Your personal progress after giving up heat styling?

[xoxophelia]

I have not been heat styling my hair for a little while now, and need help to keep up steam. Without the aid of a blow dryer, bad hair days are more frequent than not as my hair is currently damaged (I hope.. because then my hair can get better). This transition period where you no longer heat style to cover up the damage in order to not create more, is long and difficult. Especially with seeing so many girls with perfectly in place hair where as mine, today, looks a little bit like a hot mess.

So my question to you is: how much of a difference did it make for you over time after you stopped heat styling? How did it effect your texture, shine, health, breakage etc.

If you have before/after pics in your profile and want to point them out or post them here that would be helpful :)

[akilina]

When I quit heat styling as much I realized that I actually like my hair when its not treated with a heat tool. It looks good with my face and now I dont even care to straighten it. My hair has generally improved since joining lhc. Not only from stopping the use of heat tools. I might post a picture of my normal hair in my album in a few.

[curlylocks85]

I have not heat styled in almost four months and I have noticed a tremendous difference in my hair appearance. My hair would seem to look great, but in all actuality, my hair was brittle at the ends and would break off more than I would prefer.

I did go through a transition period and still am. The look of my hair without heat tools did not look that great in the beginning however, after the first month or so my hair has greatly improved in quality. My natural texture feels soft and my hair shines like never before.

I still have a lot of damage to grow out, but now I can see the error of my ways. Sometimes I do feel like my hair does not look great compared to others but then I realize that comparing my hair to other peoples hair is ridiculous. I have to be happy with myself and not worry about looking like them. In addition, I did look like them and all it got me was brittle breakage that stopped me from growing out my beautiful curls.

Just give it some time and learn to accept your hair for what it is. Once you accomplish this than the possibilities of your hair care will be unlimited.

[Copasetic]

I have a lot less breakage now that I don't constantly heat-style my hair. For a while I had a mohawk of breakage.

Giving it up was hard at first, but as my hair got longer, I didn't really have the desire to heat style. It would take way too long, and I don't have that kind of time.

[Tovah]

I haven't heat styled since October....I think....well around then. My hair was so badly damaged from chemical colors and hot blow drying every day that I was told that I needed to cut it all off!:( Well, thank goodness for LHC. I did stop using cones but more importantly I never ever used a blow dryer again. After about two weeks (and a deep conditioning treatment) people actually started complimenting my on my curly hair. I have to admit that I have some not so good days, but then I just put my hair up. Yes, when I was blow drying, my hair was more consistent, but a photo taken of the back of my head convinced me that I needed to do something. It looked like a rat's nest! Now, it's just soft curls, silky and shiny. I will need to trim off the colored hair as I'm letting the silvers grow in.

[hazelnut]

I haven't heat styled in about 9 months and I've noticed a huge difference in the health of my hair. Although I'm still going through a bit of a transition phase with my hair, I'm a lot better off than I was when I first started. I will admit that I did heat style back in August and September for parties that I had to go to and my hair did get worse after doing so, but I'm trying my best not to do that anymore and let my hair be. I'll be way too happy when I can finally cut all of the damage off, which is a lot of damage, but I'm slowly getting there. I figure I should be able to cut off a fair amount of damage in Dec 2010.:) But yeah, flatirons can do some evil things to your hair.

[Sprigs]

I havent heat styled in years now and my hair is markedly healthier. The ends dont break off, it doesnt have that gross frazzled look/feel about it, it just looks and feels... better, and I feel better for embracing my naturally curly hair :)

[LaurelSpring]

My hair is so much healthier without the intense heat styling I was doing before LHC. In winter though, if I wash my hair in the morning, I do blow it on the low setting holding it as far away from my hair as possible and aiming it at roots only. I only do that until its not sopping and slightly damp and finish with the cool setting. I have not noticed any damage from doing this. In the summer I dont use hear at all. Its so freeing!

[xoxophelia]

It seems that not heat styling may be worth it then. My roots do feel pretty healthy since I have stopped and I want to not get trims as often so.. it is a needed change really.

I don't put my hair up very often because I never really liked the way it looks on me but that may be a good solution for the bad hair days.

Around my hair line on the underside I have some sections that don't really grow too far past my shoulders. I am curious if this is from heat styling (but I somewhat doubt it :/).

So then.. I will hold off on the heat styling until my birthday as a goal (November). Just have to bite the bullet and do it :gabigrin:

[CrisDee]

I'm in the same boat as you are, needing encouragement not to heat style. I've switched from chemical dye to henna/cassia, and heat drastically darkens my henna to a burgundy color I despise on me, so I have plenty of motivation. But I still hate how my hair looks, sticking out all over the place - it was so much easier to grow it out in the past, cos I've always used at least a blow fryer. I'd posted something on the shortie thread yesterday, and a couple kind ladies recommended hair bands and gel to get me through this horrid stage without losing my mind. Tried both, and I think it might just be something I can work with in the meantime :) Are you in a growing out stage as well, or are you just trying to be kinder to already long hair?

