There’s a lot of things to know before you straighten your hair if you want healthy hair! Straightening your hair is already a science as it is, when you try to avoid crimps from the iron, straightening your hair too flat and taking away the volume, and getting your hair to not do that flip out if that’s not the look you’re going for. But, there’s a lot more to straightening your hair than the superficial stuff because you’re dealing with a concentrated amount of high heat. Here are important things to know before you straighten your hair.
One of the things to know before you straighten your hair is what temperature to style your hair. When straightening your hair you might be tempted to turn the dial on your flat iron to the maximum temperature for salon perfect hair. However, anyone who straightens their hair on a regular basis knows all too well that straightening your hair at such a high temperature will damage your hair immediately. The maximum temperature you should be straightening your hair is at 325 degrees to avoid serious damage to the hair.
When purchasing a flat iron make sure the plates are coated with ceramic. It’s important to purchase an iron with ceramic plates because ceramic distributes heat evenly. This is essential because you don’t want an iron that only has “hot spots” – this will prolong the time it takes to style your hair because only parts of the plates are hot while others are only warm.
Your hair is full of proteins and oils; however, when you expose your hair to a high amount of heat, the oils and proteins burn out. Therefore, before straightening your hair apply products such as an iron protection spray or a styling cream with heat protection. Your hair will be able to withstand more heat with the protection of appropriate hair products.
Even though we want picture perfect hair every day of the week, it comes with a price! Avoid using heat to style your hair every day. Instead, style your hair every second day and avoid washing your hair in between styling to maintain your hair. If you are someone who has hair that starts to look greasy fast, in between washes use dry shampoo or a small amount of baby powder to absorb the grease so you don’t have to wash and re-style your hair as often.
If you have long or thick hair, an iron with wider plates is better suited for you because wider plates cover more surface area. On the other hand, if you have short or fine hair, an iron with narrower plates is ideal because narrower plates can style narrower strands of hair better.
Never straighten your hair when it’s wet, even if you’ve applied products! Applying heat to wet hair damages the hair faster than anything else because not only is there direct heat being applied to your hair, but there is also heat being added to the water, causing steam – remember, you want to gently flat iron your hair, not steam it straight! Plan well ahead so you don’t have to opt for straightening your hair while it’s still wet!
After straightening your hair, make sure to wipe your iron clean. If not, there will be a buildup of oil, products, and loose hair on to your iron. The more “gunk” there is on your iron, the less effective it will be to transfer heat from the iron on to your hair. Plus, cleaning your iron on a regular basis will reduce the time it takes to style your hair and prolong replacing your iron.
For many women, our hair is our safety blanket so it’s important we keep it healthy! When it comes to using products that use heat to style our hair, we need to know the facts so we don’t damage our hair. What are some other facts or tips we should know about when styling our hair with heat?