it! And this is achieved without the use of any chemical, so imagine that!
The silk press method is discussed in our following section for your convenience. For the sake of your hair’s health, we recommend that you go through the entire procedure and apply it instead of some chemicals that’ll surely put your hair in harm’s way.
Silk Press: How To Do It?
Learning how to do a silk press will make your life significantly easy in the long run. We’ve broken down the procedure in seven easy steps for your ease of understanding.
Step 1: Shampoo
For your silk press procedure to run smoothly and generate the perfect outcome, having clean hair is of utmost certainty. The shampoo you’re going to use completely depends on the type of your hair and the cleaning routine you always follow.
If you have naturally curly or kinky hair, it’s safer to use something with a Sulfate base. It cleans out each of your strands as well as your scalp completely. However, don’t use such shampoos on a regular basis as these can dry out all your natural moisture and make your hair prone to breakage.
After the thorough shampoo process, you’ll need to move on to the conditioning part because you’ll lose the necessary hydration along with all the dirt after this.
Step 2: Condition
You must remember that conditioning your hair after shampoo is of high importance. Because your natural hair is already vulnerable from the harsh shampooing, and it needs to retain the moisture so that it can withstand the heat of the silk press procedure.
There are a couple of options for your hair’s conditioning. For one, you can always apply regular conditioners for curly hair once your shampooing is over. Apply a generous amount so that every bit of your hair is covered. Wash it thoroughly after leaving it on for a certain amount of time.
The other method of conditioning is the one our experts suggest you should opt for, which is: leave-in conditioning. Your natural hair is the most delicate after a shampooing process, so you must allow it retain the moisture for a prolonged period of time.
Leave-in conditioner allows you to do just that! Apply it after your shampoo and leave it overnight. Wear a silk/satin cap so that your hair doesn’t get tangled up while you sleep. In the morning, you’ll be ready for your silk press procedure!
Step 3: Heat Protectant Serum
You must apply some sort of heat protectant serum to your hair before you move on to the silk press. Unlike regular straightening, silk press requires longer exposure of heat to your hair, which can damage literally any type of hair!
So you must know how to protect your natural hair from heat induced damage by a flat iron and the elements you can apply before you proceed. Once you find the right product for your particular hair type, remove your silk cap and start applying it.
Make sure to be thorough and give it time for your hair to absorb it. Reach till your hair fringes so that you don’t have split ends after the silk press. Once you’re satisfied, you can go directly to the main part!
Step 4: Dry Your Hair
If you’re not opting for leave-in conditioner, or in a hurry, then we’d recommend you to skip the leaving overnight part. You can apply the conditioner on your wet hair, then apply the serum to protect your hair from heat and blow dry it to a completely dry state.
You should remember that you have to apply the heat serum before you dry your hair, not immediately before the silk press. Because the heat from your dryer has the potential to damage your curly strands as well.
Thus, having the serum applied beforehand gives you that extra bit of protection from certain damages. Simply plug in a concentrated nozzle and brush along while you blow dry. You shouldn’t proceed until you feel you’ve completely dried out your hair.
Also, if you feel going through with a dryer followed by a flat iron would be overwhelming for your delicate hair, there are certain techniques you can try to dry your hair without using a hair dryer.
Step 5: Hair Partitioning
By this point, you definitely have a particular hairstyle in mind that’s been your aspiration throughout the entire procedure. Follow that, part your hair in those unique ways and fasten the partitions with hair clips.
This step is very important because once you’re done silk pressing, you won’t be able to do much with your hair in terms of straightening and relevant designs. It means, you’ll have to have a clear vision before starting everything out.
The partitioning helps out with your efficiency too, because you can’t silk press all of your hair at once. There needs to be sections that you can start with, complete and move on to the next one. This will make your task significantly easier.
Step 6: Silk Press
Now we’ve come to the fun part. Take each of your partitioned sections and put it through your flat iron. We recommend you to purchase one of the highly acclaimed flat irons that are specialized for silk presses to ensure your hair’s safety and the best outcome.
Be patient, be slow and be gentle. Silk press isn’t like other straightening processes as you’ll have to delicately move your way through your hair. Adjust the temperature according to your hair type and avoid multiple passes to protect your hair from damage.
With each of the passes, start from the root of your hair and continue on till you reach the end. Taking it slowly should ensure that you won’t require any dovers for that part and this is the way you’ll get silky and shiny hair by the end.
When you’re done with all of your partitions repeating the same process, you’ll be the proud owner of a light and smooth straight hair ready to be flaunted outside!
Step 7: Spray Sealer
You should spray over some sealer to make sure that all your hard work remains intact. It retains your fine hair texture for the longest time, hydrates your hair and shines it up as a positive consequence!
With these seven steps, you’ll have completed a silk press procedure right within the comfort of your home!
Silk Press Maintenance Guide
Follow these maintenance to keep your silk pressed hair safe and sustained for a longer amount of time!
Don’t Drench
Don’t drench your hair in water. Water would destroy the fine texture’s properties and revert it back to its original natural curls.
No More Heat
You’ve applied enough heat already, and excessive heat from flat iron or even sunlight in general can leave your hair prone to damage. So avoid heat as much as you can after a silk press.
Sleeping Cap
Wear a sleeping cap made of silk at night if you’re planning on carrying your silk pressed hair over to the morning. This avoids friction and keeps your hair unharmed.
Avoid Chemicals
Avoiding chemicals in general is beneficial for your hair, and when it comes to silk pressed hair, it is a must that you don’t apply anything else. Our procedure guarantees to keep your hair fine for the longest possible time in the least unhealthy way.
Thoughts
So from our intervention with your natural hair, we hope that you’ll make sure to avoid any type of harmful substance in the hopes of achieving a desired hair result. Silk press is one such way of reaching there, and we’ve told you the important bits related to it while we answered ‘what is a silk press?’
If you feel that silk press or heat-related methods aren’t healthy in general for your curly hair, then our experts suggest that you should explore some of the natural techniques to achieve straight & fine hair.
Other than that, following our guide should keep you well-satisfied for the most part of your hair straightening with the silk press process!
