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All of us yearn for a good hair day every time we step out of the shower. We can’t deny the fact that it adds up to our entire look. We can all agree that it boosts our confidence, not to mention that we’d be less conscious of our appearance. As far as I know, appearances matter. It instantly gives a clue to every person you might bump into every day.
Speaking of appearances, you can never take back a person’s first impression of you. You and I can agree that having a good first impression is such an achievement. Each of us takes time to prepare ourselves each day. That would include bathing, makeup, and so on. But I believe most of us have trouble with getting our hair right.
Why Do Most Of Us Have Trouble With Styling Our Hair?
Styling your hair may sound easy, but most of us would agree that it’s not that simple. As women, we want to slay the day with a good hairdo. Our entire look is never complete without the right hairstyle. That’s why we take the time to get it right. But looking good is entirely different from feeling good.
Does having great hair make you look good? Of course, it does. But does the process make you feel good?
If you’re someone who isn’t comfortable with straightening your hair or even curling it then heat styling isn’t for you. You might’ve thought that it’s impossible for you to have curly hair without the help of a curling iron. However, you might discover something new when you continue to read this article.
Look good, feel good. At least, that’s what the saying tells us. The process of getting your hair to what you want it to look like isn’t as easy as you thought it would be. From hair dryers to curling irons, which do you prefer? For me, the answer is neither.
Both don’t give health benefits for your hair and that’s a big downside. Honestly, both tools just break your hair with continuous and/or excessive use. On the bright side, it instantly answers all your hairstyling problems.
When it comes to preparing yourself for work every morning, you can’t have all the time in the world. We try to fix ourselves as fast as we can. That’s probably why we style our hair using the most convenient items ever. But looking good instantly isn’t as great as you thought it would be. That’s why it’s important to be knowledgeable about the stuff you use.
However, the big question is, is heat styling your hair the best way to curl or straighten it? I agree that all women are equally beautiful in their own way, but a little upgrade won’t hurt.
We strive to be unique and beautiful in this world, but nobody said that you have to endure all those heat styling items that will only cause further damage. It’s important to keep your hair from all sorts of damage while having the hairstyle you want. There are better ways to style your hair and we’ll talk about that right away.
We style our hair for a lot of reasons. You may be attending a party, a wedding, and other occasions. You may want it to be straight, curled, and so on. However, for us to achieve that kind of look, we’d have to do heat styling. If we answer the question (how often we should style our hair), you wouldn’t be so happy about what you’re about to know.
It says here that you can only heat style your hair once per week. If you go beyond that, who knows how damaged it will be. The strands should always be freshly washed with shampoo or conditioner so that it can maintain it’s healthy look.
As I’ve mentioned before, heat styling can damage your hair in so many ways. From a smooth and manageable hair to a dry and frizzy one. Check out this link for more: https://www.cheatsheet.com/gear-style/common-hair-styling-mistakes-and-how-to-avoid-them.html/.
Styling tools can affect the smoothness of your hair since it will use heat for making your hairstyle possible. Constantly exposing yourself to that much heat (may it be with a hairdryer or a curling iron) will damage it greatly.
Exposing it in broad daylight may cause some problems as well, but not as much as heat styling tools. That’s why it’s advisable to only heat style it once per week. You wouldn’t want brittle and thin strands now, would you?
Having brittle hair would require a lot of care and maintenance. You will have a hard time fixing it since it will be frizzy. Trust me when I say that you don’t want a bad hair day. That affects your entire look. Even if you’re rocking an awesome outfit, and your makeup is poppin’, your hair will simply destroy everything.
How? For one, it lowers your confidence level. Instead of slaying the day, you’d be so conscious about your appearance every time a person looks at you.
Secondly, it drags everything down. Like I’ve mentioned before, it affects everything. You don’t want your makeup to go to waste now, would you? That’s why you should complete your entire look with a perfect hair. But that doesn’t mean you should heat-style every single day. Later on, you’ll discover how bad the heat is for our hair.
Why Is Heat Styling Bad For Our Hair?
We usually use a hairdryer to speed up the drying process. Normally, we’d just let it air dry, but because we want to use a curling iron, we have to dry it first. Styling it while it’s damp can cause further damage. Therefore, wait for it to dry or use a hairdryer to speed along the process. However, using a blow-dryer can still cause some breakage in the long run, but with the right distance and temperature, your hair is safe.
Concentrated heat from a straightening or curling iron can do so much damage. It instantly breaks down the hydrogen bonds which will result in a thin, dry, and brittle hair. The strands are basically chemical bonds that are sensitive to heat.