[Wicked Princess]

When I joined the LHC just over a year ago, I was looking for tips to stop the breakage. I had been flat-ironing my hair after every wash (so twice a week). I gave up using heat of any kind until my anniversary. I, who used to use a FLAT IRON gave up heat styling cold turkey for an entire year! If I can do it...so can you! :D In between, I had trimmed off a total of six inches of hair, which was 2/3 of my growth for the year.

My breakage is...gone. Really...I've lost one strand or two in a terrible elastic accident (I'm sort of inept at styling my hair with hair toys :o) but I don't have several inches of hair breaking off whenever I run a comb or brush through it. My hair doesn't split nearly as much as I used to. The last 2/3s of my hair is damaged from two dye-jobs in it, but it's actually in really good shape. I think my hair is resilient...I just put it through extensive, long-time torture before.

Now if I straighten my hair, I do it with the medium-heat setting on the blow dryer and let my hair rest after doing one section of hair and moving on to the next. I've had to do this three times this month because I didn't want to go outside with wet hair!

So...upon reflection, I may go back to using heat, but it's occasional and not nearly as damaging or intense as the styling I was doing before. It will be the hair dryer, instead of the flat iron. It will be low heat instead of the high heat setting.

The effects on my hair are wonderful! I've also found a way to straighten my hair without it doing damage to it for the winter or special occasions.

Good luck and hang in there! Your hair WILL be lovely in time without heat. :flower: :D

[RavennaNight]

The last time I used heat on my hair was on my 30th birthday, just over a year ago. Even then, I only did it because it was my birthday and I was going out. I stopped ironing maybe 6 months before that, along with regular blowdrying. It was tough at first because my hair freaked out and couldn't decide if it was wavy or curly or straight. It was damaged, chemical dyed, and just acted very weird. It took me about 4 months to understand and work with the new texture. I will say that I started hennindigo instead of dye and it made a big difference in texture for my hair. It is now much straighter, and for that I am grateful. As far as getting used to the hair, I recommend oiling, deep treatments, and just sticking it through. Don't bombard it with experiment after experiment. Just get used to your texture. Maybe wear it up and oil the length? That will give your hairthe break it needs. It is hard to see at first, because it is very frustrating to not straighten out all the kinks and hide the damage. Stick with it, maybe put it up and forget it a little, you will be glad after the transition that you did. My hair is as smooth now as it used to be when I blowdried. Actually, better because it is no longer frizzy!

[xoxophelia]

CrisDee- I am in a growing out stage for sure. The front of my hair has old "bangs" that are about 1 or 2 inches below my shoulders and then I am growing out color and my length eventually to about my belt buckle. In the end I was a slight U shaped hemline. I did tinker with the idea of cutting it all shorter to just even out the hemline but then I realized that would make it even harder to not heat style. I pretty much used to swim 5 days a week, wash my hair every day, blow dry and sometimes straighten or curl after every wash, and then colored my hair with semi perm multiple times and once with perm. color..... Oo...... So I am just hoping that my hair might improve by stopping all of those things.

I am thinking about getting some large rollers and putting them in my hair slightly damp to get that.. "styled" look.. maybe that would help your hair as well?

Ravenna: I have the same problem.. one day my hair has waves, one day it is full on 1C, the next it is pretty much straight and puffy. It is like Christmas morning whenever my hair dries before I look in the mirror because I never know what I am going to get XD.... My hair used to look like a disaster without a blow dryer.. so I am hoping I continue to see improvement (so that I stop having so many bad hair days). Last night I tried sleeping in a loose braid and put a little oil in it and that helped calm down my messy hair from yesterday :)... I just need to get creative.

[spidermom]

I joined LHC 5 years ago (almost) with nearly waist-length hair, and the bottom 6 inches were like Velcro from heat styling. One day I got sick of fighting with them and had my hair cut back to APL. Then I got a batch of pictures back, and my hair looked so pretty, so I had a day or two of deep regret over the cut! I don't think that anybody would be able to tell how damaged my ends were by looking at those pictures, so I won't bother to post them. Heat-styling does take a toll on your hair. I won't do it again until such time as I decide to wear it shorter (and I still have a goal of classic length currently). Oh, and nearly forgot to add that my hair wasn't gaining length in that state, either. It grew maybe 3/4 of an inch over 4 months with those bad ends. After I cut them off, I was averaging 2 inches of growth every 3 months.

[amoulixes]

Since I stopped using heat, I have no flyaways, no frizz, and no crunchy velcro ends. I also have had LESS bad hair days without it, especially after I found a style I was happy with (negotiating with my widow's peak). The less I try to have a style that's unnatural on my head, the better it behaves. Now I'm able to get up in the morning, comb through once, and go!

