Any members semi-regularly heat style their hair?

[divinedobbie]

For a few months I've been toying with the idea of curling my hair but I have this ingrained fear of heat damage and haven't used heat in nearly 4 years. I've done a lot of research on ingredients that are true thermal protectors and I know about tips on "minimizing" damage aka not leaving the hair on the iron too long, not applying heat to wet/damp hair, etc.

Anyway I was on Sally's Beauty Supply website just browsing their curling irons, and I came across this comment from their article section:
Heated styling appliances—such as blow dryers (http://www.sallybeauty.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-SA-Site/default/Link-Search?q=blow%20dryer), flat irons (http://www.sallybeauty.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-SA-Site/default/Link-Search?q=flat%20iron), heat setters (http://www.sallybeauty.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-SA-Site/default/Link-Search?q=heat%20setter) and curling irons (http://www.sallybeauty.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-SA-Site/default/Link-Search?q=curling%20iron)—do little to no damage when they're not overused. Today's emerging ionic-ceramic and nano technologies are continuously improving the performance of hair appliances, allowing for faster results and even improving the look and feel of the hair. Heat protection (http://www.sallybeauty.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-SA-Site/default/Link-Search?q=heat%20protection)conditioning products work with the styling tool's heat to help protect the hair.

But honestly I don't believe it. I do believe that heat can make your hair look nicer but they hide damage that's there. I've come across other research that says heat can damage hair even if used just once, and that heat protectors don't really do much. I'm simply paranoid but really want to curl my hair occasionally.

Before anyone mentions heatless curls, I've tried it all: headband curls, sock buns, braids, foam rollers, curlers, wet and dry, with gel and mousse, and nothing has given me the large barrel curls I remember from my curling iron days.

I was just wondering if there are any LHC members that use heat regularly or occasionally and still have managed to grow long hair?

My goal is waist-hip length, and I take good care of it.

[DollyDagger]

I was a flat-ironing addict..every night i'd wash my hair flat-iron then hit it again with the flat-iron in the morning because inevitably a few curls would come to life while I slept. Clearly this was over abuse on my part. But clamping your hair between ceramic plates sure isn't helping it any. I eventually just came to embrace my natural texture. And yes they lie saying it doesnt damage..of course it does. I dont know the specifics if just one time will damage irreparably but I wouldnt even doubt it. My hair never got anywhere near BSL with excessive heat styling use because the damage dry ends would always bug me and i'd get them cut.

-Could you use a combination of heat and curlers by using a hood dryer and some kind of foam rollers.?

ETA- I have fairly thin strands

sorry divinedobbie that turned out to be a cautionary tale and confessional about the damages of heat styling abuse. :)

[meteor]

Before anyone mentions heatless curls, I've tried it all: headband curls, sock buns, braids, foam rollers, curlers, wet and dry, with gel and mousse, and nothing has given me the large barrel curls I remember from my curling iron days.

I was just wondering if there are any LHC members that use heat regularly or occasionally and still have managed to grow long hair?

My goal is waist-hip length, and I take good care of it.

Sure, I know people who have hair that is at your goal length and longer and in very nice condition and they heat-style (maybe once a week). But there is no guarantee that other people (with, let's say, finer or more fragile hair) will necessarily get there, as well, so I can't recommend it, personally. :flower:
Bottom line is, heat is damaging, so be careful and watch your hair like a hawk. :) Ideally, heat-style only after washing to set it in style only once (until next wash) and then preserve that style, so you don't have to touch up with heat again (by sleeping on silk/satin, covering hair with a silk scarf overnight, etc).

And if you must use heat , go with the lowest heat setting and no more than one quick pass for each section on dry hair with heat "protectant" on it.

Just in case, here are some studies on heat-styling damage (flat-iron damage is similar to damage from curling irons and both are more damaging that blow-dryers on high heat setting since they apply direct heat):

Thermal degradation of hair. I. Effect of curling irons:
http://journal.scconline.org/pdf/cc1998/cc049n04/p00223-p00244.pdf

Effect of thermal treatments with a curling iron on hair fiber:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15037918;
http://journal.scconline.org/pdf/cc2004/cc055n01/p00013-p00027.pdf

Hair shaft damage from heat and drying time of hair dryer: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22148012

[divinedobbie]

I was hoping you would answer meteor, thanks for your usual helpful answer!!

