
How to repair heat damaged natural hair
- Cutting everything off. Joi suggests doing a big chop to cut all your straight ends off. ...
- Trim your hair monthly. This involves trimming your hair at about ½ inch to an inch every month. ...
- Deep conditioning your hair. You want to make sure your hair is staying moisturized because when you have heat damaged hair, your hair gets dry faster, your styles aren't going ...
- Moisturizing your hair. You need to continue adding moisture to your strands throughout the week. ...
- Using protective styles. If you want to keep your hair long and get it to grow out without having to do a bunch of things to it.
How to protect your natural hair from heat damage?
Yes, I’m Natural and I Still Straighten My Hair—Here’s How I Protect it From Heat Damage
- Detangle, Detangle, Detangle. Before drying or heat styling, I always detangle my hair and part my curls into sections. ...
- Use a Heat Protectant. This step shall not be skipped. ...
- Invest in Professional Heat Stylers. ...
- Choose a Low Heat Setting. ...
- Wrap Your Hair at Night. ...
- Routine Salon Visits. ...
How do you protect your hair from heat damage?
- lie flat
- release natural curl
- release moisture
- hold a different shape
How to tell if your natural hair is damaged?
Consider these questions:
- Are you deep-conditioning after cleansing? You should.
- Are you protecting your curls at night by using a satin scarf or satin bonnet or sleeping on a satin pillowcase? You should.
- Are you drying your hair with a blowdryer on high heat? You shouldn’t.
- Do you incorporate oils into your regimen with pre-poos, hot oil treatments, or sealers? ...
How to straight your hair naturally at home without heat?
How to Straighten Hair Without Heat. Here are some natural ways … 1. Using a Flat Paddle Brush. Blow-drying hair with a flat paddle brush could be considered the cheapest and easiest way to straightening hair without heat to achieve professional looking straight hair, particularly if you want to avoid the flat iron.

Can natural hair recover from heat damage?
The simple answer is no, heat damage is irreversible. Once the protein bonds are broken and the hair cuticles are cracked, the inner cortex is exposed to all types of damage. With the cortex exposed, your hair becomes weaker and less pliable.
How can I recover my hair from heat damage?
For straight hair that's damaged from heat, you'll want to focus on restoring its natural proteins. Leave-in treatments with yogurt, honey, and olive oil can help to restore the natural bonds and get your hair back to its glossy appearance. Using a conditioning spray with keratin can also help to smooth broken hair.
How long does it take for heat damaged hair to repair?
Using products that are designed to nourish the scalp and hair can definitely speed up this process, but on average you'd be looking at six months to a year to fully see a difference in your hair's condition.
How can I repair my damaged natural hair?
The primary fix for damaged hair is moisture. However, hair also needs a major rebalance of moisture and protein once it's been compromised....How To Treat Damaged HairStart with the right shampoo. ... Apply a repairing conditioner. ... Use hair treatments. ... Don't forget a leave-in. ... Avoid heat styling. ... Consider a cut.
Does heat permanently damage hair?
Managing heat damaged hair Once the structure of your hair is changed by heat damage, it's permanent. There are a few options for managing the situation. You can cut your hair and remove the damage, but this could require a big chop depending on how extensive the damage is.
How do black girls fix damaged hair?
Mild, all-natural shampoo and conditioner can help your hair recover from chemical overload. Washing once a week is recommended for most people with damaged African hair. Let your hair air-dry, or pat it dry with a towel. Do not rub or blow-dry damaged hair.
What heat damaged hair looks like?
You may also experience a change in texture, and your hair might not cooperate as it once did. Damaged hair becomes brittle and breaks easily. Your hair might look dull and dry, and the appearance of split ends is more noticeable. It can also be challenging to get your hair to lie flat.
Can fried hair be repaired?
You usually can't fully fix fried hair overnight. Depending on how damaged your hair is, your best bet may involve trimming away the damage and split ends and waiting for it to grow back. Still, you can help your hair's appearance by using moisturizing products and avoiding further damage.
Is it best to cut off damaged hair?
Split ends are a sign that your hair has been weakened from chemicals and exposure to heat, wind, and sun, Blaisure adds. Trimming is the best way to keep ends from fraying and causing further damage.
How can I repair my natural hair without cutting it?
How to Repair Damaged Hair (Without Cutting It)Get A Professional Smoothing Treatment. ... Get Fresh Cuts. ... Use A Restorative Clarifying Shampoo. ... Avoid Heat and/or Use A Heatspray. ... Mend With Masks. ... Give TLC To Those Ends. ... Look Into Your Water. ... Get Regular Blow Outs.More items...
How do you fix heat damage on 4C hair?