Do you braid or have some way to contain your hair while you sleep? This has made a huge difference with bad hair days for me as well.

[charley27]

Thank you for starting this thread. This has been the hardest thing to give up this week!

My wave in my layers are making them bend (not curl) all over the place, and it is making me crazy. I so want to straighten them just once, but then I rethink and imagine my hair long and healthy. I've just been doing French braids and messy buns but needed some more encouragement. It's so hard to resist the temptation to blow or straighten after doing it for so many years.

[ButterCup02]

I gave up heat styling in April. I occassionally use a curling iron but only have 3 times since then (one for my wedding). I haven't used a flat iron at all. My hair is sooooo much better! It was always breaking off before, always soooo dried out and frazzled so I felt like I HAD to use the flat iron for it to look good. Not anymore :) My hair has grown 5 inches (with 2 trims in there!) and is not frizzy at all anymore. I actually love it now!

If you look in my hair album the second last pic is it in a natural state before I gave up flat ironing, and the first pic is it a month ago in a natural state. Biiiig difference!

[Hudar]

last year, i got sick of flat ironing y hair everyday...
so i got a Permanent Japanese straightening treatment. thereafter, i cut about an inch off,
to get ride of damaged ends....
my hair is growing much fuller and healthier as i have not used heat on it in months!! i have about 5 inches of regrowth from the roots and im and also going to do a touch up soon...its a very good investment heatwise if you ask me.

[Chamomile betty]

I used blow fry my hair dry every night and very hot rollers.
I maybe use a diffuser once every 2 months and I pretty much quit using the hot rollers. They got old anyway and they only get warm so I may use them once every few months.

My hair is in a lot better condition after giving up the hot tools.

[colormehappy]

I've only used my hairdryer once in the past five months to dry the roots before I went out in the cold. I haven't used my straightener for three months or so now and my hair is so much less frizzy! :) I started straightening it to get rid of frizz that randomly appeared (which I now know was because my hair was simply lacking moisture) and I straightened after every time I washed and blowfried, which was every day or two. :rolleyes: Now I only wash my hair once or twice a week and my straightener is packed away and I plan on selling it. I used to get a ton of white dots and my ends were exactly like velcro. After some intense S&Ding, my ends are now much better.

[Narya]

I joined LHC just like two months ago, or maybe one, and completely forgot about heat styling: it isn't as if I did much of it (just blowdried it when it was cold, never straightened...) but I discovered this boards some days after I iron-curled it twice in four days (and oh, I loved those curls so much!) and my hair had turned into some kind of hyper-fine crunchy straw.

Since then I've felt a lot of improvement, even if my ends are still a bit "cranky", so I'd say: don't despair. If mine really did better with not so much, changing drastically has to really work, even if it takes more time.

[K_Angel]

I gave up heat styling after reading Nightshade's awesome article http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=79 on what it does to the hair. And have not gone back in the last two years. My hair is in wayyyyyyyyyyyy better shape than it was two years ago!

For my :twocents: it's well worth it! You can do it! :cheer:

[BrightEyes]

This thread is exactly what I needed! I am on day 14 of no heat, and it has been very hard for me. I do have quite a bit of damage in my hair and it's less noticable when I blow dry. Today I took my daughter to the mall and couldn't help but notice all the pretty "perfect" hairstyles. And tomorrow I have an appointment for a color and trim, and I know my stylist is going to want to dry my hair. I'm going to have to toughen up and ask her not to. :( Oh boy, I really hope my hair improves before I go crazy! LOL

[K_Angel]

This thread is exactly what I needed! I am on day 14 of no heat, and it has been very hard for me. I do have quite a bit of damage in my hair and it's less noticable when I blow dry. Today I took my daughter to the mall and couldn't help but notice all the pretty "perfect" hairstyles. And tomorrow I have an appointment for a color and trim, and I know my stylist is going to want to dry my hair. I'm going to have to toughen up and ask her not to. :( Oh boy, I really hope my hair improves before I go crazy! LOL
Have you tried using oils? Not a lot, but just enough to add a more healthy look, while your hair is getting healthier?

[BrightEyes]

Have you tried using oils? Not a lot, but just enough to add a more healthy look, while your hair is getting healthier?

Yes, I do use coconut oil and it is helping a lot. I'm still trying to figure out the right amount. If I use a tad bit too much I look like a grease head. But I have already noticed a difference. I just think I need to be more patient and realize that improvements will take time.

[xoxophelia]

I gave up heat styling after reading Nightshade's awesome article http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=79 on what it does to the hair. And have not gone back in the last two years. My hair is in wayyyyyyyyyyyy better shape than it was two years ago!

