flat iron yet great hair

[ErinLeigh]

UGH she gets to use a flat iron and curling iron! Does heat protectant help that much? My hair gest effected a lot more by irons. Her hair looks like it is fine too which I always thought took heat even worse. How is it so damage free looking with constant heat tools? Is it more hair type, or porosity type that can allow this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajzU6I-NVaY

[CurlMonster]

I think certain hairtypes can hide damage better than others. My mum has hair a bit like hers, very fine, and even if it has heaps of splits and damage it is still soft, flowy and shiny.

[Jesabel]

My friend also had hair like that, but like the girl in the video every product she used was filled to the brim with silicones, which just masked all the damage. I'm sure it is damaged, but it just doesn't look like it.

[Lyv]

I think some hair is more resistant to damage but when you use tons of silicones and a flat iron it isn't going to look as damaged. I wonder what her hair looks like without all the products....

[Isilme]

She said that she wears it up a lot or in a braid. That combined with a huge amount of cones probably keeps her hair looking good.

[pixldust]

I wonder what her hair looks like without all the products....

Very good point. I'm willing to bet that if her hair was washed, left to air dry, no products at all and no heat styling, you would definitely see some damage then.

All the silicones would give the illusion of smoothness. It does that to my fringe. When left natural, it looks slightly deranged and frizzy. Put some straightening serum on, run the straightners over it et voila, smooth and sleek!

[DweamGoiL]

I think it's just a matter of priorities here. What is more important; using a flat iron or curling iron and using products to hide damage or focusing on healthy hair at the expense of not being able to use these tools regularly? I admire her hair for its own unique properties. She is a very young and very pretty young lady. I also have no issues with her trying to hide the damage with cones if that is what she chooses to do. Personally, despite her hair looking good or not, would not sway me either way. I like my natural wave and I want my hair to be at its healthiest despite what everyone else is doing.

[spidermom]

Good for her. I'm envious, actually.
Heat protectants do help, but I don't know how much.

[Firefox7275]

UGH she gets to use a flat iron and curling iron! Does heat protectant help that much? My hair gest effected a lot more by irons. Her hair looks like it is fine too which I always thought took heat even worse. How is it so damage free looking with constant heat tools? Is it more hair type, or porosity type that can allow this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajzU6I-NVaY

Is her hair great? We can't see it utterly nekkid without products nor under a microscope. You don't know what temperature she uses, probably not how often nor how fast she moves the tool. Aesthetics does not always equal health.

[furnival]

UGH she gets to use a flat iron and curling iron!
So do you, if you want to.
You have no idea what it's doing to her hair, though. It's like seeing a healthy-looking person puffing away on a cigarette and saying 'She gets to smoke forty a day!'

[cat11]

why use a straightening iron when you can do this?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1RO-d1Z9Hs

[meteor]

Her hair would look even better without the heat styling in the long run. Give it time and you see cumulative effect of different routines.
This really reminds me of all those young athletes in great shape, who apparently often eat tons of processed fast food and drink alcohol. It's normal when you are young and have good genes, but it doesn't mean it's the optimal way. Some people (especially when they are young) are just more resilient, and the same applies to some hair.

[bunnylake]

I would not ever compare using a flat iron to cigarette smoking, um, ever.
Hair is dead. It can't be "healthy". It can be in good condition or not, but not actually "healthy". To many people, as long as the hair LOOKS good, that's all that matters. Some people have more resilient hair than others. Mine is very resilient... it took lots of flat ironing and dying before it began to appear damaged on the ends, and I have somewhat fine hair (but lots of it). It's all about what you want, natural hair in good condition or styled hair that looks shiny and smooth. Neither way is better than the other.

[DweamGoiL]

why use a straightening iron when you can do this?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1RO-d1Z9Hs

I've never seen anyone do a Tubi on wet hair, but if it works, why knock it? *shrugz*

[ErinLeigh]

I think mine obviously can't handle irons too much due to the coloring I do :/ I think you have to pick and choose what works which has been my issue in past...doing everything! She irons, but doesn't do other things so I suppose it is give and take.

