Kayla Young
There are many ways to style your hair. However, most of them would involve tools that heat up. Do you want silky straight hair? Then use a flat iron like the BaByLiss Pro we reviewed here.
Beach waves today, tight curls tomorrow, straight the next day. You need an iron to do that!
However, the truth is, heat styling could damage your hair. You may not notice it right away. But one day, as you use your curl, your hair suddenly disintegrates.
One product that prevents that is the heat protectant spray, often made of Argan Oil . But does heat protectant spray work? The answer to that is yes it does! And you should definitely use it. Below we’ll talk about the heat styling damage and why you should definitely use a heat protectant spray.
Contents
Heat Styling Damage
Most of us have had our hair styled with heat. Whether it is for a special occasion or when the salon blow-dried your hair after a haircut, powerful heat is commonly used on hair.
Using it on rare occasions may not look harmful at all. But over time, the damage could pile up and ruin your hair.
The heat coming from hair styling tools ranges, but many flat irons go way above the temperature of boiling water. For those with thicker hair strands (common among many ethnic hair types, including African American hair strands), more heat is often needed to achieve the desired results.
Although that high heat can get you the results, it can also cause thermal stress on your hair. Such damage includes the following:
Dehydration
The hair contains water molecules. Some of them are free while others are bound to keratin proteins. They function in providing the hair structure and support. Due to high heat, those water molecules evaporate. That can happen gradually as well.
The more often you expose your hair to high heat, the more likely it is to get dehydrated.
That leads to the alteration of the hair’s protein structure. The effect of that on hair is seen as frizz, curl pattern changes, and rougher texture.
Dehydrated hair is common for people who routinely blow-dry their hair.
Water Loss
Water loss is similar to dehydration, but has a key difference. With water loss, the water molecules are almost instantly lost.
This is usually the case when hair straighteners are used at very high temperatures, around 450′. Be careful when you get up that hot!
Some flat irons, such as Sultra the Bombshell we reviewed here, have only a few settings. While others have a wider range and more control.
When viewed under the microscope, it seems that the hair strand has strings of bubbles in them.
This could alter the hair structure and could lead to split ends, cracks in the cuticle, and breakage.
Protein Damage
The hair strands are also made of keratin protein. The heat of styling tools not only affects the water content of the hair but the proteins as well.
Heat styling could cause degradation of the protein and soften it up or disrupt its structure. That damage could affect the hair’s elasticity, shine, strength, texture, and curl.
Oxidation of Pigments
The pigments on the hair could also be affected by the heat. Whether you have natural or artificial hair pigments and toners, they can be oxidized.
That could result in faded hair color.
Does Heat Protectant Spray Work? How?
The main function of a heat protectant is to create a barrier between the hair strand’s surface and the heat coming from the styling tools. This could lessen the heat damage by as much as 50%.
Common synthetic Heat protectant sprays contain ingredients like silicones, hydrolyzed wheat protein, quaternion-70, and many others. Depending on what the ingredients are, they could do different things for the hair.
Natural heat protectant sprays usually contain nutty-smelling Argan Oil. This oil can be heated up to high temperatures and provides great natural protection. However, it doesn’t last as long as synthetic products, so keep that in mind.
As an alternative, you may be able to use coconut oil if you don’t push the heat too high.
Heat damaged is reduced through the following:
Seals The Hair Strand
Silicones are usually found in heat protectants. They create that barrier that protects your hair from heat exposure. That helps prevent your hair from getting shocked due to extreme heat from a titanium or ceramic flat iron.
Additionally, the seal could also help trap moisture. The water molecules won’t easily evaporate because they are locked in.
Add Moisture
Apart from locking in moisture, most formulations also contain ingredients that are moisturizing for your hair. They add moisture so that they could also help reverse the previous effects of heat styling. .
However, heat protectant sprays can’t work miracles! So don’t expect your badly damaged hair to have a complete turnaround with just one use.
And keep in mind that too much can make your hair greasy.
Dries Hair Faster
Heat protectants can be placed on your hair whether it is wet or dry. Another nice thing about using them is that they make your hair dry faster.
Some use the blower regularly to dry the hair.
With the ingredients of the heat protectants, the surface seems to get dryer faster. This means you don’t have to spend a whole lot of time blow drying your hair. That also helps lessen heat exposure.
When To Use Heat Protectant Spray?
The heat protectant spray should be used every time you use heat to style your hair. Whether it’s a {amazon link=”B001MA0QY2″ link_text=”hair iron” link_icon=”amazon” /], hair curler , or even a high-heat hair drier like the T3 Cura we reviewed here, a heat protectant spray should be used.
Although it does not offer 100% protection against heat damaged, it should still be used at all times.
Apart from heat protectant sprays, there are also heat protectants in the form of creams and serums .
These act in the same way and can also be applied before heat styling.
And of course, if you really want to lessen heat damage, the best thing to do is to lessen the use of heat styling tools.
But that’s no fun!
Additionally, you should also remember that the sun could also cause damage to our hair due to heat and UV exposure.
Conclusion
Heat protectants spray works well in protecting the hair from heat damage due to hair styling tools. Exposure to the heat of such tools can cause dehydration, sudden loss of water, damage to hair proteins, and pigment oxidation.
By using heat protectant spray every time you heat style your hair, you create a barrier over the hair strand. This helps protect the hair from heat. It also helps even out the heat so that the hair won’t get shocked.
The heat protectants also help lock in moisture and dry the hair faster. You won’t have to spend too long using hair styling products. Also, depending on the formulation, it could also add moisture to the hair.