For my :twocents: it's well worth it! You can do it! :cheer:

I just read this and parts were very informative. I thought the pictures of the hair shafts were interesting.. kinda makes me wish I could see my own.

Brighteyes: If it helps, we are in the same boat :).. except in a way you are lucky because your damaged hair is much shorter than mine. I thought about cutting it back a bit but with my texture that would just make it even harder to not heat style. ... I just keep figuring out creative ways to go without. I had been slowly reducing for awhile before and then eventually went cold turkey over a month ago. And I know what you are talking about when comparing to the "perfect" hair..

One thing that helped me was when I lived in Switzerland with a previous boyfriend for a short period. There, it seemed girls did not have the perfectly styled hair like many do in the U.S. (not sure if you are from here but yeah). In a way there is a classy look to more natural hair. We just need to hang in there. Your damage will be gone in no time.

[BrightEyes]

I just read this and parts were very informative. I thought the pictures of the hair shafts were interesting.. kinda makes me wish I could see my own.

Brighteyes: If it helps, we are in the same boat :).. except in a way you are lucky because your damaged hair is much shorter than mine. I thought about cutting it back a bit but with my texture that would just make it even harder to not heat style. ... I just keep figuring out creative ways to go without. I had been slowly reducing for awhile before and then eventually went cold turkey over a month ago. And I know what you are talking about when comparing to the "perfect" hair..

One thing that helped me was when I lived in Switzerland with a previous boyfriend for a short period. There, it seemed girls did not have the perfectly styled hair like many do in the U.S. (not sure if you are from here but yeah). In a way there is a classy look to more natural hair. We just need to hang in there. Your damage will be gone in no time.

Thanks for the encouragement. I also did notice that a few who had "perfect" STYLES actually had dry, damaged, dull hair. It's funny how much I pay attention to hair now!:eye:

It's so awesome that there are so many here that actually understand all my stress over my hair. I've been wearing it up a lot more lately and it's helping me not think about it so much.

btw: I am a Utahan.... and it seems like everyone wants sleek straight hair, and I'm a wavy.....AARRR!!

[Dars]

I gave up heat 8 months ago, with one regrettable slip up... but at the same time it really concreted my desire to quit. I S&D'ed regularly and gave myself two mini trims since then among going cone free, CO, no towels and no styling product. My hair has vastly, vastly, improved! I despised my curls for years and now I truly love my texture :) My hair is soft, minimal frizz and shiny. No heat is very liberating for me!

[my2cats1]

I was once told by a stylist that I will always "need" to use a flat iron on the top section and the hairs around my face, as those sections tend to frizz a bit. Well, since I started oiling a few months ago (thanks, LHC!) and taking some other protective actions (satin pillowcase, wiser comb choices, supplements, and giving up all heat styling) I find that I no longer have the frizzies anymore. Even the shorter peices now lay flat and smooth with just air-drying....something I never thought would be possible. Being heat-free is a very different mindset, though, and it is a hard thought pattern to end. I was raised to believe that you "have to" shampoo daily, trim every 6-8 weeks, and use a blowdryer and iron every day. It's challenging to question a lifetime of bad ideas, even when we see evidence in the mirror that conventional wisdom is not always the best path to happy hair. I guess it's a process....

[Roseate]

I really never thought I'd give up heat-styling. I always felt my hair was just "unmanageable" without being blown dry, I didn't know how to deal with my waves.

I'm lucky to have coarse, strong hair, so frankly the heat didn't do too much damage to it. Here it is (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=2331&pictureid=28657)after years of weekly straightening. Here it is now (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=2443&pictureid=58563), wurling away!

It never looked that great straightened. See those funny waves at the crown? I always had those. It always looked kinda half-straight half-wavy. I'm much happier now that I've figured out how to let it do its own thing. If I want less wave I damp-bun it, which give me this (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=2443&pictureid=43765) and keeps me from having to deal with a wet back all day.

[xoxophelia]

Roseate: Thanks for the hair pics :).. Your hair was beautiful to start with but now looks 100% healthy to me. Your hair color and hair in general in the blow dry picture looks pretty similar to my own before I colored it. I also get "waves" in the back of my head when I blow dry. That is why I started to use a flat iron as well :/.... And with the bun waves you look almost like a hair twin to my own haha.. (except you have such nice and defined natural wave)...

I guess I was also lucky that my hair stupidity didn't cost me my hair. Since middle school I have been blow drying every day and was swimming every day as well. Even so, I had pretty thick hair down to about my waist. But eventually I started adding in even more ways to damage my hair and my "natural" hair without the heat started to just not look good.