I have resigned to the fact the highlights will have to go. I am tired of upkeep and also bored with how they look so that will be a good thing. I am going to experiment with not washing daily, backing off the highlights, and less heat (i blow dry but if I skip washes i will do it less)

I am curious to see what kind of changes can be brought from a few more tweaks. My whole life I thought I had "frizzy" hair, but have learned it is just damage...not frizz (well and top layer wurls that have been beat into submission to match the straight underside)
I hope changing a few things leads to hair laying better in a natural state.

off topic..
Bunnylake I wouldn't have thought your hair was fine, you do have a lot of it! The overall effect is quite "thick." I have been told by stylists I have a lot of hair, just fine..but i hack layers into it so never get to see the effect. Interesting to see the results of leaving it more one length. It is very pretty.

[Cania]

I would not ever compare using a flat iron to cigarette smoking, um, ever.
Hair is dead. It can't be "healthy". It can be in good condition or not, but not actually "healthy". To many people, as long as the hair LOOKS good, that's all that matters. Some people have more resilient hair than others. Mine is very resilient... it took lots of flat ironing and dying before it began to appear damaged on the ends, and I have somewhat fine hair (but lots of it). It's all about what you want, natural hair in good condition or styled hair that looks shiny and smooth. Neither way is better than the other.

In this situation, is it not comparable? Just because someone who smokes looks healthy doesn't mean that they are - her hair might not be as well conditioned as it looks. And just because they are okay now doesn't mean they will be in future... as with her hair. Not everyone who smokes dies of a smoking related illness, in the same way that not everyone who heat styles often ends up with damaged hair. It kind of makes sense to me, although the potential ill effects of one are obviously much more dangerous to your well being than the other :)

[fairview]

I would not ever compare using a flat iron to cigarette smoking, um, ever.
Hair is dead. It can't be "healthy". It can be in good condition or not, but not actually "healthy". To many people, as long as the hair LOOKS good, that's all that matters. Some people have more resilient hair than others. Mine is very resilient... it took lots of flat ironing and dying before it began to appear damaged on the ends, and I have somewhat fine hair (but lots of it). It's all about what you want, natural hair in good condition or styled hair that looks shiny and smooth. Neither way is better than the other.

Agreed. I don't think a valid comparison can be made between something that is living versus something that is dead. Hair quality can only be affected prior to emerging from the follicle. After emergence it is dead. It can only go one way - downhill. No matter what our diet, what conditioning products we use it can not be permanently improved. It just simply gets worse with time. That is inevitable. How quickly it becomes damaged depends on how we take care of it. If we do not regularly maintain our cars, they become pieces of junk in short order but there are some cars out there that are running just fine after 50 years. It all depends on proper maintenance how long something that is not living will become a piece of junk - hair included.

[furnival]

I would not ever compare using a flat iron to cigarette smoking, um, ever.

:p Oh goodness... My point wasn't to compare the effects of flat-ironing to the effects of cigarette smoking :laugh:, but to point out that 'She gets to do this/that without damage!' impression can be misleading, if not an outright fallacy. Heat damage is cumulative; I'm well aware that hair is inanimate, but constant use of excessive heat will take its toll upon the condition of any hair.

What I mean is, watching a healthy-looking person puffing away on a cigarette shouldn't encourage you to come to the conclusion that smoking isn't harmful. This is an analogy. Apologies if my earlier post was misleading. :)

[Cania]

:p Oh goodness... My point wasn't to compare the effects of flat-ironing to the effects of cigarette smoking :laugh:, but to point out that 'She gets to do this/that without damage!' impression can be misleading, if not an outright fallacy. Heat damage is cumulative; I'm well aware that hair is inanimate, but constant use of excessive heat will take its toll upon the condition of any hair.

