Table of Contents
How Can Hair Get Heat Damaged?
How to identify heat-damaged hair?
Can The Sun Damage My Hair?
How to Restore Heat-Damaged Hair?
The bottom Line
A terrible hair day is one of many people's worst nightmares. The ever-expanding hair care industry is indisputable proof of people's desire for healthy, beautiful hair. Everyone is concerned about thinning and dull hair.
If your hair is feeling parched, it might be time to think about taking a proactive approach to restoring heat-damaged ends and dried out roots. Heat damage can occur due to a variety of reasons, varying in severity. If you use heat to style your hair, you're definitely familiar with heat damage. While heat is a game changer in hairstyling, it may also dry out your hair cuticle and alter the structure of your hair proteins.
When your hair has been damaged by heat, you may feel as if chopping it all off is your only alternative. However, there are things you may do to help restore the shine of your hair depending on the type of damage and severity.
How Can Hair Get Heat Damaged?
Many circumstances or incidents can cause our natural hair to be damaged. Bleaching and excessive dying can also cause chemical harm. Damage can be caused by boiling hot water, cooking oils, and even steam. Steam, in fact, is more harmful than boiling water. This is due to the fact that once the temperature exceeds 100°C, vapors begin to store an increasing amount of heat energy. Yet, both can be quite harmful.
Aside from that, burn alopecia induced by fires is extremely prevalent. All of these events are more than just upsetting. They can have a negative impact on a person's self-esteem and confidence. People look for several techniques to restore burnt hair. It is more than understandable to want to restore what has been lost. To restore heat-damaged hair, many people turn to oils, serums, or deep conditioning treatments. However, while these might work in certain circumstances, you'd have to wait months to see little or no difference.
Those who have suffered major injuries as a consequence of a terrible event will, sadly, have substantially more hair damage. This is even more concerning.
How to identify heat-damaged hair?
The telltale indications of heat-damaged hair are obvious. After a few too many blow-dry rounds, your hair may begin to show signs of over styling, such as being more difficult to maintain and not holding its form as well when styled.
The following are some indications that your hair has been heat-damaged:
- split ends or easily broken off ends;
- excessively dry hair;
- rough or stringy hair structure;
- hair breakage;
- loss of your hair's normal luster;
- white nodules towards the end of your hair shaft;
- trouble styling, curling, brushing, or coloring your hair;
- hair tangles and knots easily; and
- tresses lack elasticity.
You may not experience all of the above signs if your hair has been heat damaged, but if you're unsure, trust your intuition. After all, no one knows your hair and its peculiarities better than you!
It's also worth noting that heat-damaged hair exists on a scale. How you cure it is determined by the severity of the condition as well as your hair type.
Can The Sun Damage My Hair?
Sunlight emits three types of radiation that reach the Earth in shrinking size order, with the smallest being the most harmful: infrared (which you may feel as heat), visible light (which you may see as colors or light), and ultraviolet radiation (UVR).
The majority of hair damage recorded in the research field focuses on UVR, which has greater detrimental effects on the qualities of the hair both before and after it grows out of the scalp. Hair follicles may develop micro inflammations and endure stem cell and tissue injury, leading to increased thinning and shedding.
Furthermore, after the hair emerges, UVB causes severe damage to the hair cuticle, resulting in lifted cuticles and fissures, thinner and fewer cuticle layers, and discolored hair fibres. Whereas UVA reduces the content of integral lipids (such as free fatty acids) and discoloration of the hair fibres.
In summary, it's preferable to cover your head and hair with a brimmed hat to protect your hair, scalp, and skin from direct sunlight.
How to Restore Heat-Damaged Hair?
The sooner you recognize that your hair has been heat-damaged, the greater your chances of healing it. If you feel that your hair has been heat-damaged, put down the curling iron and start the repair process outlined below.
1. Choose a Low Heat Setting
The higher the temperature, the more harm you can do. Excessive heat, regardless of its source, might harm your hair. Use the lowest heat setting on any product and keep the hot air, iron, or curler away from your hair for as long as possible.
If you intend to style your hair with a flat iron or a curling iron, heat-free drying may be a good option as well. Heat tools shouldn’t be used no more than once a week, according to experts.
If you frequently straighten your hair, consider using a gentler alternative to your flat iron. Hairbrush straighteners are significantly gentler on your hair than flat irons because they require a lower temperature and are faster to use, exposing your hair to heat for a shorter period of time.