Your hair is so pretty naturally. It is sort of a shame that so many of us wavies feel the need to straighten. My problem is that my hair is inbetween and is not an even texture (bottom is much wavier than the top). Time for me to figure out how to work with it. :wacko:

[Arrow Juniper]

Awhile back, it was over five years ago, I had the japanese straigtening process done on my naturally thick, rather coarse, wavy hair. I then blow fried and ironed it some more...while the damage wasn't immediately noticeable, over the years my hair became gradually wavy again but noticeably drier in those areas. All in all I think it was because I had quit using the harmful heat styling tools that it remained at all healthy. It continued to grow lighter as time went on, however, which was an unwanted effect!

[Messyhair]

I haven't heat-styled in about 10 years now, and my terrible breakage issues stopped. I never realized I had terrible breakage issues until then, but every time I had left my hair to grow previously, it would stop at APL. I thought that was terminal for me until I stopped the heat and started treating my hair right.

I have also noticed WAY fewer splits. In fact, I don't even get splits until my hair gets past BSL, and that's probably from day-to-day friction.

Stick it out! It's worth it!

[xoxophelia]

Oh wow, your hair is so pretty. I am trying to stick it out.. I think pretty soon I will try that head wrapping thing I heard about. Maybe I will try it out tonight actually :D

[-simply Venus-]

I stopped heat styling, and dyeing for like 5 months and my hair grew SO fast! But after iI started again, it went back to normal rate. That's all i can tell you. XD Now I sometimes blowdry, and I straighten my bangs half the time. I can't wait till I get to the point where my hair is long enough not to do much. X.X

[jenga]

This is my #1 issue right now. I really need to give up the heat styling but I am having such a tough time. My hair is full of inconsistent waves that I am hoping will look better as my hair grows and they gain some weight. Right now though, if I let my hair grow natural it gets HUGE and goes all horizontal on me.

I guess I'm going to have to learn to love my little nugget of a ponytail. That may be the only way I can handle not using heat until my hair is long enough for me to deal with the waves.

[melusine]

This is a really helpful thread for me because I've recently decided to give up too. I straightened with a hair straightener most days for years and years because I was self-conscious of my curls and wurls. I cut a lot of damaged hair last year and I definitely think that a lot of that was down to straightening.

I decided to stop heat-styling as much after the cut and went down to only once or twice a week but then the past month or so, I pretty much stopped and I also started s&d-ing for the first time.

Then, I slipped up and straightened my hair. The next day, I noticed dozens and dozens of split ends that hadn't been there before :eek:. I think I'd never noticed them appearing after straightening before because I wasn't checking for them. So I've decided I'm not going to heat style from now on.

I've been finding it hard because I have fine hair prone to frizz and I'm not used to having to leave the house without heat styling. But I've started oiling and so far that has really helped and up-does also make me feel more neat and less self-conscious. I think I'll feel better about leaving my hair out without heat styling when it's closer to waist-length because it will have more weight pulling it down.

It's definitely I've noticed my hair has got thicker since I stopped (I gained half an inch) and is looking much less damaged. :D Overall, I think it's definitely worth stopping. I'm wishing you luck.

[xoxophelia]

jenga:
Oh yes, I had the same problem as you at that length. What I have been doing lately when I want a straighter look is using rollers. I went to target and got the largest hair rollers they had and when my hair is somewhat damp I put them in my hair, clip them, and leave them for 1-2 hours. It gives a blow dry sort of look but no heat damage :)

melusine: It was very hard for me as well. My hair was pretty damaged from everything I did to it, but I don't get split ends really (1-2 a month or every other month). Perhaps because my hair is not fine. The texture was horrible though. Probably took about two months of reducing, quitting, oiling, and decreasing how often I wash for it to start to look better. You also learn more tricks on how to get it to look good as you go.

[Pear Martini]

xoxophelia I think I will be joining you too. I am sick and tired of flat ironing my hair, watching it poof out in the Miami humidity, only to weeks later see pieces breaking off while brushing.

For special occasions, I will break out some hot tools but besides that, I will try to rock my waves.

[Cirafly24]

I stopped heat styling (for the most part, I still do about once every 2-3 months) just over a year ago.

When I was blow drying and straightening almost every day, plus dying it black, my hair was a mess. It was about waist length, but it would not get longer because it was breaking so badly. Every time I brushed it, there would be tons and tons of little broken hairs all over the sink.

As far as I can tell now, I have very little breakage, and it definitely is growing. I will go through my photobucket later to find some before/afters. :)

[Cirafly24]

This was my hair when I was heat styling almost every day:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/DragonflyWings/DSCF0688.jpg

it looks dull, dry, and damaged. It was breaking very badly. (my head is tilted way back, my hair was not that long)

Now it looks like this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/DragonflyWings/DSCF1635.jpg

[xoxophelia]

Oh.. MY.. WOW. If that isn't progress I don't know what is!

Were you coloring you hair with permanent or semipermanent color? Also.. how did you get it to fade as you did?

