Hair Square

How to prevent your hair from heat damage.

Heat styling has become so common this last decade so much that it’s difficult to have a hair do without the
application of heat on your hair. Almost all the prominent hairstyles like Blowouts, Silk Press, Flat Iron,
amongst others require heat for them to be realised. We love how heat styling can transform our locks into
bouncy waves, curls, Silky, tight ringlets, or sleek strands.  What we don’t like is when going overboard with
the hot tools results in dry, frizzy, or brittle hair.

Too much heat can damage the keratin proteins that give hair its strength thereby causing brittle or dry hair. High
heat can also permanently damage the bonds of the hair strand, causing curly strands to wilt and lose their natural
springy bounce.

As much as we can’t completely stay away from heat styling methods, we need to derive ways to maximise the
beauty of the hair while minimizing heat damage.  Let's look at some measures in which we can use to prevent the
hair from heat damage.

Measures to prevent heat damage on hair;

1. Always moisturize and and deep-condition your hair; Before letting the hot tools work their magic on your

hair, firstly, wash your hair with shampoo and deep-condition it. This exercise will help smoothen and strengthen your hair. 

2. Air dry your hair for some time; Damp hair doesn’t fair well with heat. Use leave-in treatment to air dry your hair

naturally after deep-conditioning. You should allow your hair to air dry for upto 50-70% before styling. 

3. Use Heat Protectant; Always use a heat protectant spray on your hair before applying heat on it. These heat-resistant

styling products work by slowing heat conduction from the styling tool to your hair. It won’t completely protect your hair against

heat damage,so it’s still advisable to use hot tools cautiously.

4. Blow dry your hair; Blow drying your hair first will straighten your hair. It will also help prevent knotting and tangling

of your hair ends, and subsequently, mitigate hair breakage. 

 

You can  attach a nozzle to your blow dryer to avoid overheating your hair. Also point the nozzle downwards and about 20cm

away from your hair and work in sections to ensure each part is fully dried. Set the temperature to medium then progress to

high, and finish with a cool setting to better protect your cuticles.

5)Reapply Heat protectant to your dried hair before heat styling; To ensure that your hair doesn’t get damaged by the heat during styling, apply another dose of heat protectant on your hair after blow drying. With the heat protectant, you are sure that your hair will be safe from heat damage.

6) Set Your Styling tool to medium temperature;  Applying extreme heat disturbs your hair’s cuticle layer, making strands porous and leading to excessive frizz and split ends. Heat damaged hair is less smooth and can appear dull and lifeless. Such hair is hard to comb and the number of broken fibers is visibly increased.

So set heat temperature at medium when heat styling, and don’t allow the hot tools to touch hair roots.  Look out for 1800 watts ionic hair dryers. These dry your hair faster and avert overheating which can cause hair damage.

7) Limit the number of times you apply heat to your;  Do not heat-style your hair regularly. Two times a month is fine and very occasional use of heat is ideal.