To obtain your desired look, utilize the lowest temperature setting on your iron or blow-dryer. Also, keep the hot tool away from your hair for as long as possible. To minimize damage, when using a curling iron, keep hair wrapped around the tool for no more than 10 seconds each time.
2. Don’t Heat-Style Damp Hair
When you use hot products like straighteners or curling irons on damp hair, you are essentially frying it. Wet or damp hair is far more delicate than dry hair. Furthermore, the heat from the equipment converts moisture into steam, which destroys the hair strand as it exits. To avoid this type of damage, only use these hot tools on thoroughly dry hair.
3. Avoid Hair Dye
If your hair has been heat-damaged, you should avoid dyeing and chemical treatments. Hair dyes, particularly bleaches, can add to the stress on your already damaged hair. If you must color your hair, consult with your hairdresser about gentler options such as ammonia-free dyes or semi-permanent solutions.
While hair lightening is probably out if you have damaged strands, your hairstylist can help you choose a color that works for you without causing further damage to your hair.
4. Cut Damaged Ends or Get a Haircut
Some may consider this a last resort, however if split ends are apparent, it is highly recommended that you trim your heat damaged hair. Without trimming, these splits can progress further up the shaft of the hair, causing more damage to each strand. A little trim today could save you from having to cut more of your hair again in a few months.
If none of these treatments improve the appearance of your hair, it's time for a haircut. Sometimes damaged hair is irreparably destroyed and cannot be saved. Get frequent trims to remove damaged split ends, which will restore your hair's bounce and make it appear fuller.
5. Sleep on a Silk Pillowcase
If your tresses have already been harmed by the usage of heated styling products, you'll want to avoid any further damage. Wrapping your hair at night is a critical measure in preserving the health of your hair, whether it is natural or heat-styled. If you're prone to forgetting to wrap your hair at night, consider investing in silk pillowcases.
Many individuals are unaware that when they sleep on a cotton pillowcase, their strands brush together, causing friction and more damage.
However, sleeping on a silk or satin cushion reduces both the amount of friction caused and the quantity of moisture absorbed by your strands.
6. Consider A Hair Transplant
On occasion, the best alternative for repairing heat-damaged natural hair is to seek a hair transplant rather than simply shifting hair products and shampoos. This is rarely necessary, but if your heat-damaged natural hair appears to be beyond repair after a lengthy period of trying to nurse it back to health, a hair transplant may be exactly what you need to fully rejuvenate your hair. Dr. Feinberg performs this surgery exclusively with the revolutionary hair transplant technique, ensuring natural results that are more spectacular than even the best shampoos and other over-the-counter solutions! If you've tried everything else to repair your heat-damaged natural hair, you can turn to the Hair Restoration Center of New York and New Jersey for successful results. This hair transplant surgery might make you feel younger and more self-assured.
Performing hair transplant surgery on burn patients might be difficult for surgeons. They must be more cautious. Different surgical approaches must be used depending on the location and size of the scar.
The bottom Line
While hot tools can make your hair look trendier and more put together, heat damage can cause dry, lifeless, and brittle strands over time. And if you color or chemically process your hair, the damage is exacerbated because it is combined with the effects of the chemicals used to get your chosen color.
Unfortunately, heat damage to hair can occur in an instant, yet healing that heat damage might take a long time. That is why it is critical to avoid heat damage in the first place!
Heat-damaged hair follicles can usually be restored if the problem is identified early. Always be on the lookout for hair breakage and thinning so that treatment can be started as soon as possible. The longer the condition goes unaddressed, the more difficult it is to repair the damaged follicles.
With the help of moisturizing treatments and changes to your hair care routine, you may be able to restore your hair's natural texture and luster. Hair transplantation, on the other hand, has also emerged as a permanent remedy to hair loss.
If you discover that your hair lacks luster, moisture, or density, it's time to figure out what's wrong and work toward a cure. Although there are alternative solutions available to you, please use caution when considering them. Use them only after consulting with a professional.
Summary
With so many great heat styling tools at our disposal these days, it’s no wonder that heat damage has become a problem for so many of us. If you’re a natural who has heat damaged hair and aren’t ready to trim off the damage, you can certainly restore and maintain it. So, how do we repair our hair once the damage is done and more importantly, how do we prevent it from happening to healthy hair in the first place?
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