 Hey, girlfriends, I'm Bianca Renee, and you're watching Bianca Renee Today, and today. Well, more specifically, I had a thought, just a thought, what if I straightened my hair? Did those words actually come out of my mouth? Here's the deal, I never want to straighten my hair. I never have the urge to straighten my hair. I don't have any of those addictive qualities in regards to my hair straightener. I don't like how long it takes to do, I don't like avoiding weather, and you know I love my curls, but for the first time in what, six years, I was like, what if I did straighten my hair? First thing I thought was, all y'all would freak out. I don't know what the response would be, and I think that's what always keeps me away from straightening my hair, no, no, no. The number one thing would be heat damage. I do not want to get heat damage, because that's just what could happen if you straighten your hair and you don't know how to do it properly. You know what does not do it properly? Me, because I don't have a lot of experience with straightening it, so there's a very high chance that I would damage it, and I've come a long way, and that just wasn't really something I've ever wanted to experience. But, I've kind of had the urge to cut my hair. I do have that urge, and I miss my bangs a lot, I miss my volume, I miss my layers, I miss the short, kind of curly, fro-ish look. So, I think if I did straighten my hair, it'd be okay because I'm also okay with cutting it. And I do not think you should straighten your hair unless you're okay with possibly having to cut it. That's just the way of life. But what I do, whenever I get even the slightest little inkling of maybe I should straighten my hair, I pull out a straight wig. So that's what we're gonna do today. Not straighten it, but I do wanna try this new wig that I've seen a lot of people use on Instagram that always looks like amazing. It's from Amazon. It was pretty affordable. I look up how much it costs again, but it looked really easy to put on, and I just wanted to give it a try. So in today's video, I'm going to be putting on this straight wig, see how it looks for the first time. And I'm also gonna be doing a little chit chat with you guys about some of my curly hair influenza pet peeves. Let's get into it. So first, I'm going to add some type of product to my hair just so it could sit under the wig in a moisturized state. I'm grabbing literally the closest thing to my hand because I have not unpacked my office yet. That's why it's just a blank wall. But I just was sent the Design Essentials Natural Hair African Chebe Growth Collection, braid and twist out strengthening cream. Literally have never used this. Let's make sure there's no silicone. We're good. I'm gonna apply this on my hair before I braid it and put it under the wig. Smells good. Let's see how thick it is. Oh, I thought it was actually gonna be thicker. Not too bad. Might be light enough for my fine hair. It's given me like a creamy marshmallow sticky consistency. It smells really good. It kind of smells like a Cinnabon. So I'm going to focus this mainly on my ends. You can use a leave-in conditioner. You could use a deep conditioner and just deep condition under your wigs or protective styles. This is what I'm gonna do today because I don't know where the rest of my hair products are. So while I put this on, I want to talk about like me and straight hair. I have this like negative stigma attached to me that Bianca hates straight hair and that I believe that if you straighten your hair that you're like a horrible person or something. No, I've tried to reiterate this several times but I don't really care if you straighten your hair as long as you don't come crawling back to me about heat damage. I mean, I just want to make sure that everyone knows that their curly hair is beautiful and they don't have to straighten their hair for work, for your family, for other people's opinions or you just don't think curly hair is beautiful. Like that's the main thing I'm definitely 100% against. But if you want to just do it just because you want to just switch it up, you know, maybe see how long your hair is, whatever. But if you're only straightening it because you hate your curls, that's just something that's never gonna settle. That's never gonna sit well with me. So that's always my goal. All right, there we go. I actually had a really great slip. I should see how this works on my curly hair but that's all we're using it for today. Now I put my hair in two braids and then slick it to my head. If you can't do cornrows and attach it to your scalp that's the better thing to do but I don't have those skills. So here we are. So now let me talk about my influencer pet peeves. I get really irked when people are anti good things and it's been more like trendy lately to be anti of the anti. And I just feel like we're going backwards. Let me explain. We have definitely come a long way in the curly hair community to where curls