I have had fairly straight hair all my life yet I still own a flat iron and straighten my hair on occasion. Fortunately, I do not have to become religious about the hot tools but I do have many friends who heat their hair practically everyday. I want to know how badly their hair is suffering from the constant heat. And, are the straighteners actually helping with the styling or do they just end up making things worse?
Flat irons are used for good reasons. They control the terrible frizz, dismiss the curls, and create a sleek, healthy looking mane. But, when is enough enough? The heated tongs temperarily alter the hydrogen bonds inside the hairs. As soon as the hair is exposed to natural weather such as humidity and rain and the shower, the hydrogen bonds return to their original shape and the hair begins to look natural again. However, when too much heat is applied to the outer cuticle of the hair the strand can become damaged through dry ends, wispy hairs, and breakage. Not too mention if the flat iron comes into contact with wet or damp hair the consequences could be catastrophic in the beauty world.
Heat damage can also result in hair loss. But for those of you that cannot live without the straightener there are ways to protect the luscious locks. For starters,know that most all straighteners have adjustable temperature settings. Always use a lower setting rather than a higher one to avoid burning the hair. Overheating and strip away the hairs cuticles. Once that is gone the cortex of the hair is left exposed and vulnerable. With continued use, the hair might break off permanently. Use a heat protectant on your hair to try and
avoid this. The Panthenol in the heat protectant spray will make sure that heat is evenly distributed throughout the head so nothing burns.
Heat damage can also result in hair shedding. Keeping your diet packed with proteins, irons, and vitamins can help add extra protection to your precious hair.
It is also important to know that hair damage cannot be fixed over night. If you are anything like me then you know that some peoples hair grows very slowly. Just one inch of damage on the end of the hair take a few months to get back to normal.
I am not saying that you need to pack up the blow dryer and toss out the flat iron. It is just important to be aware of the damage that can be happening to your hair. Be safe and don’t be like the YouTube girl who burned a chunk of her hair off.
“I just burned my hair off”
This was a great, relevant blog topic to bring up! I am in the same position as you: I have straight hair and only straighten it for special occasions. Many of my friends use a straightner every single day and I can’t even imagine the amount of damage they are causing to their hair. I was shocked when I read the part where you said one inch of hair damage can take months to go back to normal! In my hometown, many people get a hair treatment called Keratin, which keeps their hair permanently straight to some extent. I am very curious as to which is worse for your hair: straightening it everyday or getting Keratin, which puts all different chemicals in it. I’m sure both are not healthy, but it would definitely be something interesting to research about as a girl!
Well first off I never knew that hair has a “medulla”. Who knew that something so thin could have so many layers. Growing up, my hair was extremely thick curly and frizzy I straightened it almost every single day from fifth grade until about junior year. My hair has gotten thinner and more under control and has even straightened out (probably because of all the damage..) but now I don’t have to straighten it everyday and its great.
I found this blog interesting because I had always wondered just how bad for your hair it is to straighten, blow dry, curl, etc. I do not apply heat to my hair often because I am concerned about the consequences. However, some do argue that heat here and there on your hair can actually be beneficial. An article here outlines some of the facts and myths about damaging hair. I was surprised that hair can withstand temperatures up to 450 degrees before facing consequences!
This topic is related to my life a lot! I have extremely curly and annoying hair so I turn to straightening it a lot. I used to straighten it almost everyday during my freshman and sophomore year of high school, but then my common sense kicked in. I thought there is no way this could be good for my hair, so I cut down. Now I really only straighten it on the weekends. I am glad I had a change of mind, because from this post I can see how bad it actually is for my hair. I definitely do not want my hair falling out haha. Great post!
This post is very relevant to my life because my hair cannot be worn natural. Each day, I struggle with how to wear it because it does look the best straight, but that takes a lot of time and effort, and also ruins my hair. Especially because my hair is colored, I should not be straightening it as much as I do. One product that I love is TRESemme Thermal Creations Heat Tamer Spray! It helps keep my hair healthy, and “guards against heat and friction to keep your hair shiny and incredibly soft”. One goal I have is to make my hair as healthy as I can, therefore I am going to take your advice and blow-dry my hair when it is 3/4 dry, instead of right when I get out of the shower!
This is a very interesting topic. I do not usually use any heat products on my hair besides the occasional blow dryer. My hair is healthy but i still experience the odd split end. My roommate is in the same situation except she straightens her hair instead of blow dry. She has many more split ends and drier hair than I do. I think it might be interesting to find out if different appliances for different purposes pose a different threat than other appliances. Or, are they all the same, it just depends on the level of heat? Hair dryers don’t directly touch the hair while straighteners and curler do. Hopefully, I am not damaging my hair too much!
I really enjoyed reading this post. I am also someone who has fairly straight hair. It is just a tad frizzy and wavy. However, I tend to straighten my hair more than I would like. I straighten my hair probably 4 times a week. I used to do it everyday, but then I started to notice my hair becoming damaged and growing much slower. So instead of straightening my hair, I now blow dry my hair everyday when it is 3/4 dry. This makes my hair look straight, but also doesn’t damage it too much because I don’t use the blow dryer for that long since my hair is already mostly dry. Also, I have seen the video you posted and I now make sure that I don’t hold the curling iron on my hair for too long.