[ravenreed]

Every four to six weeks I sit under a bonnet attachment for about 20 minutes to heat set my dye. I usually blow dry my hair a couple of times a year for special occasions. I haven't ever tried a curling iron, but a hair dresser wanted to use me as a hair model and used a crimper on part of my hair. I haven't noticed anything terrible from it and that was some months ago.

[JadedByEntropy]

I straighten my giant poof of bangs and the bits in front of my ears to make them presentable. As long as you're going to trim it soon anyways(a few years), i dont see the problem with heat. I have straightened my colored hair a few times a season and by TBL it really shows as splits [also could be bleach is more to blame], but i didn't get bad damage from it all until i passed hip. The longer you want to go, the nicer you have to be, because it'll be with you longer and show more wear.
also
Beware any future layers will put splits throughout your hair and not just the hem where most breakage happens. Never-cut hairs dont break or split as much as trimmed hairs do, so blunt-styles are better for damageing habits.

[Frankenstein]

I have thin/fine hair that I used to flat iron regularly and I was able to reach classic length. I didn't trim my hair for 5 years and had fairytale ends but the damage wasn't all that bad.

[yahirwaO.o]

Well, I have used a flat iron two times in July and August after 6 years of not using any type of high heat stylig and truth is, my hair just feels like always. Once in a while is totally fine, my ends felt like same and stayed mirror glass smooth until my next wash. However, I deep condition my hair before and after those sessions, which makes a bigger and better impact versus regular heat protectans in my experience.

I kinda want to use it once a week, Im trimming every two month and keep same lenght for the next year, so probably its not going to be such a big hassle if I decide to go for some heat fun. Now in case I wanted to grow very long hair, then yes no heat is much better.

.... and when you see smoke or hear that sizzle sound then you know its not safe at all. :tmi:

[lapushka]

You can always grow long, even with heat, your hair might be riddled with white dots, but it's not going to suddenly break off. If that's what you want, I say go for it. I had a perm done, and heat styled shorter hair and grew that out to hip, all while my hair was riddled with white dots. Some pieces broke off, but not enough to thin out my hair considerably, and at once. It just depends on what you want, and in what condition you want your hair. Even one pass of an iron can give you considerable white dotting.

[school of fish]

^ ^ I think what lapushka said above is some sound advice.

I've drifted somewhere between waist and hip for many years and for several of those years I would curl with an iron semi-regularly - I'd guess maybe every 2-3 weeks or so. Always airdried - didn't even own a blow dryer so wasn't compounding heat applications in that way.

Although I was able to maintain my length in decent enough shape to the outside eye, my length is now indeed riddled with white dots which eventually turn into splits. I've ceased heat curling altogether since the start of 2014 and none of my new growth has any white dots at all.

The more damaged ends still retain their length acceptably well and don't look crispy or feel fried but they are definitely weaker and more prone to breakage, and they do tangle more easily. Monthly microtrimming, s&d and increased moisture have all helped considerably to keep the situation from worsening, and I'll be keeping that up until the dots are gone - another couple years probably :)

So in my case, although I was able to grow and maintain good length with the curling iron use, the quality of that length did suffer somewhat. Not abysmally, but enough over time that I wasn't happy with what I was seeing. In fact, the slow loss of quality is precisely what made me decide to actively improve my hair's health back in 2014! But part of that decision meant that I had to accept the tradeoff of curl for condition :)

That's just my experience, and I'm sure different hairtypes/textures will likely report different results. I'm not trying to swing you in either direction - it all comes down to what you want and what you think your hair can handle :)

[Arctic]

I have blowdrier, curling wand and a rotating styling brush, and the latter two I use irregularly, while I blow dry very regularly (excluded in the recent times, my old dried broke and I haven't yet decided which to buy for a new one, too many choises). I also have a cheap mini flat iron, but I only used it few times with pixie length hair to help me with trichotillomania triggers (which are my wiry hairs).

I also have to admit, that after I got back to LHC the past spring, I have not reached for the curling wand once, and only used the rotating brush handful of times. I can clearly see that on the times I am away from LHC I get more relaxed about my hair, and on the times I am active here, I am more careful with my hair.

The blowdrier I use on medium to cool, never hot enough to feel uncomfortable. I don't think it's damaging at all.