What I mean is, watching a healthy-looking person puffing away on a cigarette shouldn't encourage you to come to the conclusion that smoking isn't harmful. This is an analogy. Apologies if my earlier post was misleading. :)

To clarify, this is what I was trying to explain. This is much more eloquent :p


Back to the OP - just watched the video in full and it doesn't sound like she flat irons that often. I can use heat every now and again and don't really suffer for it, though I never curl my hair. I think you're more likely to be able to get away with it if your goal is above classic and you are maintaining, not growing. My age probably has a lot to do with it, too.

[bunnylake]

I think mine obviously can't handle irons too much due to the coloring I do :/ I think you have to pick and choose what works which has been my issue in past...doing everything! She irons, but doesn't do other things so I suppose it is give and take.

I have resigned to the fact the highlights will have to go. I am tired of upkeep and also bored with how they look so that will be a good thing. I am going to experiment with not washing daily, backing off the highlights, and less heat (i blow dry but if I skip washes i will do it less)

I am curious to see what kind of changes can be brought from a few more tweaks. My whole life I thought I had "frizzy" hair, but have learned it is just damage...not frizz (well and top layer wurls that have been beat into submission to match the straight underside)
I hope changing a few things leads to hair laying better in a natural state.

off topic..
Bunnylake I wouldn't have thought your hair was fine, you do have a lot of it! The overall effect is quite "thick." I have been told by stylists I have a lot of hair, just fine..but i hack layers into it so never get to see the effect. Interesting to see the results of leaving it more one length. It is very pretty.

Thanks! It's not SUPER fine, but the strands are definitely not thick either. It goes flat and lank easily.
When I went off heat/dye it took a few months for my hair to "calm down". It looked frizzy and weird for a long time, and then suddenly it looked normal! Maybe the same will happen to your hair. Just be real nice to it and it'll show you what it's been hiding after a while :)

[RancheroTheBee]

On one hand, I want to say that I really appreciate the fact that she's not spreading the whole "trim your hair every month" myth!

Anyway, some explanations for her hair: She SAYS she is washing her hair every three days. She has a huge amount of subscribers, and I think she probably knows saying any more than that would overshadow the whole video. I'll bet twenty bucks she goes longer than that! Even if she is washing her hair every three days, she's deep-conditioning once a week, which means she's probably doing it every other time she washes!

On that note, oh, my God, the nubby brush while wet?! Eughhdfdhdk. Also, I've tried that "oil", it's very drying, IMO.

Honestly, at her age, I'd blowdry, iron, dye and backcomb all the time, trim yearly and still, it looked good. Because I was 19 and I could also eat nothing but jellybeans for a week and still be a size zero, and couple that with expensive 'coney leave-ins and none the wiser!

[Berlie]

I envy that hair!!! I'm sure she doesn't flat iron every day.

Here's another one, but this girl uses no heat whatsoever...
http://youtu.be/4JSaMmPMmy8

[Sevenof91]

I envy that hair!!! I'm sure she doesn't flat iron every day.

Here's another one, but this girl uses no heat whatsoever...
http://youtu.be/4JSaMmPMmy8

I would kill to have hair like that.

[ravenreed]

I believe that she is washing every three days. I wash every other day and my hair is much longer than hers. I do not believe that to grow longer hair most people have to skip washing for long periods of time. I think some hair types might need that, but not most.



On one hand, I want to say that I really appreciate the fact that she's not spreading the whole "trim your hair every month" myth!

Anyway, some explanations for her hair: She SAYS she is washing her hair every three days. She has a huge amount of subscribers, and I think she probably knows saying any more than that would overshadow the whole video. I'll bet twenty bucks she goes longer than that! Even if she is washing her hair every three days, she's deep-conditioning once a week, which means she's probably doing it every other time she washes!

On that note, oh, my God, the nubby brush while wet?! Eughhdfdhdk. Also, I've tried that "oil", it's very drying, IMO.

Honestly, at her age, I'd blowdry, iron, dye and backcomb all the time, trim yearly and still, it looked good. Because I was 19 and I could also eat nothing but jellybeans for a week and still be a size zero, and couple that with expensive 'coney leave-ins and none the wiser!

[alexis917]

I envy that hair!!! I'm sure she doesn't flat iron every day.