Still, heat styling works best since it changes the texture of each hair strand temporarily. That’s why it’s very convenient to use heat styling when you are going to attend a party or any occasion.
Types of Heat Styling Tools
Blow Dryer
I know that most of the women in this world are familiar with blow-drying. We often use it to quickly dry our hair during those times when you’re about to run to the office. During occasions, we also use it to dry our hair so that we can style it in an instant. We can all agree that it saves a lot of time, considering how busy some people are. Some of us don’t even have time to fix ourselves anymore.
Luckily, this little item was invented and we can now save time. But be careful of how high the temperature is, it may lead to some damages that we’ll talk about later.
Flattening Iron
Occasionally, we like to switch it up, having curly hair every day can also get boring. If we want to, we can always use a straightening iron to straighten our hair when we attend occasions. Maybe you just want to try a new hairstyle every now and then, the most convenient way to do so is to flatten your curly or unruly hair. That way, you’ll have a more smooth-looking hairstyle.
Curling Iron
There are many different models of curling irons, but most of it works the same way. If you have naturally straight hair, you might want to change your look. Switching up your entire look every once in a while, won’t hurt since it’s good to try something new.
We can all agree that when you’re born with straight hair, you’d be interested in getting it curled. But curling isn’t as easy as one, two, three. You would want to avoid certain damage and most importantly, keep it silky straight.
However, no matter where you go, you’ll have to heat style your hair. Instead of enduring curling treatments that will damage it entirely, there are ways to curl it without using any sort of heat styling material. As I’ve mentioned just now, you can learn how to curl hair without heat if you want to avoid the damage it can potentially cause. This way, you’ll avoid common problems while you slay the new look you’ve always wanted to try.
We can all agree that we know some people who don’t want to damage their hair. They try to avoid heat styling as much as possible. You might think that it’s impossible for them to curl their hair without the help of a curling iron. But like I said before, you can rock your new-do with no heat styling required.
How Does Heat Styling Damage Your Hair
Are you familiar with the word keratin? Well, our hair strands are made up of that protein called keratin. The follicle and hair shaft are the two parts of our hair. Additionally, the hair shaft is made up of three layers called the Cuticle, Cortex, and Medulla. Each of them has roles to play and heat damage can affect that. To answer your question (how does heat styling damage our hair) just keep on reading.
First and foremost, is the effect on the hair surface. Damage on the surface can lead to various types of problems. Due to cracks and fissures, the cuticles are becoming rougher. When the cuticles are lost, that is not a good sign, since it might leave your hair unprotected. We all know that once that happens, it will cause structural damage to the surface.
Speaking of structural damages, heat affects the protein of the hair, and later on, it will weaken the core structure of it. Why is that? The fact that the proteins open because of the heat, affects the core and continuous exposure to heat will weaken it.
Did you know that the smaller proteins in the cell membranes are affected when you iron your hair? They’re considered to be “lost” when you heat style. Therefore, don’t expect your hair to look healthy like it was before unless you’re used to heat styling (read more).
The Effects of Heat Styling
- Dryness
- Breakage
- Split Ends
Although there are a lot of problems to look out for, those were the top three that you’ll likely experience if you often use a straightening or curling iron. Sometimes we know what the problems we’re about to face are and yet we continue to let our hair endure the heat. Instead of throwing away all those heat styling tools to avoid those certain problems, we hang onto it.
Let’s not deny the fact that we find it hard to let it all go. We both know that it’s only useful now, and you’ve already seen the consequences. In order for us to have straight and silky hair, we should prevent it from happening.
How To Prevent Heat Damage
First and foremost, you can always try to style your hair in the most natural way possible. Previously, you’ve discovered that you can curl your hair without heat. The same goes for straightening it. If you have wavy or unruly hair, you have a lot of options.
Surprisingly, with the number of hair products launching each year, it’s impossible not to find even a single hair serum for taming those stubborn strands. In the meantime, your problems are solved.
Secondly, treat it with gentleness. Being gentle with it means it will get stronger in the future. The same goes for your scalp. The scalp is another thing that you should keep an eye on and keeping it clean should be in your routine.
Lastly, condition regularly. No matter how many times you shampoo your hair, if you don’t condition it right, it will still go to waste. Most women would agree that conditioning is important. The same goes for hydrating and rinsing. Each time you get into the shower, remember to care for your hair properly. Remember, good hair starts in the shower. It needs time to heal after heat styling it again and again.
