Hot combs and straightening combs are a great way for women with natural Black hair to get the look of straight hair without making a permanent commitment...but are they safe?

For many of us it's been years since we sat in the Kitchen while mom or grandma pressed our hair.  I smile when I think about the rush that would come over me whenever the comb got near my hears and my mom told me to hold them down while she pressed the edges of my hair.  I remember being so nervous that I'd get burned and where most of the time I didn't, I invariably got nicked every now and again.

With so many women going natural or at least considering it, many forget about the Hot-Comb.  They see going natural as a means of cutting ties with straight hair.  They also fear that the addition of heat in the form of a hot-comb will forever damage their natural hair structure...but they're wrong.

Relaxers work by destroying the chemical bonds that hold our hair together.  A chemical is therefore the only thing that can change our hair structure to the point where it no longer represents its natural state.  It'd be similar to dying your hair blonde.  You can't undye your hair.  Once it's blonde, it's going to be blonde.  There's no way to go back to your natural color without doing another chemical procedure and dying it to your original color.  But that "original" color isn't original...it's a close color match but it'll never be the same.

The same goes with relaxers, once you put the chemicals in your hair, that hair that has been relaxed can't be unrelaxed.  But hot-combs don't work the same way.  Heat can't break the chemical bonds in our hair which cause it to be uniquely African.  Heat can however damage our hair by frying it.  In essence, you can burn your hair but you won't destroy its natural state in the same manner as you would with a Relaxer.  So the key with hot-combing is to make sure that you use moderate heat. 

But I heard that hot-combing can loosen your curl
Frankly, this is false. 

I remember when I was 12 years old and my beautician was trying to convince my mom that a relaxer wouldn't hurt.  The beautician argued that years of hot-combing had already changed and practically straightened my hair.  Years later when I went natural, I realized that she was wrong. 

Like all people of African descent, our hairs' structure and Texture varies.  I have a loose coil pattern...period.  Hot-combing had not changed my hairs' texture back when I was 12.  What my beautician saw at that time was my Black hair reality, but her interpretation was based on hers.  Meaning, just cause your hair is "x," doesn't mean my hair can't be "y."

The worse you can do with a hot comb is fry/burn your hair.  It'd be similar to burning a sheet of paper.  Those ashes can't be put back together.  So yeah, in that sense the damage of heat is irreversible, but heat damage, is not lye damage.  Where you can prevent damaging your hair with a hot-comb by using a lower heat setting, you can't prevent damaging it with a relaxer.  With a relaxer, damage is mandatory.

The key therefore is not to avoid heat, but to use it properly.  Too much heat and you damage your hair.  Just the right amount, you're in the clear.

A note to commentors and readers 09.24.08 - PROPER hot-combing does not change your hair texture.  If your hair texture has changed as a result of hot-combing, you're not doing it right...PERIOD.  The same logic goes for relaxers.  Most women who have them experience breakage.  That breakage is due to Overlapping (when you apply the relaxer to the previously relaxed hair in addition to the new-growth and yes, many people and stylists overlap.  If they were applying the chemicals properly every 4-6 weeks, then only the new-growth would be treated.  Given that most people average .5 inches of new-growth per month, why is it that 2 or more inches of the hair is covered with chemical during the touch-up?)  If done properly, with the right heat setting, hot-combing can not damage your hair.  If however you make the error of using too much heat, the effect will be similar to that of using a blow-dryer with too hot a setting.  So again, if your texture changes, blame yourself or your stylist, not the comb!

hot combing photo courtesy of http://tayarijones.com/ Tayari Jones is author of Leaving Atlanta and The Untelling. books by tayari jones