[TXbarbie]

This thread has given me the extra bit of motivation I needed to keep up with it - I only blowdry my bangs and the little face-framing layers I have and otherwise leave my hair alone. My hair dries straight and since I spend so much time out in the Texas heat walking to class, it's going to be easier letting my hair air dry now than it would be over the winter time.

Once my bangs are grown out and my face-framing layers, I'll be able to give up heat styling totally! Unless it's for a formal or something of course :D

I only started a week ago so I haven't really noticed a difference yet.

[julliams]

Well, basically it comes down to learning to love my hair the way it was meant to be. I believe it's meant to be like it is in my siggy but for me this would mean wetting it each day which I really cannot be bothered to do. It would also mean that I could not run a brush through it and basically get tangled after a while.

I seem to have something between straight and curly which is more like fluffy waves. It's not hair that people come up and say "gee you have nice hair". The times I do get compliments is when my hair has been straightened or curled with heat. It's that simple. So, either I style with heat and have "beautiful hair", wet and plop each day and be an all time curly girl, or go for inbetween where I really don't do much and I can still do updos.

It's a tough one and I'm still kinda working it out. I do like to be able to have my hair any old way but it sure is nice to feel "pretty".

[FrannyG]

Giving up heat styling was the most important change I've ever made. Although I colour my hair with permanent dye, it's still not as damaging as heat styling was.

When I used blow dryers, hot rollers and/or a curling iron, I always had split ends by the time my hair reached the length it is now.

Since giving up the heat styling, I've managed to grow my hair inches longer than it is now without splits.

It's made a world of difference for the health of my hair, but it's also given me a chance to appreciate my hair type for the first time. :)

[Cirafly24]

Oh.. MY.. WOW. If that isn't progress I don't know what is!

Were you coloring you hair with permanent or semipermanent color? Also.. how did you get it to fade as you did?

Thanks! I was coloring it with permanent box dye. I really don't know how I got it to fade! After dying it black for about 2 years, I had caramel highlights put in it in 7/08, and then got it all dyed dark brown in 3/09. I have not dyed since then, so you can see my natural color is about shoulder length now. Up until a few months ago, I was washing with sulfates, but even then I only washed it 2-3 times a week. The very ends are still pretty dark, because they had multiple layers of dye, but the rest faded to a brown/caramel color with some reddish highlights.

[RavennaNight]

I haven't heat styled in over a year and a half. The first 4 months were a real struggle, because I was dealing with dye and heat damage. It gave me false idea that I was actually almost curly, when the curly/wavy/frizzyness was actually damaged hair crying out for moisture. Stuff started to turn the corner after I starte hennindigoing instead of chemical dyeing. Now I can just wash and wear, and don't even need to look in the mirror to watch how it is drying.

[oceanwoman111]

I haven't heat styled in over a year and a half. The first 4 months were a real struggle, because I was dealing with dye and heat damage. It gave me false idea that I was actually almost curly, when the curly/wavy/frizzyness was actually damaged hair crying out for moisture. Stuff started to turn the corner after I starte hennindigoing instead of chemical dyeing. Now I can just wash and wear, and don't even need to look in the mirror to watch how it is drying.

Xoxophelia, the first 4 months are the worst!! I was so used to manipulating my hair into doing what I wanted. When I stopped, I had to deal with all of the damage I had done. There was no applying product, blow drying it smooth to give the "appearance" of health. That was a really,really hard time for me.:disgust: It looked so dull and lackluster. I was so tempted to go and get a color gloss ,but I didn't and whenever I wanted to blow dry, I didn't.

What I started doing is lots of super moisturizing hair masques, ACV rinses, SLS free shampoo, Rosemary oil scalp massages and other essential oil through out the length and vitamin supplements.

One day about two weeks ago, I woke up, looked in the mirror and absolutely loved what I was looking at and it was mine. No products, no heat and a heck of a lot less damage. :happydance: Thanks to LHC!!!

When you make it through this transitional period, you will be pleasantly surprises at how beautiful your hair looks.

[Hana]

ok, so i dont have photos, but when i used to heat style everyday the condition got bad to a point where i had to cover it up by using MORE heat style. counter-productive downward spiral.

once i got over the shock of having wavy/wurly hair, and how to control it without heat styling, i got the dead ends trimmed off, and since then my hair has been shinier, feels thicker, its not flat or crispy, doesnt get as greasy as quickly, all good things.
this might be also somethign to do with cutting out sulphates and cones as well, so its all contributed to the health of my hair, but i firmly believe it was the getting rid of heat products that made all the difference.

[halo_tightens]

The ends of my hair now feel just like the rest of my hair, whereas there used to be no comparison. I was just accustomed to having the last inch or two feel like crunchy straw, and accepted it as normal. And, of course, having such a nasty texture made it pretty much necessary to iron it all just to make it look decent.