Here's another one, but this girl uses no heat whatsoever...
http://youtu.be/4JSaMmPMmy8

(I've seen a lot of her videos when I want to do heatless curls!
That said, she does also use coney products (Tresemme shampoo/condish).)

As for the original girl this thread is about- her hair is actually damaged, she's just loading up on cones.
Her length is impressive though!
And her hair appears to be fine, so although it is less damage-resistant, I think that allows for better "masking" of damage?
My friend has very fine, thin hair, but it can look soft and smooth even when it's pretty beat-up.

[YamaMaya]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's the cones hiding the majority of the damage. As far as her hair goes, it may be long but it seems a bit limp and lifeless, and dry on the ends. I've seen some straight up hair goddesses on youtube though, so hers just seems a bit ordinary.

[alexis917]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's the cones hiding the majority of the damage. As far as her hair goes, it may be long but it seems a bit limp and lifeless, and dry on the ends. I've seen some straight up hair goddesses on youtube though, so hers just seems a bit ordinary.

Farah Dhukai (@farahdhukai) has great hair.

[Kome]

Everyone gets their panties in a bunch over flat irons, but I used one for a good year and never noticed damage to my hair. I used a heat protection spray though. YES, it probably did cause some damage, but if it's not super noticable, what's the big deal? I think once in awhile is okay, so long as it's not every day, but that's just my opinion.

I should also add in that my car can take A LOT. I have bleached up to four times in ONE day before. I'm crazy. Lol. So I really think it depends on how hair and just pay attention to how it is and you'll be fine.

And I'm not trying to cause drama here, but I think some people are jealous of her hair. It really is gorgeous and shiney and if I could flat iron it and use cones every few days to get that look... I would! :P

[0xalis]

If simply using cones will make my hair look shiny and sleek like that, sign me up. However, her hair really doesn't do it for me, I hate the look of flat-ironed hair.

[spirals]

I think if you want to heat-style, and your hair is resilient enough to not break off faster than it's growing, then do it. Silicone does help. I just don't use it because I'm not sure how biodegradable it is. Plus, I'm too lazy to heat-style. I have wash-and-wear hair. Do what you want with it; hair grows back, and flat-ironing doesn't affect the state of the world.

[Mya]

I think her hair looks actually healthy and pretty great. Because of flat ironing, it's not voluminous. But it's quite thick, not lifeless at all. Also, shiny. I don't know how it's possible to say it's probably damaged, it really has no signs, and she doesn't even trim it a lot. Why give all the merit to cones? On my hair, for example, cones make no difference, but my hair is product repellant. :P Just to say cones aren't black magic, hair has to be in a quite good condition itself to allow cones to make it look prettier.

Also, I don't understand the "cones hide damage" thing. Like natural products didn't? Henna coats hair much more heavily than cones, for example. And, for lots of people here, to change a little bit oils or routine or even handling just once means a mess of a hair. I don't see why a coney routine is seen as somewhat adulterating, while all other routines that have the same goal (protect hair and make it look good) aren't.

[Tini'sNewHair]

I had hip length hair and used to use lots of heat and no protectnant and my hair was just as shiny and healthy looking BUT without it, my hair was a horrible mess!! I will have to post a picture of when i used to heat style my hair. I now have virgin hair again and i would never go back!!! its so easy to just let my hair down and have it sit perfectly each time.

[coconutinsight]

I think her hair looks great :) she's one lucky girl!

[arr]

I think some of it depends on how a person uses a flat iron. The other day in the gym locker room, i saw a girl passing the flat iron over the same piece of hair over and over again. She was using the CHI that you cant adjust the temperature. I know because i used to have that one. They say it gets up to at least 400 degrees. And some of the passes she made over the hair were very slow. Needless to say, the un-ironed hair was a dry damaged mess. On the other hand, some people do one quick pass at the lowest temperature possible and thats it. Thats how i do my hair if i decide to flat iron, and though i do believe even that is still damaging i think it is way less damaging, especially if done very infrequently.

