Heat damage can leave your hair extremely weak, stringy, and even ugly. I’m not one for straightening my hair often, however I do love blowing out my hair to get these huge braid outs. I can’t help the amazing stretch. See my Pinterest profile pic for an example.
But How Do You Avoid Heat Damage?
Are you guys ready for the answer? Heat Protectant!!! It’s literally that simple. Many heat protectants can protect your hair from heat that measures all the way up to 450 degrees. I see many naturals complain about how their hair suffered heat damage and many times I hear that they’ve applied little to no heat protectant.
Heat protectant will allow you flat iron your hair and blow dry your hair to your liking. I usually spray a bunch of heat protectant onto my hair and rub it into my hair well because this girl is not trying to get any damage. The OGX one is my number one because it doesn’t make you cough (yes you read that right).
Don’t Abuse The Heat Though
Although my heat protectant has never done me wrong, I refrain from using it all the time. I love the results heat gives my hair, but with that comes over manipulation and so much time styling.
That being said, doing so many passes on your hair and adding too much heat still puts you at risk of heat damage even with heat protectant. Limiting the amount of times you put heat on your hair is key to its growth and strength.
And although me and shrinkage have a love/hate relationship, I still love my pre-stretched twist outs. They not only last longer, but I will always enjoy the shorter hair look.
Don’t Be Afraid Of Heat
My overall purpose for this blog was to tell naturals not to be afraid of heat. There’s so much talk to avoid it completely which is unnecessary. I’m even guilty for doing so myself. But with my hair being longer, heat has helped solve or ease many of my issues. It’s helped me cut down on tangles, allow for better trims, and giving stretch to hair styles. Use heat with caution and don’t overdo it. Too much of a good thing can be a bad thing.
