If you’re like most naturally curly hair types ranging from 3a-4c hair or even a hair stylist, you’ve been on the search for a quality flat iron for your tresses. One that allows you to achieve salon quality results without resulting in looser curls or heat damage. The dreaded words “heat damage” has far too many stories to tell when it comes to styling natural hair. But all hope is not lost. We’ve been on the search ourselves and finally found 3 simple methods you can follow to avoid heat damaged hair, regardless of your hair texture! Yes, it’s possible!
1. Protein Treatment
What is heat damage? Heat damage occurs to the hair shaft when applying tools that are extremely hot, burning the strands. Often times it’s the point of no return and it becomes hard to revert back to your original curly hair state. Only to have to snip away at years of hard work growing out your hair. We’re talking years of sweat and tears! To protect the hair and minimize the chance of heat damage using heat tools, always prep your hair before and after using products formulated with hydrolyzed proteins or strengthening ingredients. Hydrolyzed proteins derived from soy, quinoa, wheat, silk or keratin work to strengthen the hair from the inside out to reduce the likelihood of breakage.
Hair Strengthening Products
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Watermelon Restorative Shampoo$16.00 — or subscribe and save 10% -
Watermelon Restorative Conditioner$14.00 — or subscribe and save 10%
2. Tension Free Blow Dryer
We highly recommend the Rev Air Hair dryer! Opt less for blow dryers with comb attachments that snag and pull, causing damage from tension, pulling and direct heat. The Rev Air blow dryer solves this problem by straightening your hair with indirect heat from reverse air suction, similar to a vacuum. The result is straightened hair that makes the flat ironing process much easier!
Other methods of getting your hair straight before a flat iron is roller setting or blow drying using the tension method (gently pulling your hair strands with your hands while drying).
3. 100% Ceramic Hair Straighteners
What if heat damage was preventable no matter how many times you made a pass with the flat iron? The good news is that we found a solution! We know you visited this blog because you were curious to find the best flat iron for curly hair types. In all honesty this advice applies to ALL HAIR TYPES! You must FORGET all the flat irons readily available in the stores. That’s right, the babyliss flat iron and chi hair straightener IF they are thinly coated with ceramic and not 100% plated.
If you have tight type 4 curls, 100% ceramic plated irons are more beneficial than coated flat irons because they protect the hair from heat damage caused by uneven heat spots. Ceramic plated irons transmit infrared heat to the strands which is more gentler to the hair, especially if they are thin or fragile. Ceramic coated flat irons do not protect your hair from heat damage as they wear and chip over time, exposing metals underneath that fry your hair. Nor do titanium flat irons, we believe is the worst type of flat iron for naturally curly hair types. With titanium flat irons, you get sleek results, but after multiple uses, eventually heat damage. That is, you get heat trained hair from the very first use. If you’re looking for the best flat iron for the smoothest, sleekest, shiniest, long lasting styles that will revert back to its original bouncy curls without any hair damage, shop for 100% ceramic plated hair straighteners. These plates are made with layers of pure ceramic that will not wear or peel away over time to expose metals that can burn and heat damage your hair.
Some 100% ceramic flat irons we recommend include the HerStyler, FHI Heat Runway and H2Pro Ceramic Flat Irons. These flat irons do great in retaining the moisture in the hair while keeping it straight and shiny for long periods of time!
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