[thirstylocks]

A lot of my friends have this type of hair - they straighten it all the time but it looks great. Meanwhile, I can't even brush it without being worried about it breaking off! Ah, well.

[longhairdesired]

I've seen that video before. Her hair is gorgeous! Another Youtuber who has great hair is "Stilababe09" It's ombre'd but still healthy! Check her out.

[Yozhik]

I think her hair looks actually healthy and pretty great. Because of flat ironing, it's not voluminous. But it's quite thick, not lifeless at all. Also, shiny. I don't know how it's possible to say it's probably damaged, it really has no signs, and she doesn't even trim it a lot. Why give all the merit to cones? On my hair, for example, cones make no difference, but my hair is product repellant. :P Just to say cones aren't black magic, hair has to be in a quite good condition itself to allow cones to make it look prettier.

Also, I don't understand the "cones hide damage" thing. Like natural products didn't? Henna coats hair much more heavily than cones, for example. And, for lots of people here, to change a little bit oils or routine or even handling just once means a mess of a hair. I don't see why a coney routine is seen as somewhat adulterating, while all other routines that have the same goal (protect hair and make it look good) aren't.

+1. :agree:

Her hair looks very pretty and has gotten to impressive lengths with very little taper; I don't think that her hair in necessarily damaged just because she heat styles it. There are a number of other ways her routine may make up for this potential source of damage.

[teela1978]

She washes every 3 days or so, detangles in stages, never blow dries, uses a deep conditioner regularly, uses an argan oil leave in regularly, usually wears her hair in a braid or bun, and because of all that, she can play with the straightening iron and curlers on occasion.

I really don't see the big deal.

[ErinLeigh]

not about being a big deal, more about wondering if the heat protectors work or if it is certain hair types that can handle it (as some say heat fries their hair quickly) was the original question. She said she curls hair a lot with curling iron..more than just flat ironing occasionally.

[UltraBella]

I curl my hair several times a week with a curling iron and I've been doing so for years. Sometimes I use a heat protectant but most times I do not. There was a time in my life when I only used my Caruso Mollecular Hair Setter, but I fell out of the habit and started reaching for the curling iron and never really stopped. I do not have split ends, my hair looks nice with no product and air dried, I just love curls and I only have waves naturally.
I had my hair at TBL for a long time and used my curling iron without issues. I've also always colored or highlighted my hair. I believe it's due to my hair being thick & coarse that I don't suffer any signs of damage.
Not everyone who heat styles has damaged hair, but I often read comments here suggesting so.

[DarkSky]

I second UltraBella's post. Everyone's hair is different and I see this difference with just comparing my hair and my two girls hair. My hair can handle heat styling, my eldest girl very little, and the youngest is a definite no so I adapt to their different hair tolerances and needs. We also all have different hair patterns from loose waves to very curly, fine to medium thickness.

I heat style with flat iron and curling iron twice a month or maybe more depending on my mood and I've been doing some sort of heatstyling since I was a kid. I honestly can say that I see no side effects these days with my current routine, and very minimal splits if any etc. Actually my hair is happier than ever and I think it's mainly because I stopped using sulfates regularly (I will use it once every couple of months if needed), I also discovered that my hair LOVES grapeseed oil, and I now use gel instead of mousse when go naturally curly (it took me a long long time to realize that mousse was drying out my hair). I love the sleek and straight look, I love big curls, and I love my natural hair as well. I just love all hair types and if I can get away with adopting any of them when the mood strikes me then I go for it. I will add that I do get my long layers touched up once every 4 months by my hair dresser. I finally found a hair stylist that I trust and like. That also made a nice difference for my hair happiness. My hair is waist length curly and hip length when straight.

I updated my blog with my new routines btw. I've been MIA on this forum for a little while so it's nice to be back and check in on everyone and the topics :)

[DarkSky]

I think mine obviously can't handle irons too much due to the coloring I do :/ I think you have to pick and choose what works which has been my issue in past...doing everything! She irons, but doesn't do other things so I suppose it is give and take. .

I agree a little give and take is also key. I can't do colouring but heatstying not a problem.