were just never considered beautiful at all. To now they are becoming more mainstream. You see them in a lot of commercials and TV and a lot of actresses are now wearing their hair natural and whatnot. But let us not forget the time where we were completely discriminated against for just curly hair. And it's actually still a thing. It's not completely gone. It's worse in more states than others. We literally have the Crown Act working to fight against hair discrimination in the workplace and at school because you can still get fired for having your hair in braids or in an Afro or curly in some states. So the fact that we're still working on that and that we have to have a law to combat that shows that we're not completely done yet. But somehow there's been a little mini movement happening recently where some people online are like, look, it's your hair. You could do what you want. Go ahead and straighten it. The natural hair community is toxic. They're trying to tell you what to do to your hair. And if you want to straighten it, you should be able to straighten it. So I'm gonna straighten my hair because natural hair is too much work or these products are too expensive and natural hair. Blah, blah, blah. Like it's just, I don't know. I don't know how it got so like ugly and how people with natural or curly hair are like now turning against the natural hair movement and trying to like start another backwards movement of I'm going back to relaxers. And that's, that's the message. And I just got so confused. I'm like, this is not the message that we need. If you want to go back to relaxers, okay, I guess, but I don't think we need to make it like a message to encourage other people to backtrack. And here's the main difference. If you're an influencer, you're someone that has power. Like your voice matters and people listen to you and I do not take that lightly. And that's why I know that even if I wanted to straighten my hair, I'm going to let someone down. It's going to be someone watching my channel that's going to have the urge to straighten their hair and maybe they're trying to go natural. Maybe they haven't straightened their hair a long time. Maybe their hair is the healthiest that it's ever been, but then they see me straightening my hair and now they're like, well, Bianca did it. I want to do it too. And now I just personally ruined your natural hair journey. And I don't want that on me. I don't want to be the reason that I'm influencing you to possibly damage your hair. That's the main reason why I don't like to straighten my hair because I just don't want to encourage someone that's trying to stop. And the main thing you guys should really pay attention to if you're going to listen to some other influencers that are trying to encourage you to go back to straightening your hair or relaxing your hair and are kind of trying to twist it as this like do what you want message, even though like obviously you could do what you want. But that influencer might have the money to fix their hair if they damage it. They might have the money to get it professionally straightened. They might have the money to buy all the bonding treatments that they're going to need to buy once they realize that their hair is not as healthy as it used to be. Or maybe that influencer is okay with doing a big chop. I was thinking about that. Like if I straighten my hair, would I be okay with big chopping? And I think a little key would because I watched Wakanda Forever and Shuri's hair was just fire. And I was like, what if I went that short? It'd be crazy, but it was kind of tempting. So I literally watched someone have this whole spiel about I'm going back to relaxers. I'm over natural hair. It's too much work, whatever it may be. Continue to straighten and relax her hair. Then all of a sudden she posts this like big chop video and now like she has this short, cute, pixie, curly cut. I'm just like, okay, you wanted to do that. And now you're comfortable with big chopping, but a lot of people are not comfortable with big chopping. I do think you should. And I do encourage it because I don't want you to be attached to damaged, dead, dry hair. But dare I say it's a little like irresponsible of the influencer to influence something and then like go back to the beginning and cutting it all off. I don't know. So once you look like Wednesday Adams, then you just pin the braids up like this. That's what I do because I don't know how to corner up. So here we are. But yeah, I don't know. I just got like mad. Like if I was someone who was following this person, like, yeah, I'm going to go back to relaxing my hair too. And now you both have damaged hair because you could tell how damaged her curls were before she chopped it off. Like she really had no choice unless she was going to keep relaxing it. So now here she is with her cute, little, curly big chop. But then now the person watching doesn't want to big chop. And now they're like sad once again on how damaged