The wand has digital heat setting, and I always have used it on the lowest one, which I recall is 140 Celcius degrees. I also only hold one lock of hair around it while I count in 8 or so, approximately 8ish seconds. I get really nice curls with it, which last several days (unfortunately my scalp gets oily before that, and I need to wash). I've never used this regularly thugh, more like once in few months or so at most. But for awesome and long lasting curls, I can recommend this kind of wand with adjustable heat settings.

The rotating brush doesn't become very hot, I use it on lowest heat (no digital settings) and the barrel is cool enough to comfortably touch it. I haven't liked this gadget much though, it doesn't give me such volume as it was adverticised for, and somehow makes my hair surface/canopy appear more frizzy (temporarily). It also takes a long time to dry hair, which was a surprise, as I bought it as an alternative for blowdrying. I usually don't reach for this tool, but now that I don't have blow drier, I have been using this to dry my roots without the rotating fuction. It feels that this tool isn't damaging, but if all things are considered, it might be that the mechanical friction from the rotating brush could be the most damaging aspect, although the bristles as very soft and do not tangle in my hair.


Also, my hair is not long, and I don't plan to grow it very long either. I have no experience of neither drier, rotating brush or wand on longer hair, I adopted each of these tool to my use when my hair was quite short (pixie to short bob). And I am a regular trimmer too.

But so far I have not noticed any damage to my hair. Ofcourse there is some damage that accumulated from these things as well as life itself over time, but it's never accumulated so much that I would see or feel any damage, my hair is very healthy.

[KittyBird]

I curl my hair with a curling wand every now and then, maybe once a month. I'd like to do it more often, but I have a lot of hair and I'm lazy. I haven't noticed any damage (like breakage and white dots) yet, but I use lots of cones, so those probably help a bit with masking any damage.
I use plenty of heat protectant (even though I'm not sure how much it actually protects my hair), I use the lowest heat setting on my iron, I think it's 115 degrees celsius, and I only keep my hair on the barrel for about 5 seconds.

I really don't worry that much about damaging my hair, I just want to have fun and enjoy it. Heatless curls never give me consistent results, and they always end up getting frizzy and terribly tangled and matted together. That has never happened with heat curls. :)

[LongCurlyTress]

Sure, I know people who have hair that is at your goal length and longer and in very nice condition and they heat-style (maybe once a week). But there is no guarantee that other people (with, let's say, finer or more fragile hair) will necessarily get there, as well, so I can't recommend it, personally. :flower:
Bottom line is, heat is damaging, so be careful and watch your hair like a hawk. :) Ideally, heat-style only after washing to set it in style only once (until next wash) and then preserve that style, so you don't have to touch up with heat again (by sleeping on silk/satin, covering hair with a silk scarf overnight, etc).

And if you must use heat , go with the lowest heat setting and no more than one quick pass for each section on dry hair with heat "protectant" on it.

Just in case, here are some studies on heat-styling damage (flat-iron damage is similar to damage from curling irons and both are more damaging that blow-dryers on high heat setting since they apply direct heat):

Thermal degradation of hair. I. Effect of curling irons:
http://journal.scconline.org/pdf/cc1998/cc049n04/p00223-p00244.pdf

Effect of thermal treatments with a curling iron on hair fiber:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15037918;
http://journal.scconline.org/pdf/cc2004/cc055n01/p00013-p00027.pdf

Hair shaft damage from heat and drying time of hair dryer: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22148012
Thank you meteor for publishing these studies re using heat on your hair. I do use a hairdryer but only on my scalp hair in the winter since my hair is so thick, it would never dry otherwise...:bull: Guess according to the hair article, if I continuously move the hairdryer and use it on medium heat, it won't be too damaging. Thanks for posting this study. As we move into winter here where I live.. :(

[Anje]

I flat-ironed my bangs during the fairly short period when I thought I was going to try to make them work. (Note to self: Hair is wavier than you think, when you cut it short. And bangs look terrible on you!) Now that they're down to about my collarbones, they don't seem much splittier (that's a word now) than the rest of my hair, but admittedly the long stuff is much older. But in general I don't heat style. That's largely because it's a much fussier activity than I usually want to engage in.

[Azy]

I have curly hair and during may this year I decided to keep my hair straight with flat ironing for like 2 weeks. I used tresseme's black and red bottle heat protectant and i do not reccommend it at all... My hair was really damaged when i finally washed it out. And it hasn't properly recovered up to now :( my ends got so thin and i had a lot of split ends and fairy knots too. Finding my correct protein to moisture balance has really helped as well as trims :( so if you do go ahead with heat styling try to deep condition before and do a protein treatment after. Good luck.

