Flat Irons Damage Hair When Straightening

Ceramic hair straighteners are everywhere, including my bathroom. It’s not mine, I’d have to use a regular iron if I wanted straight hair. But many women use flat irons to get a sleek, cosmopolitan hairstyle. Ceramic irons are meant to be safer for your hair because they heat your hair evenly.

Flat irons work by breaking the structural bonds in hair, then letting them reform. The heating and cooling alters your hair’s structure making it smooth and straight. Unfortunately, this heating also damages your hair. Repeated use of a flat iron causes hair to become brittle and break. This can lead to hair loss and frayed, fly-away ends. Wet hair, fine hair, and colored or chemically treated hair is more likely to be damaged by straightening.

Minimize damage by following these tips:

1. Use your flat iron at a low setting. Treated hair and fine hair burns easily. Thick hair can tolerate higher temperatures. Temperatures above 350 degrees Fahrenheit will damage most hair after 5 minutes of use.

2. Use on dry hair only, preferably with a hair product designed to be used with a flat iron.

3. Do not straighten your hair every day. Optimally you should use your flat iron only once a week.

4. If you feel that your hair is thinning, that you are loosing your hair, or that your hair is becoming more and more difficult to straighten, then stop using your iron.

5. There is nothing you can do to make your hair grow out faster. If you hair breaks, it can take a year or longer to grow it back to the length you desire, so treat your hair well.

Photo: whatsnextonline, flickr.com

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