Behold — The Hair Care Routine That Fixed My Heat-Damaged 4C CurlsStep 1: Repair With A Bond Building Treatment. The No. ... Step 2: Cleanse With A Repairing Shampoo. ... Step 3: Detangle With A Hydrating Conditioner. ... Step 4: Treat With A Deep Moisture Mask.
How to fix heat damaged hair?
There are some cases where the only way to fix heat-damaged hair is to get a haircut. If home remedies don’t work to make your hair more manageable, cutting a couple of inches is probably the best way to minimize the appearance of heat damage. For a good rule of thumb, be patient with your hair for a month or so.
How to restore sheen to hair after heat damage?
To help hair that has heat damage from chemical exposure, you may need to speak to the salon or hairstylist where your hair was treated. A hair mask or professional deep-conditioning treatment from the salon may be the first step to restoring your hair’s sheen. Hot oil treatments designed for home use are another option.
How to get rid of hair follicles?
Choose moisture-rich conditioners with coconut oil, avocado, or aloe vera to help your hair follicles. Avoid shampooing your hair daily, as shampoo strips hair of its natural oils. Only apply shampoo to your scalp and the roots of your hair.
How to fix hair after a night out?
A DIY hair mask may be able to improve the look of your hair for a night out, but that won’t solve long-term heat damage. Leave-in protein treatments with yogurt, honey, and olive oil can help restore the natural bonds in your hair so that damage is less obvious.
How to tell if your hair is overstyling?
After one too many blow-dry sessions, your hair may start to show the signs of overstyling: It’s harder to manage, and it doesn’t hold its shape as well when you style it. Some signs that your hair has been heat-damaged include: split ends or ends that easily break off. white nodules at the end of your hair shaft.
How to tell if your hair is damaged?
Some signs that your hair has been heat-damaged include: 1 split ends or ends that easily break off 2 white nodules at the end of your hair shaft 3 overly dry hair 4 rough or stringy hair texture 5 difficulty styling your hair or brushing it out 6 hair that tangles and knots easily 7 hair breakage
How to get straight hair back to its glossiest?
To get your hair back to its glossiest, focus on restoring its natural proteins.
What is the best treatment for heat damage to hair?
Hot oil treatments are a godsend for natural hair heat damage. With the right concoction, oils can repair elasticity and promote shine. Exactly what we need when our hair is suffering from heat damage.
What is natural hair damage?
What is Natural Hair Heat Damage? Natural hair heat damage occurs when, as the name suggests, too much heat is applied to natural hair. At a molecular level, when heat is applied to the hair, keratin bonds in your hair are weakened and ultimately broken, depending on how strong these bonds are.
How to curl your hair with a perm rod?
Simply section your hair in sections around your head (the smaller the section, the tighter the curl pattern). On clean, deep conditioned and moisturized hair, wrap the perm rod around smaller sub-sections hair and lock the perm rod to secure it.
What is Mielle hair milk?
A Mielle cult classic, this moisturizing hair milk is formulated with film-forming, moisturizing humectants such as aloe vera, nettle and horsetail extract. It also includes various strengthening ingredients such as rice and wheat protein. A perfect staple product for high porosity or heat damaged strands in need of some TLC.
Why is my hair straight after heat?
Many naturals who experience heat damage report that their hair becomes utterly straight, especially at the ends, where the protein bonds are weakest. Another factor to consider, aside from protein strength, is your hair width.
What is the best oil for natural hair?
The best way to do hot oil treatments for natural hair is as a pre-poo. Pre-poos protect the hair from the harsh surfactants of the shampoo. Coconut oil is a great pre-poo/hot oil treatment for natural hair heat damage.
How to protect new growth from heat damage?
And while you are mitigating the heat damage, remember to take care of your new growth with moisture and deep conditioning sessions, and protecting it from future damage by protective styling and minimizing heat styling.
How to tell if your hair is damaged by heat?
Heat damaged hair often looks dull and feels coarse to the touch. Other signs of damage include split ends and breakage. If you have naturally curly hair, you may even notice that your hair is losing its curl and becoming straighter.
How to protect hair from getting damaged?
Wearing your hair up can protect it from getting damaged by the environment. Opt for loose braids, ponytails, and buns and use cloth-covered elastics or bobby pins to secure the styles. Avoid tight braids and sleek ponytails. If you feel tension on your roots, your style is too tight.
How to calm staticky hair?
2. Use a clarifying shampoo if your hair is dry or staticky. Clarifying shampoo can help smooth and calm your hair when it’s dry or crispy. If you can't find a clarifying shampoo, use a gentle shampoo instead, then rinse your hair with apple cider vinegar.
How to get rid of a swollen strand of hair?
Replenish your hair with a hot oil treatment. Heat some olive oil over the stove, then allow it to cool down to room temperature. Apply it to clean, towel-dried hair. Tuck your hair under a shower cap, then wrap a hot towel around your hair. Wait 1 hour, then rinse the oil out with cold water.
