:3 hey negra <3 i have a huge problem. im in college VERY from home (nyc) and theres no dominican salons anywhere. LOL. I'm in the north eastern panhandle of West Virginia, 30-40 mins. from Pittsburgh and I have no idea what to do with my hair. I moisturize and bun way too often and I would love to do my rolos nicely and get a livable blowout. How can I achieve that? Oh, if it's any help, my hair is a inch and a half past BSL and curly (teyanna taylor-ish) lol and im not sure how to get it around the roller or now to blow my roots (i know its all in the wrists though) HELP!! Besos y amor from W.V :3 (p.s. how bout that snow lol)

Morning amiga!

I had to post this one as a QnA, because I know EXACTLY where you’re located. I live in the ‘burgh and can tell you that there are no salons out here, near here and people will try to tell you how, “Dominican blowouts don’t do anything, but damage your hair.” Ironically, the person saying this is usually a stylist, who prefers to blow dry and fry, I mean flat-iron hair.

Teyanna’s hair is relaxed, I believe. I think she does twists and then just finger combs…could be wrong. Either way, she has a GORGEOUS head of hair.

But, I’ll get back to the subject. Here’s what you’re going to have to do. If you don’t have the tools you need: rolos, clips, hooded dryer, hot-as-hell blower, then get on it! You need to the right tools. You can pick everything up, except for the blower at sally’s. Sally’s may now carry a hot blower, but they didn’t have anything that compares to my Turbo 1500 (by Pibbs).

After you get your tools, practice putting in your rolos. I have a short video and have several requests for a longer one…I need to get that done, but you all just don’t even know how busy a girl is trying to survive perpetual snow, these days, lol. It seems I spend more time shoveling and cleaning off my car, than I do on my hair

When you work on your rolos, don’t worry about how straight your parts are and don’t even worry about whether or not you put them in crookedly. What you want to pay attention to is how much hair you put on each rolo and this is very important if you have a lot of hair. Too much hair on a rolo will cause you to spend a lot more time drying.

Be prepared to have some waves and curls at your roots; this happens to me every, single time I do my rolos. Ultimately, your goal is to focus on smoothing your ends around your rolo. That’s the very reason they call them ‘magnetic’ rollers, because your hair is supposed to ‘stick’ to the roller. So, say for instance, you cannot get pull your hair tight enough to get all of the waves out, as you roll. Don’t worry about it, it’s the ends that need to be smooth. Get as much length at the end straightened out and let your blower smooth out the rest of the hair.

Also, don’t think that if you don’t have a blower, it’s pointless to do rolos. That’s not true.

I used to put my rolos in and not even blow my roots, because I was really worried about damaging my hair. You know how stylists are. They will strike the fear of God into you and have you thinking that they and ONLY THEY know how to use a blower. My stylist had me so paranoid that I almost gave away my blower. This is not to say that using a professional blower does not present the potential for damage, but that’s a risk taken even when the pros do our hair.

So, even if you cannot blow your hair out, but learn how to do your rolos, go for it! After you pull your rolos out and know for sure that your hair is dry, immediately do your dubi. Try to get your hair very, very smooth around your head and then sit back under your hooded dryer for 10-15 minutes. The results are not usually as good a blowing out the roots, but it will give you sleek ends, give you lots of body and will pose no threat to your hair.

Before you try doing your hair, take a look at the videos I have to get your started. Like I said, there’s a short video on putting in rolos. Make sure you wrap and smooth your hair around the rolo with your hand. Then watch the video I have showing you how to blow out your roots. When I do my own blowout, it’s less about the wrists and more about the position of the nozzle. You’ll see what I mean.

Lastly, rumor has it that someone out her in Pitt is attempting to open up a Dominican salon. However, they are having trouble finding Dominican stylists. I heard that they have been looking everywhere. I think it would take a LONG time for this to catch on out here, because women seem to be so resistant to trying any other techniques. Also, I heard that there’s a black girl, who works in the JC Penny salon of Monroeville Mall, who comes as close to a true dom blowout as we can get. I cannot recall the name given, but will find out if you’re interested. But, I warn you…you may get a NYC Dominican blowout, but it will not have the same DR prices that we’re all used to LOL.

Keep me posted; let me know how you’re doing with your hair and good luck in school!

Embrazos y besos,

LaNegra