It’s Not a Dominican Thing, It’s a Healthy Hair Thing
He recibido dos o tres preguntas de mismas temas.
I have received two or three questions about the same topic. People want to know what makes a “Dominican blow out” so special.
Well, I have to say that it’s all about the heat, or lack there of. As you know, when hair is curly, or kinky it is typically dry. Excessive heat will suck out any moisture and leave the hair even drier. Now, I will say that I do not think that blowing the entire head of hair, after it’s been roller set, is a good thing, as it puts unnecessary tension on your hair, and the extra heat is overkill, but typically if done correctly, a Dominican blow out will leave you with more shine, more length and plenty of swaaaay.
The Dominican blow out, when done properly, creates a healthy hair environment. I am living proof that healthy hair can go downhill quickly when exposed to heat. When I moved away for college, I didn’t know how to do a roller set. I opted to blow dry my hair and then one of my roommates taught me how to “bump up” my ends with a hot curler.
In a matter of just a couple of months, my hair was significantly drier. My ends were brittle and not happy with me. When I combed my hair, there would be a lot of it breaking off, falling into the sink. I really knew I was in trouble when I went home for Christmas and visited my stylist. She said, “Mamí, quien ha hecho daño a tu pelo!”
“Who messed up your hair!” She lectured me relentlessly and kept asking, “Who has been doing your hair?!”
I was too ashamed to tell her that I was the culprit, but the fact of the matter was my hair was in severe shape. She ended up cutting off several inches and told me to learn to do a roller set. She insisted that if I didn’t learn how to do anything else, a roller set would at least prevent me from having to use, “too much heat.”
That was the point at which I set out to learn to do one on my own roller set. Of course, my mother was thrilled, because she said thinks that all “girls” should know how to do a roller set. She then handed down her beloved set of rollers to me.
Al fin, I did learn to do a roller set and eventually learned to properly blow out my roots, but more importantly, my hair was healthy and happy again. By the next Christmas, I had grown back all of the hair she cut off, plus another two inches.
Constant heat is what tends to do us curly heads in and I wouldn’t care what country a stylist came from, if they are using indirect heat, then they cannot be all bad. Now, there are other things that can cause damaged hair, but if your hair isn’t colored and you condition regularly, and still experience damage, it stands to reason that it’s heat related.
Dominican blow outs are not rocket-science. Anyone can learn to do them and at the very least, if you learn how to do your own roller set and tightly wrap your hair, omitting the blow out, your hair will thank you even more.
So, to answer the questsion – less heat is what makes a Dominican blow out special.
