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.

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Someone, who shall remain nameless, as I’m very respectful of people’s privacy, sent me a link to a video showing a woman with natural, coarse hair, not only getting a dominican blow out, but she had her hair set in rollers prior. I watched the entire video from beginning to end and have some very strong feelings about what I saw.

While I love the swaaaay that I get from doing my roller sets and blowing out my hair, I am not a fan of using excessive heat. It is my opinion, and only my opinion, that in some cases doing a dominican blow out on natural, and even relaxed hair calls for using too much heat on the hair.

If you have the type of hair that will wrap around a roller without having a relaxer, chances are your natural hair will look just as sleek as someone with a relaxer. However, if you have coarse, kinky hair, which there is absolutely nothing wrong with having, and your hair puffs up on the rolos, then your hair will require extra heat.

Some say that since the hair is natural it’s stronger, therefore, it can handle the heat. That may be true, but if you are going to apply that much heat, you may as well just use a flat iron. At least in that case, there’s no pulling, or tugging of the hair with a brush.

Keep in mind, it takes only one mistake, one slipup to damage your hair. Once the damage has taken place, you then have a choice to make: gradually grow out the weakened hair by getting regular trims, or just cut it all off. Oh, I forgot, some of us use the “ignore it, it will grow” technique and this tends to lead to further damage.

I want to keep my hair healthy, moisturized and on my scalp, so I prefer to use minimal heat. Whenever possible, I just air dry my hair, that way if I need to pass the blower over it, I don’t have a double dose of “fire.”

In some cases someone will bypass rollers and go straight to the blow out, but the two main differences, in my opinion, is the frequency and the hair type. Although my hair is curly, I have very tight curls, relax my hair and don’t think that I would be a good candidate for frequent blow drying.

Yes, I like my hair straight and shiny and to have swaaaay, but I don’t want to sacrifice my entire head of hair by over doing the heat.

Mi familia ha dicho, my family says, that everyone did rolos growing up, but the blow dryer wasn’t part of the equation when she was coming up. Without giving away ages of my family members, I’ll just say that a few of them probably were around before the blow dryer, and they still managed to have bounce, body and healthy hair.

As I always say, use your discretion. Take precautions, pamper the hair you have now, or you may have to learn to be patient as you grow out damaged, burned hair.

I grew up surrounded by Dom salons. Crazy was I to assume that everyone went to a Dominicana and even crazier of me to think that there would be one waiting for me when I left for college.

Imagine that!

I wanted an education and I wanted my hair to look nice. ¡Qué tonta!

Sin embargo, I found myself calling home every weekend. While my roommates were getting care packages filled with their favorite snacks and treats, mine were filled with jars, bottles and potions that all read, “Hecho en República Dominicana,” or some home made concoction that my mom or her vecinas came up with.

Without getting into my personal details, life was a BIYOTCH in the dorms for a chica like me.

I love braids and think some people can rock the hell out of locks, but I like my hair to sway and swagger. No. I’m not trying to run from my African ancestry, I just like to be able to comb and style my hair as I please. However, I was not willing to let lilly-white-Britney do my hair because she had one black friend who had hair just like mine.

That is when my hair journey officially began.