How to Avoid Heat Damage on Your Hair
I hate to admit it, this isn’t my first time dealing with heat damage. Sadly, it's my second. I thought I’d learned my lesson the first time (about nine years ago), but clearly, I was wrong. After four years of growing my natural hair, this setback feels frustrating and discouraging - especially since it was my own doing. So, how did I end up here again? What mistakes am I repeating?
Me right after silk pressing my hair, a week before I noticed that I’d damaged my hair
In case you're wondering, I've straightened my hair a few times over the past nine years, without any issues. But this time, I know exactly what went wrong - and I want to share it with my fellow coils.
Don’t rush
Mistake number one was starting the process too late in the day: I started washing my hair around 9pm and didn’t start the blow-drying process before it was 10 pm. Looking back, what was I thinking? By then I was already feeling tired and my patience was running low. And because my hair texture is as coiled as it gets it’s fair to say that this was the perfect recipe for disaster. Blow drying 4c hair isn’t easy, but if you’re doing it yourself (which I was) it’s even harder. So, my advice to my readers would be to only start blow drying or silk pressing your hair if you have “all the time in the world” and when you’re not feeling remotely tired. And if you have someone you trust who can help with your hair, don’t hesitate and ask them for help.
2. Clarify the hair
My second mistake was underestimating the importance of a clarifying shampoo. Since my hair is naturally very dry, I usually avoid clarifying shampoos in my routine because they tend to be too stripping. If I’m not careful enough, the average clarifying shampoo leaves my hair feeling very dry and it takes a while to reverse this. My usual go to shampoo is the Aussie Bouncy Curls one and I love it because it leaves my scalp feeling clean and I can tell that my hair doesn’t lose all of its moisture.
I usually wash my hair at least once a week, so I assumed it was fairly clean - even though clarifying shampoos are more intense. And naturally, I washed my hair on that day, right before I blow dried it so I thought I was safe. But I was wrong!
After researching more about heat damage on hair, I realised that on that day I should have used a clarifying shampoo. And why? Because I still had product residue on my hair (even if invisible to the eye) and when heat is applied to product residue, the likelihood it resulting in heat damage is higher
3. Avoid excessive heat
By the time I started silk pressing my hair, my arms were ‘complaining’ and had begun to give up on me – mind you I’d just blow dried my hair which is equivalent to hair labour. So, what did I decide to do to speed up the process? Amp up the heat level to 230ºC (sigh)! And I don’t need to say that much more after this…the rest is history.
The main cause of the predicament that I am in was, of course, excessive heat. The ideal temperature for a silk press depends on your hair's texture, thickness, and overall health, but generally the recommended temperatures would be:
Fine or damaged hair: 275–325°F (135–163°C)
Normal or medium hair: 325–375°F (163–190°C)
Thick or coarse hair: 375–420°F (190–215°C)
For natural kinky, coily, or curly hair, the best approach is to stay on the lower end of the recommended range to reduce the risk of heat damage. And using a heat protectant is crucial (which I did) , but there’s only so much a heat protectant can do!
What compelled me to straighten my hair?
About six months ago, I applied heat to my hair for the first time in 3.5 years, and it turned out great (with no damage). Though my hair had grown to bra strap length, I noticed that it lacked volume and to fix this I gave myself a blunt cut, hoping it would encourage even growth and it worked (my hair is now fuller). But heat is a double edged knife and my hair paid the price for it. This whole episode makes me want to explore other ways to assess hair volume and health other than blow wrying and silk pressing. It makes me wonder why these methods are so commonly used if it comes with so many risks.
Conclusion
This last hair ‘event’ has shown me once again that the natural hair journey is not linear. For years you may even think that you have everything under control, but then a mistake has the potential to set you back further beyond the starting point.
I still haven’t decided what I’ll do given my current hair situation. As far as I was able to gather it’s not possible to revert heat damage - I can either chop it up or let it grow - but I’ll give it a little time to see how my hair will respond to some extra dose of TLC. I’ll keep you posted, but in the meantime, if your planning to get your hair straightened, don’t forget to take your time when doing it (or seek help or a professional), make sure you clarify your hair properlyand limit the hair temperature according to your hair type.