[meteor]

Thank you meteor for publishing these studies re using heat on your hair. I do use a hairdryer but only on my scalp hair in the winter since my hair is so thick, it would never dry otherwise...:bull: Guess according to the hair article, if I continuously move the hairdryer and use it on medium heat, it won't be too damaging. Thanks for posting this study. As we move into winter here where I live.. :(

You are very welcome, LongCurlyTress! :flowers:

Yes, moving the hairdryer continuously and keeping it at a good distance and using only cool-warm setting really help. :agree:
Point the nozzle down if you want sleeker effect or up - if you want more volume. But for keeping curls, use a diffuser. :flower: A heater and a fan are super-helpful for drying hair, as well.
I would think that any temperature below 50 C is probably safe. For example, here is something from an older study on blow-drying (Gamez-Garcia M. The cracking of human hair cuticles by cyclical thermal stresses. J Cosmet Sci. 1998;49:141)

In this figure it can be seen that temperatures lower than 50℃ do not increase the average number of cracks already present in unexposed hair, while temperatures higher than 95℃ lead rather to hair surface and bulk distortion. It is quite plausible, thus, that temperatures lower than 65℃ do not produce the critical rate of water evaporation needed for the top part of the cuticles to contract and become rigid, while temperatures higher than 85℃ might soften the cuticle proteins, releasing, thereby, the mechanical stresses by viscous flow. - from p. 148 Journal of Cosmetic Science, http://journal.scconline.org/pdf/cc1998/cc049n03/p00141-p00153.pdf


Divinedobbie, I forgot to add that there is a heat-styling option that might give you the results you want with a bit less damage (but it's still damaging!): Caruso rollers or ceramic heated styling shells or any steam hair-setting systems. They do use heat, but normally at lower temperatures, to get almost the same results as curling irons. They do help save some time, too.
Here are a couple threads on this, to read LHC-ers experiences:
Are hot rollers really that bad?? - http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=65613
Caruso steam rollers - http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=66120

[LongCurlyTress]

Thank you meteor!! So this translates to med heat (about 200* F). I wish hairdryers had thermostats on them. ;( I read once that if you can hold your hand in front of the hairdryer nozzle for any length of time without burning your hand, then that is a good non-damaging hair drying temp. I am afraid to sit in front of a fan for fear my hair will get caught up into the fan blades! Only a warm hairdryer and keep it always in motion. Noted!! Thanks again!! ;):poot:

[Nadine <3]

Have you tried using foam rollers with your hair in a pony tail on top of your head? I hated how the foam rollers felt while sleeping and the curls were always WAY to tight and strange. Now I pony tail my hair and roll sections of it in rollers until I have no hair left it looks like I have a bee hive on my head. It works really well, I use a light gel and a leave in spray on damp hair, then hairs spray when I take them out. It ends up looking like this:
http://i1309.photobucket.com/albums/s637/nschommer22/007_zpshwsljh9r.jpg

I know you wanted heat styling advice, but I thought I'd throw this out there for you. It looks really good and in my opinion it's easier and faster than using a curling iron, and I can do this every single day if I wanted to and not have to worry about frying my hair :)

[DollyDagger]

Have you tried using foam rollers with your hair in a pony tail on top of your head? I hated how the foam rollers felt while sleeping and the curls were always WAY to tight and strange. Now I pony tail my hair and roll sections of it in rollers until I have no hair left it looks like I have a bee hive on my head. It works really well, I use a light gel and a leave in spray on damp hair, then hairs spray when I take them out. It ends up looking like this:
http://i1309.photobucket.com/albums/s637/nschommer22/007_zpshwsljh9r.jpg

I know you wanted heat styling advice, but I thought I'd throw this out there for you. It looks really good and in my opinion it's easier and faster than using a curling iron, and I can do this every single day if I wanted to and not have to worry about frying my hair :)

this was a good invention :) !

[MINAKO]

i flatiron my hair and sometimes even use a curling wand. no problems at all. of course i would advise to not use the highest heatsetting or doing it every day, but like one or twice a month is alright i guess. I just make sure to use the right kind of leave ins and deep condition afterwards.