their hair is. And now they're like, well, relaxings every so often is kind of adding up and now I kind of miss my curls. And now you have to start your natural hair journey all over again. That's the exhausting part. I didn't even have to transition like that because I've just always been curly. But I can't imagine having to just like, like the emotion, I know the emotional attachment that many of you have because all of you share your stories all the time and how long it took you to finally accept your naturally curly hair. And then you finally got it healthy. So just to damage it and then start all over again have the big chop and grow it back out. If you didn't, you gotta be mentally prepared to do so. All right, let's try this way. The safest way to avoid heat damage. This is the Butta Lace 100% premium fiber HD Lace virtually undetectable. Okay, we go see. It's pre-plucked. This is the color one. Is this black or dark brown? So this wig was $38.50 off of Amazon. It's not like super cheap, like, you know, 20 bucks. So it's around 40 bucks, but it's not like a $200 or $1,000 wig because wigs can get up there, especially if you get real human hair. This is probably just synthetic, but still made really nicely. So let's just take it out of the packaging. Pretty long, silky. It has like a natural little curl to it already. I also do not know how to use a curling wand or iron. Okay, so first thing I know is differently. It has a really wide part on the inside. So it probably is what helps it blend with your natural hair. Here is the lace in the front. I do have to cut it and it has some little baby hairs already cut. So I'm gonna try to put this on and cut it while it's on. I have some people do that. Let's give it a go. Should I put on a wig cap? Let's try without, since it's such a wide part. Okay, so it has a clip in the back and it has these little elastic bands so you could adjust it to your head size. Let's leave it as is and I'll make it tighter if I need to. Starting off in the back. Here's how my hair looks when it's pinned up. Slick enough, putting it in the back, forward. And there you go. I'm just kidding. What is happening here? Okay, straighten it out. Oh, where's my lace? Pull in the lace back out so we can cut it. There we go. Wow, you really can't even really see it. Okay, so first of all, I mean, this is why I don't straighten my hair because this is gonna look better than my natural hair straightened. Like, it's gonna be the same thing. This is probably gonna look fuller than my thin hair. It's already got the nice little wave in it. So let's cut off the lace because that's not a good look. I've always seen people cut it off while it's on them, but I don't know how they do that about cutting off an ear. How? And why? I don't know. Now I'm gonna cut it off. Okay, I'm just not as experienced. I guess I have to practice, but. So, I'm gonna hold it here. I'm gonna cut very close to the line. I don't wanna cut the little baby hairs though. Can you see? I'm getting a lace front for 40 bucks off of Amazon. It's actually not bad. All right, there's my lace. Can I leave this much? Let me get a little closer to the edge. Okay, so here's how it looks now that I've cut off most of the lace. I did leave a little bit because I wanna see how it looks if I do leave some on there. If I could like blend it. This isn't like a full-on wig install like with the hair glue and all that jazz. I'm just not that frequent of a wig wearer. Let's try again. Put a little bit in the back and pull it forward. Tuck in your hair. Now it says to brush through, which always scares me because if you brush curly hair, you just know it's not gonna end well. But I forget that it's okay with straight hair. Let's brush it down. I don't wanna get rid of the little waves. How should I blend this? Maybe if I make it tighter like this. Oh, that looks good. What lace? So I am going to adjust the straps in the back and make it tighter. Let's take it off one more time. So when I say adjust, I'm going to take off this little strap. Looks like a bra strap. And I'm going to scoot it to like this middle area to make it tighter. And then it won't be raising up off of my head. Okay, let me comb it out a little bit. I want this to be flatter on my head. It's so crazy how you can brush straight hair and the waves stay. So right now, I mean, it does look really good. But since this year is about the comfort zone challenge, I'm going to try to do something I don't normally do. One, I'm gonna try to blend it even better. I do want to secure it on my head with my got-to-be gel. And then I'm gonna also apply some foundation so that the lace is even more my skin color. And I think I'm gonna try baby hairs for the first time. And anytime I have to cut my wigs, I get really scared. But, hashtag no comfort zone challenge, let's do it. So first I'm going to raise it up and apply some foundation. I think I'm gonna use my beauty blender and just try to, yeah. Applying