Since I've gotten away from the constant permanent dyes and daily ironing, my hair has one uniform texture from root to tip. It's absolutely amazing what a difference it has made!

[x0h_bother]

I went from every day for 3 years flat ironing (people I had known for years actually told me they "didn't know" I had naturally 'curly' hair) up until last summer, moving to flat ironing 2 times a week, to now not at all. My breakage has ceased; my splits reduced or small; my white dots eliminated; the frizz decreased; the hairs that stuck up at the top of my head from breakage gone; and my ends are less frizzy. My roots feel fabulous and I can't wait to see what it looks like in a year from no heat and going cone free.
I also struggle too now though. The half-up half-down has been my staple for going heat free, but I am tired of it. When I would flat iron, I could have all my hair down and it fell nicely. So my struggle is finding a cone-free leave-in that will smooth my hair now that it's not straight, encourage my wave, so that my hair does not look terrible all down.

[EtherealOde]

I gave up heat styling right before I joined the LHC, along with bleach and chemical dyes, and my hair looks much better now for it. While I still have about 9 inches of the worst damage left, I have gradually been cutting the damage off as my hair grows. I used to have an enormous amount of breakage, and unless I flatironed my hair looked horrible. And then it got to the point where it didn't really even look good after ironing, so I had to get a cut to get rid of that damage.

My hair looks a lot better now, though it is a work in progress. I found the curl in my hair, and love it! Previously, I had simply believed my hair to be unmanageable and uncooperative. It wasn't, the problem was the mechanical and chemical damage I had inflicted was blocking the natural curls and waves, keeping them from showing their true potential. I had bought into that idea that I had to style my hair to make it beautiful, when all it did was to keep me going back to the salon regularly to remove the damage and inflict more. Vicious circle, and I am glad I'm out of it.

[Jenn of Pence]

Ditto and ditto! I've always kept APL to BSL-length hair, thick but relatively straight, but recently I had been growing ever fonder of the my flat iron. Unfortunately (in the short term at least) I really did it in the first few months of this year, resulting in a heart-wrenching yet necessary two-inch trim at the stylist three weeks ago (I'd already sacrificed 2-4 inches in the past six months or so for other damage). Since then I've only straightened twice, and that's been two weeks ago. I haven't quite axed the blow dryer yet, but that's only super low heat and super low speed three times a week. I think that the shock of going natural is fading, though, and I'll be able to ditch that, too. So, in the long run, you could say the damage at least made me acknowledge I needed a change. And hopefully since joining the forum and already implementing good hair practices I'll find that BSL isn't my terminal length like I thought it was!
Btw, I find it "iron"ic that the ad banner at the top of the page features a flat iron I was considering buying a few months ago ;)

[x0h_bother]

I went from every day for 3 years flat ironing (people I had known for years actually told me they "didn't know" I had naturally 'curly' hair) up until last summer, moving to flat ironing 2 times a week, to now not at all. My breakage has ceased; my splits reduced or small; my white dots eliminated; the frizz decreased; the hairs that stuck up at the top of my head from breakage gone; and my ends are less frizzy. My roots feel fabulous and I can't wait to see what it looks like in a year from no heat and going cone free.
I also struggle too now though. The half-up half-down has been my staple for going heat free, but I am tired of it. When I would flat iron, I could have all my hair down and it fell nicely. So my struggle is finding a cone-free leave-in that will smooth my hair now that it's not straight, encourage my wave, so that my hair does not look terrible all down.
Update: I rarely flat iron now, but I have stretched my trims so the damage accumulates. I do have white dots now. But it's not frizzy, my ends don't velcro as quickely, and breakage still gone. I do have little halos (nape and temple hair) but I don't think it's heat breakage- it's either shedding regrowth, updo damage like from buns, or mechanical damage from manipulation. My hair is 10xs stronger, though not as shiny.

[Iron0Maiden]

It took a very long time but my hair does not have as many split ends, and it is not as dry and brittle.

[tinywife]

It's been about 3 months since I stopped flat-ironing, and my hair texture has made a 180 turn for the better. It's soft and shiny and, well, it actually feels like hair now. it used to be straw, nothing but straw.

The first few non-straightening days were hard. My lumpy bumpy hair was a sharp contrast to the stick-straight locks around me. But after seeing my natural hair every day, I've learned how to style it into pretty waves. I actually like it better now.

[krissykins]

I haven't heat styled my hair for at LEAST 14 months, and before that one time I fell off the band wagon (it was with low heat, I swear!), it had been seven months.

Oh my gosh. I can't even BEGIN to tell you the difference it has made. I don't need as much moisture as I did when I first gave it up. My hair is so healthy and happy and loved now! I hope you stick with it, it's so worth it!

