If you’re a fan of curling or straightening your hair, and find yourself using heat tools to styling your hair regularly, chances are your hair is damaged. Heat is one of your enemies when it comes to healthy hair, as it strips your hair away from its natural oil and makes it dry out and splitted, thus making your hair become coarse and brittle. So if you want to know how to take care of heat damaged hair, keep on reading.
Tip #1 To Care For Your Heat Damaged Hair: Reduce The Temperature.
Lower temperature equals less hair damage. Yes, hot showers are super relaxing, especially after a stressful day. But while your body might feel relaxing, your hair isn’t exactly having a great time. Heat can cause your hair cuticles to open, which makes your hair shaft more vulnerable to damages. A lukewarm temperature for shampooing your hair and a cold rinse after conditioning will make your hair much stronger and healthier.
Tip #2 To Care For Your Heat Damaged Hair: Heat Protectant.
It’s better if you can swap out your heat tools with other methods, but a girl gotta do what a girl gotta do. You don’t have to say goodbye to your hair straightener forever. Just make sure the next time you use it to style your hair, you’ll use it with a good heat protectant too. The heat protectant will not only reduce the potential of damage from the direct heat of the plates, but it will also help to reduce the amount of moisture in the air from penetrating the hair shaft and reverting your curls. Blow drying also damages your hair, so remember to apply the heat protectant while your hair is damp to seal in moisture.
Tip #3 To Care For Your Heat Damaged Hair: Hydrating Your Hair.
Heat-damaged hair is most likely to suffer from dryness. Make sure you get your hair strands enough hydration is a must when it comes to heat damage recovering. Get your hair damp first, then apply a deep conditioner to it. Then make it into a loose bun, and cover everything up with a shower cap. Wrap a hot towel around your head, wait 10 to 20 minutes, then rinse the deep conditioner out.
Your conditioner should contain ingredients such as keratin, olive oil, protein, or shea butter. Hair masks are also great choices to be included in your hair care routine. These products will also provide enough natural oil for your hair and help you get rid of greasy bangs.
Tip #4 To Care For Your Heat Damaged Hair: Be Gentle.
Your hair is at its most fragile state when it’s wet, therefore it can get easily damaged in this state. Only brush your hair when it’s dry and make sure you use a soft-bristle brush so you won’t damage your hair any further. Never brush it out when it’s wet. No matter how wide-toothed your comb is, your hair will break.
Tip #5 To Care For Your Heat Damaged Hair: Dry It Right.
If you have the habit of vigorous towel-drying after you wash your hair, it’s time to stop. Not only will this cause extra damage to the hair cuticle, but it can also make your hair easier to break. Swap out your normal towel for a microfiber cloth or 100% cotton t-shirt instead. No need for violent rubbing. Just loosely wrap your hair in a towel and let your towel work its magic is more than enough.
Tip #6 To Care For Your Heat Damaged Hair: Go For The Heatless Ways To Style Your Hair.
Heat-damaged hair is already damaged, and using more heat on it will only make the matter worse. There are a ton of tutorials out there on how to straighten or curl your hair without heat. You don’t have to trade your hair health for beauty. Nothing can look better than healthy hair.
Tip #7 To Care For Your Heat Damaged Hair: Trim Off The Damaged Hair.
For the last resort, when nothing works, then it’s time to cut it off. How much you have to cut off will depend on how far up the damage extends. If you can, then you should cut all of the damage off. Layers are also great if your hair is damaged all the way to the roots and you don’t want to cut all of your hair off. By trimming off the dead hair, will prevent the damage from creeping further up the hair shaft. And while you’re at it, might as well get yourself a new haircut and a complete hair makeover too.
Trimming your hair every 4-6 weeks until the damage is gone is fine too. This will be more time-consuming, but it’s necessary to prevent the ends from fraying, which can increase the damage.