some foundation, not a lot. Gonna lift it up and let me just kind of dab it. It's possible that the lace is your exact skin color. You don't have to do this, but it's a good chance it's not. Okay, so I didn't change because the sun is going down. But I did decide to put on a wig cap because my braids are a little long so they keep falling. Most wigs come with a wig cap. This one did not. Starting from the back, that's better. Just to keep everybody down. I'll leave that part out. Now, I'm gonna get my got-to-be glue. This stuff is, yeah, it is called Styling Gel, but it's almost like a glue. I did realize that I like it. It has Polyquantinarium 69 in it, which makes it humidity-proof. And I'm going to put that all along here. Really glop it on. Now let's put the wig on again. I meant to try some new wig glue. I know Shay Moisture has a line now. Let me know if you guys have tried it. Okay, now, I just use those little wraps. I have everything packed in boxes. I don't know where anything is. What's that device? I'm gonna grab the strap of my plop. Does this kind of work? Okay, let's see if this works. You guys know I'm impatient. Okay, it is stuck to my head. Wow, that looks pretty flat to the scalp. Now let's fix the hair. I wish I had a hot comb. Words you thought would never come out of my mouth. My dad has one. I need my dad's hot comb. But I don't want this part to be puffy. I think I like up from the bag. So I'm gonna try to straighten it. Do I own a straightener? Do I know where my straightener is? I got one. Just gonna push some buttons. Don't know much about the settings. I never use it. Smells like damage. All right, I don't wanna mess up the curls. So I'm gonna comb it anytime. Okay, that's better. I do gotta get close to the root though. Ooh, I could see how a hot comb would be perfect for this. Maybe if I wrap it down, it would stay down. Now let's try. It's not perfect. But it's okay. It's okay if it's not perfect. That's part of our thing, right? I need like an actual iron. Something flat. I think I accidentally glued some down. Make sure that's not my hair. Maybe this much. Let's do it. We're gonna do it. We're gonna do it afraid. So I'm gonna cut off. Could've definitely done more. Could've definitely done more. But better to be short than sorry. Oh, that did not look good. The problem is I already kinda glued these down on accident. Okay, there we have it. It's now raining out. So the lighting is just changing all throughout this video. But here's the final look. It looks pretty late. Like you cannot see the lace. I do need to practice on the baby hairs. This isn't the most perfect install ever. But you know, I'm learning. And I didn't have to damage my hair at all. So I say all this to say, obviously you could do what you want with your hair. I just want you to pay attention to what influencers you follow. Because if they're gonna preach a message about don't worry about what you do to your hair. And then they're gonna damage their hair. And you guys think you're damaging your hair together. And then they big chop. And then they go back to being natural. And now you're stuck being damaged. I was about that's really fair for you. So just know that if you are going to be straight in your hair that there is a risk of heat damage. Like no matter if you go to a professional or not there's always that risk. Hopefully you know how to do it correctly because there are ways to avoid it or lessen the damage. Just always be prepared to possibly big chop. And if I decide to straighten my hair I think I'm okay with cutting it. It's change. If it's shorter, it'll be easier to manage. But in the meantime, I'm team wig. But before we go, I do want to announce this week's challenge. We're doing a new challenge every week to get out of our comfort zone. This was me getting out of my comfort zone. Wearing a wig takes confidence because you're worried about what people are gonna think. Do they think it's a wig? Do they know it's a wig? Will it fall off? Is it secure? Do you see the lace? There's a lot of things that go on in your mind. So if you have been wanting to try a wig maybe this is your sign to do so and just give it a try, get out of your comfort zone and throw it on and practice and see what happens. If you get a curly wig, maybe a different color it's even easier to blend. If you don't bang, it's even easier. But this brand is really popular on Amazon. I'll link it in my description box. Give it a try. So aside from maybe wearing a wig doing something out of your comfort zone for you I'm also gonna challenge you to only drink water all week. This week is going to be the water only challenge. That means no coffee, no soda, no wine, no alcohol, no juice, drinking only water from Sunday to Sunday. Can you do it? Let me know if you accept my water only challenge in my comments below. And make sure to follow me on Instagram and TikTok at Ms. Bianca Renee. I'll see you guys next time. Thanks for watching Bianca Renee today.