How To Reduce & Prevent HEAT Damage
The words “heat damage” send a resounding chill throughout the bones of even the most resilient natural. I am an active user of gorgeous weaves; remy, remi, virgin, malaysian, brazilian etc and I love them. I am the kind of weave wearer that likes to keep a small amount of my real hair out in the front section. Think of a horse-shoe formation. Yeah, like that. Blending my naturally kinky-curly hair with kinkish-curly weave is no problem but the straight hair that I’ve been rocking lately always left me wondering about the heat I put my strands through in times of blending the real with the faux. I’ve noticed, however, for some reason every time *knocks wood* I’ve washed & conditioned my mane back into its curly place its curl is just as bouncey as it was before I straightened.
Upon getting my hair straightened at Hair Rules and when trying to blend natural hair with weave hair I’ve kept a couple of tips that I’ve learned with me. And I will share them.
Give yourself a good protein treatment prior to installing your weave/extentions/clip-ins.
Any deep conditioner with silk proteins, keratin, hydrolized silk, etc is great for your hair before straightening. But well if you’ve noticed your hair acts funny with protein treatments add it with your regular moisturizing conditioner. Anything that’s giving your hair extra strength before being straightened is key. Also give yourself a protein treatment again when you’re ready to go back to curly hair.
Make sure your hair is REALLY clean before straightening!
If you only co-washed and deep conditioned, you have a higher chance of heat damage than if you were to shampoo and deep condition your hair. The reason, being that even though you’re adding conditioner again after you shampoo’d, that shampoo cleansing you’re giving yourself will remove any and all product build-up from prior uses than just co-washing. Any product build-up invisible to the naked eye will be picked up by the flat-iron and will add to the burning. Its also easier to get the hair straighter when its stripped of product. This is not the same as being stripped of moisture. As long as you’ve deep conditioned after shampooing your hair and added a leave-in you’re good.
USE A HEAT PROTECTANT!
This is self-explanatory, really. Some people use shea butter or grapeseed oil as a leave-in. That kind of qualifies as something that will be extra-product since shea butter’s kind of heavy. No thanks. Here are some heat protectants/serums that have either worked great for me or I have heard great things about.
Hope this helps!!
