Heat

I am not a fan of using heat on my hair. Not at all. I've never really been. But after educating myself on natural hair I like heat even less. I found myself giving my daughter a speech about heat the other day when we were at her swimming lesson (a post related to hair and swimming will come) when she wanted to use the blow dryer in the locker room. Yes, I know, it's cold outside and going out with wet hair is not good. But we live 10min from the swimming class and there are hats and hood. No heat as far as possible. Why? Because heat dries out your hair.

So you have gone to all that work deep conditioning, leave in conditioning and whatever else to add moisture and then you blow dry your hair, what happens? You literary blow dry the moisture out of your hair which makes it dry and frizzy. Which leads to tangles and breakage. No, I'm not saying you should never ever blow dry or flat iron your hair, but, as always, do you research. When using heat on your hair you want to make sure you protect you hair from that heat. There are various products out on the market so you may have to try a few before you find the ones you like. Make sure you do you research as usual.

Found this pic from Aug 2011

Personally I do flat iron my hair once in a while, just for variation. Once in a while meaning once every 3-6 months or so. I can't remember when I last used a flat iron. This summer maybe? When I flat iron, since my hair  doesn't have very tight curls all I do is comb it out (a day or two after was'n'go) and use an oil, I think Jojoba oil is what I have used last time to protect the hair. Now I'm not sure if Jojoba oil is the best way to go, so don't do it if you are not into taking risks. But when you use an oil on top of your hair the heat evaporated the oil not the water in your hair, thus not drying it as much. After I have flat ironed I can go about a week with my hair straight. I always wrap it when I go to bed and never ever re-do any sections with the heat. It's okay to use heat once in a while, not lots of times in a week, you will have heat damage. And your hair may even get so damaged that it won't return to its regular curl pattern after. Afterwards when I wash my hair it feels really soft by the oil, like I've used a hot oil treatment. There is never heat damage and my curls go right back.

Okay, so now after reading that you are probably like, but hey, wait a minute, you just said your hair doesn't get damaged by heat and at the same time you are telling us not to use heat?! WTF? 

Yes, even though I use heat a few times a year I saw lay off the heat on a regular basis if you want healthy hair. If you want dry, brittle, breaking off hair, grab that blow dryer and get to flat ironing daily. (Yes, this is my version of tough love)