How to restore moisture to hair?
Expert Answer. Using hydrating masks, shampoos, and conditioners can help restore moisture to your hair. If you have virgin hair, an avocado mask can help. If your hair is chemically dyed, you'll want to go to a salon for professional treatments to heal your hair.
How to brush your hair straight?
Brush your hair starting from the ends. Never drag a brush straight down from the roots if your hair is all knotted and tangled. Work in small sections instead, starting from the ends. Brush out the ends of your hair first. Once you can run your brush smoothly through them, brush from the mid-lengths down, then finally from the roots-down.
How to get hair to grow out?
Drink plenty of water. Try to drink around 8 8-ounce (240-milliliter) glasses of water each day. This won't necessarily repair the damage, but it will ensure that your hair grows out healthy and strong. If you keep forgetting to drink water, begin a habit of drinking a glass of water with each meal.
Consider A Trim
This part is essential—possibly a bit scary—but also doable from home (with caution). When I first chopped my hair in 2016, I used YouTube as my guide for shaping and cutting the damaged ends that needed to be eliminated. Sure, it was risky, but trimming your ends where damage is the most prevalent can be helpful.
Moisture Is Important
My hair needed moisture to combat the dryness, and brittle state straightening left it in. I used a natural hair mask made from raw eggs (gross but effective), raw honey, and avocados to soften and detangle my curls.
Vitamins Are A Plus
While there's a lot of research still needed to determine the efficacy of hair growth supplements, vitamins can play a role in the overall health of your hair. 1 I stocked up on vitamins A through D and OLLY Ultra Hair vitamins to help make sure that my body was receiving the proper nutrients so that my hair would remain healthy and strong.
Try Protective Styles
Protective styles are clutch because they allows me to change my look without manipulating my natural hair daily. This means my chances of breakage, tangling, and heat damage is minimized depending on the style.
The Bottom Line
The beauty of having natural hair is the ability to switch up your style: One day, you can be bone-straight, and the other with a 'fro. Nonetheless, no matter how you decide to rock your hair, I've learned that finding ways to keep your strands healthy is a good foundation of any routine.
How Does Heat Affect Your Hair?
Hair that’s exposed to high temperatures loses its resilience and strength. That’s because intense heat can dry out the outer layer of the hair, also known as the cuticle. “The cuticle develops small areas of injury, which represent breaks along the hair’s cuticle,” explains Caren Campbell, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in California.
What Does Heat-Damaged Hair Look Like?
Wondering how to tell if your hair is heat damaged? You’ll likely be able to see it (or feel it), experts say. “Signs of heat damage include hair looking dry and dull, a lack of moisture, split ends, frizziness, rough or changed texture, hair loss, and frequent tangling,” says McKenna Watts, a hairstylist based in California.
Can You Repair Heat-Damaged Hair?
Damage caused by temperatures above 365 degrees is irreversible, says Toves-Vincilione. “The breakdown of the hair at these temperatures doesn’t reflect the same characteristics as healthy hair. It can be treated but not restored,” he says.
The Best Products for Heat-Damaged Hair
So, what can you use to repair heat-damaged hair? Experts list their go-to products, below.
How to Prevent Heat-Damaged Hair
Since heat damage is often irreversible, prevention is key. “The best practice you can adopt is to always use a heat protectant before blow drying or applying a hot tool,” Toves-Vincilione says. “Another key practice is to keep your hot tools at or below 365 degrees.”
The Best Products for Preventing Heat-Damaged Hair
If you want to keep your hair healthy and happy, heat damage prevention is the name of the game. Here are four expert-approved products to use.
Why do curls get hard after heat styling?
For protein sensitive curlies their hair tends to become dry and hard after using a protein treatment, but this can also be a result of how strong the protein treatment is. By using it before heat styling you are helping to strengthen the hair for the process, and using it afterward will rejuvenate your curls.
What temperature should curls be?
Usually the rule of thumb is the thicker the strands, the higher the temperature. Most curlies try to stay under 350 degrees or 375 degrees. It may be challenging to achieve the fresh-relaxed look but at least you are not compromising the health of your hair.
Can you blow dry wet hair?
Blow-dry on damp, not wet hair. If you opt to use the tension method or blow-dryer with comb attachment to stretch your hair prior to straightening, make sure the hair is damp and not wet. Blow-drying wet hair is equivalent to frying the hair, which is very harsh on the hair.
Do curlies like straight hair?
Most curlies and coilies love the versatility of their natural tresses. Sleek chignons, voluminous twist outs, and bold Bantu knots are just a few of the vast styling options that can be easily achieved on textured hair. Some curlies also like to wear it straight, but sporting this look can be detrimental if done too frequently or achieved ...
