Long Straight Natural Hair: 7 Practices for Length Retention

Can you regularly use heat, and still grow and retain extremely long straight, natural hair? These women are proof that you can.

three women with long straight natural hair

Some time ago, I wrote an article sharing some non-negotiable practices of naturals who retain length. That article was focused on Black women with long hair who wear their hair in its naturally curly state.

In today’s article, I want to share some exceptional women of color who have extremely long hair but choose to follow a straight natural hair journey. This comes at a pivotal time when I, myself, have become a straight hair natural. Below you’ll find tips right from each of these ladies’ straight natural hair routine.

What Is A Straight Hair Natural?

To be a straight hair natural, you don’t need to use chemicals to straighten your hair. It’s just one step above being a blow dry natural. That next step is flat ironing the hair.

Simply put, a straight hair natural is someone who chooses to regularly keep their natural hair straight by blowing it out and flat ironing it every wash day. Over time, the hair becomes heat trained.

What Is Heat Trained Natural Hair?

Heat training is not something that can be rushed. It takes time to heat train your natural hair.

Some would argue that heat-trained hair is damaged hair. While that can definitely be the case, it’s not always so. See: Are Your Sure Your Hair Is Really Heat Damaged

My understanding of the definition of heat trained natural hair is that, due to regular straightening, the hair has been “trained” to easily accept straightening while also resisting reversion back to curls when treated with the right anti-humidity products.

That doesn’t mean that it won’t revert. If you watch the straight-to-curly videos shared by any of the ladies below, you’ll notice their hair does indeed revert back when washed.

Mekalae

This beautiful young lady has mastered the art of growing and retaining long straight natural hair.

Her tips for growing long hair and maintaining that length include:

Keeping her hair care routine simple
Not reapplying heat until the next wash day
Hair oiling
Washing every 2 – 2 1/2 weeks
Using bond repair treatments
Deep conditioning every other wash day at least

The video is just one of her YouTube shorts, but if you check out her channel, you’ll find many more videos where she shares the practices (and products) that allow her to retain length while heat stying regularly.

Roxanna Renea

Roxanna has been straightening her natural hair since 2022 (4+ years as of the writing of this article). She demonstrates how well her hair is heat-trained by its ability to stay straight even in the summer.

She attributes her hair’s ability to grow long, retain length and stay healthy to the following:

Keeping manipulation low – no detangling between wash days or doing tight styles
After styling, leaving her hair alone – not styling it constantly
Blow drying the hair dry on wash day. No air drying (every stylist I’ve ever gone to agrees with this)
In other videos, she also mentions not putting heat on her hair again until the next wash day.

The Graceful Glow Up

One thing I love about Fatima is she’s also a Christian woman. She straightens her hair while still continuing to honor the Lord’s temple.

Of all the ladies who are wearing their natural hair straight, her hair isn’t the longest, but it is long, and if you look at her older videos, you’ll notice that she is retaining length.

She’s also offered the most tips for growing long straight natural hair in this video. They include:

Prioritizing wash day over all other days to ensure it’s sufficiently moisturized and hydrated
Shampooing twice – once with a clarifying shampoo to make sure the hair is thoroughly cleansed
Detangling over the sink with a product containing slip or water, but not in the shower
She opts for doing “fluffy” presses over the bone-straight silky silk press
Using bond builders or protein treatments
Deep conditioning every single wash day under a heated cap
Trimming hair every 6-8 weeks (this I disagree with. Trim as needed. Now, if you are straightening often, you may need to trim more often, but it really depends on the person).
Wrapping the hair every night
Hair oiling / serum applied at night before wrapping
Avoid titanium flat irons because they can be damaging

Zenese Ashley

I saved Zenese’s tips for growing long, straight, natural hair last because of all the ladies, her journey is most impressive. That’s due to the fact that she regularly straightens color-treated hair.

Color-treated hair is typically very porous and prone to moisture loss and hence, breakage. So, when you come across someone who is able to maintain long color-treated hair while straightening every 2 weeks, it’s time to pay attention.

Zenese attributes the health of her natural hair and maintaining length to the following tips:

Prioritizing moisture via deep conditioning
Using bond-building treatments like K18 or Olaplex.
Being consistent with wash days
Getting regular trims

While getting trims doesn’t help with retaining length or even hair growth, what it does do is it helps to prevent further damage to surrounding hairs. Trims also help prevent further damage to the hair that’s splitting.

Contrary to popular belief, a split would never travel all the way up to the top of the hair shaft. The hair is already compromised once it splits, and as the split progresses, the weakened hair will eventually break off – not continue traveling all the way up the strand.

7 Hair Care Practices That Promote Length Retention

If you haven’t figured it out by now, maintaining long straight natural hair requires some practices that all of these ladies have in common.

Some of the hair care practices they have overlap, and some are a little different. I’ve compiled the 7 that I noticed across the board:

Not overmanipulating the hair
Keeping the hair stretched and straight between wash days – it prevents the formation of single strand knots
Not reapplying heat between washes.
Wrapping the hair every night (not all the ladies mention this in the videos I shared above, but after having watched many of each of their videos, this is a practice they all do.)
Prioritizing moisture and deep conditioning
Trimming the ends as needed
Using bond building treatments

Products That Help Prevent Straight Natural Hair From Reverting

amika anti-humidity hair products on a bathroom counor when doing a silk press on natural hair

Products are also an important part of straight natural hair maintenance, especially when it comes to protecting the hair from heat and humidity.

Aside from the hair practices these ladies follow to maintain length, another thing they each have in common is the type of products they use. The products aren’t listed in the videos above. You’ll have to visit their YouTube channels to watch those videos. I’ll link each lady’s YouTube channel below.

Anyway, each of these ladies uses anti-humidity and heat protectants. While this varies somewhat across the board, the one brand they each use products from is Amika. The two most popular for anti-humidity performance are:

Frizz Me Knot Hydrating Anti-Frizz Treatment
The Shield Anti-Humidity Spray

Check out Amika’s Official Amazon Shop Here.

As I mentioned earlier, I became a straight hair natural not long ago (as of the writing of this article). I’m still in the learning process because developing a straight natural hair routine is vastly different from caring for your hair when you wear it curly.

What I’m learning, I’m sharing with others who also may be on this journey. I’m sharing my personal experiences with wearing my hair straight year-round on my YouTube channel. You can watch my video: How I Began Preparing to Become a Straight Hair Natural.

While there are quite a few naturals on YouTube with long hair (and I’m sure on TikTok, but I don’t hang out there), I’ve consistently watched these ladies and seen their progress. So, that’s why I’ve shared them.