Most people with curly or wavy hair tend to use a blow dryer or straightening iron to make their hair more manageable. But, using heat on the tresses every day can damage the hair cuticles severely. Not only will it make the hair rough and frizzy but will also lead to breakage.
Straightening your hair can give it a smooth, sleek look. But do it too often without taking proper care of your locks, and you'll be left with dry, heat-damaged hair that's the exact opposite of what you were going for. It is possible to straighten your mane every day and keep it from turning into a frizzy mess.
Too much heat can damage the keratin proteins that give hair its strength, zap moisture from the inside of the hair strand, and crack the cuticle (outside protective layer) of the hair. The result? Brittle, dry hair.
Can Heat Damaged Hair Grow? Thankfully, hair grows from the root, so heat damage won't stop your hair growth completely, but it may slow it down. If your hair is dry and brittle, it may lead to breakage and split ends that can continue up the hair shaft and affect hair growth.
Your Hair Will Grow Longer & Healthier Without Heat. This is not to say that heat is required to grow healthy hair. It's just to say that it's a myth that its absences will make your hair healthier or its presences will do the opposite. It's all about moderation.
And why does straightened hair look so shiny? The answer to this is all geometry and optics. Hair with curls or waves has lots of curves and angles off which light bounces, but straight hair reflects light and appears shiny.
Straightening with a flatiron instantly makes your hair appear thinner (especially if you're leaving your ends pin straight too). For a look that's both sleek and full, blow-dry your hair lifting up at the roots with a round brush and rolling in at the ends.
Daily use of a curling iron can damage your hair, especially if like many heat styling addicts, your hair is already coarse and dry. Daily exposure to heat dries out your hair, making it more vulnerable to split ends and breakage. The more heat you use, and the more frequently you use it, the worse the damage will be.
It's generally suggested that heat styling be done not more than once a week. Natural hair should always be freshly shampooed, conditioned, and completely dry before heat styling. Straightening dirty hair with a flat iron will only burn oil and dirt, which will lead to more damage.
The short answer is yes, straightening natural hair every 2 weeks can be bad, the level of “badness” depends on how much heat you're applying and if you're using an elite heat protectant product or not.
What Does Damaged Hair Look Like? Damaged hair has a brittle, straw-like appearance. The hair shaft is fragile and prone to breakage, resulting in split ends and stray, unruly hairs. It will feel stiff and “crunch” upon touch with little movement.
"You should not flat iron natural hair more than once a month, especially if your hair is color-treated or damaged," says Powell. "Even once a month can be considered pushing it, so if you are flat ironing that frequently, it's important that you are hyper-aware of your hair's health."
While the number of women chemically relaxing their hair continues to drop , a majority of textured-hair women do straighten their hair periodically.
Don't style hair with heat every day.
Hot tools can also make hair look crispy and create split ends if overused. Blow out hair 3-5 times a week and try to limit your flat iron/curling iron usage to 1-2 times a week.”
Heat-styling is a well-documented way of damaging the hair, and while not a hair loss condition in itself, it can certainly lead to hair breakage, which can give the appearance of a thinner-than-normal head of hair.
Does summer heat cause hair loss? In fact, yes: any extreme temperatures, whether hot or cold can cause approximately 10% of hair follicles to enter the resting stage of growth, which can mean more hair shedding than usual.
Like most things, however, straightening your hair is fine in moderation -- and doing it once a week is unlikely to cause long-term damage. Take some precautionary measures to ensure that your hair stays healthy, silky and smooth.
So what happens to your curls when you straighten them that makes them not bounce back? When your curls aren't protected and heat is applied, the structural proteins within each strand are damaged. “This repeated damage essentially breaks down the strand,” says Wilson. Once the damage is done, there's no coming back.