[julliams]

I stopped heat styling regularly in September 2009. I was using my straightener about 3 times a week. My hair always looks good when heat-styled but when left to airdry it looked dry. I had no splits at this stage but then, I was cutting about every 6 months so that made sense.

I also stopped cones at the same time and my hair took on a bit of a dry and somewhat unruly appearance. I started doing SMT's, coconut milk soaks and using coconut oil and jojoba oil on my hair as well as Giovanni Direct Leave in Conditioner. Within 6 months the splits started and this was alarming to me so I went for a trim at the end of March 2010. The hairdresser said my hair looked healthy which was big for me because they had always been telling me my hair was dry.

Now I only heat style once every couple of months and I have to say that the next wash, I do noticed that my hair is drier. It seems to suck the moisture right out of my hair which is what everyone has been saying!!!!

Now in March 2011 I can safely say that my hair is no longer dry and unruley. It sits nicely most days but splits are still a little of an issue for me. I just S & D and now that I'm closer to the length I plan to have, trims will become more frequent so that should get until control by this time next year.

I really do think my hair is better for not heat styling. It really does take time to start seeing more healthy moisturised hair. It's one of those Pantene lines - It won't happen overnight but it will happen!

[kanzer]

I stopped heat styling when I joined LHC in January. It was very hard in the beginning because as most of you have said, it just looked better when I straightened/blow dried it. My curl/wave pattern is very random and I used to hate how un-uniform it was. Especially my fringe (now chin length) needed to be straightened and when I stopped I didn't have a clue what to do with it. Most of my hair is 2b but my fringe dries up as one or two tight ringlets, but when I had just stopped heat styling it dried up as a frizzy mess.

Anyway, it's been slightly less than 2 months with no heat styling in which I fell of the bandwagon once and straightened my fringe, and my hair already looks and feels healthier - softer, shinier and more manageable! I don't think I'd realized how much I was damaging it by blow drying daily and straightening a few times a week.

Recently I went to a party with my "natural" hair and I got 6 or 7 compliments on it, with people asking if I'd had it curled - no one knew I had wavy/curly hair! That was pretty good motivation and now I'm finding it a lot easier to resist heat styling.

Good luck to all those trying to stop, I promise it's worth it!

[EmmyNemmy]

I stopped flatironing last week, and I've been wearing my hair natural. Even so soon after doing it I've noticed a difference- my hair looks shinier, not as stiff, and hasn't frizzed nearly as much as it had when I was straightening it. Because I'm growing out a horrid razored thousand-layer cut, though, my slight waves are causing all of my layers to flip out into a winged look, which I'm not too fond of. I've been taming the wings a little by using leave-in and braiding until my hair is dry, and I've actually been getting a lot of compliments by doing so. I hope to keep this up, although I can't guarentee not straightening for my senior pictures. :)

[HintOfMint]

Perhaps this isn't the story you wanted to hear but, this is mine.

When I stopped blowdrying, there was NOTHING that made it look good. Not product, not cones, nothing. Eventually, I just cut off the damage and went from below BSL to collarbone.

But as soon as I got rid of the damage, I could airdry my hair with just a bit of product in it and my hair was lovely. Now it looks much better without heatstyling than it did when I blowdried. But it took undamaged hair to get that.

[smrider]

I have recently stopped heat-styling as well... very difficult to re-learn how to style your hair and natural texture after a lifetme of blowdrying after EVERY wash and flatironing for a few years. I have cut down to only once per week in the ast year and just recently stopped altogether (after a few last blasts of damage of course ;) ). I, too, am searching for a leave-in that will give me the sleekness I got from flat-ironing. Coconut/Jojoba oil helps but my hair is just THIRSTY- probably from all the heat damage- and I am looking for some moisturizing treatments and leave-in conditioners as well.

[Avital88]

I havent heatstyled since Decemer 31 2010 and the improvement is so visible.
There is less frizz,my hair has more shine and it actually feels good and not stiff.
Sometimes i do have the urge to do it but right now its not the time.
Maybe in a few months, im too curious to see how good my hair will look after more months of heat free hair.
Yeeey to healthy hair!

[Anywhere]

my hair is so much better, I have about 8" of fresh roots and they curl and look so nice compared to the thin ends. The ends also don't hold the natural curl well at all.

[vlhxo]

as someone who heat styled EVERY SINGLE DAY from about the 10th grade up until december 2010 (7 years!) i can say that giving up heat styling is super hard. since i gave up daily straightening or curling of my hair (i still do for special occasions.. which i've had 3 or 4 since december) my hair has started growing faster, it feels softer, and it shines like crazy. my texture has almost completely changed! the only thing that hasn't changed is my number of split ends; i didn't have that many to begin with, but i got it trimmed right when i decided i was going to give up constant heat styling, and now i have roughly the same amount of split ends as i did when i was heat styling daily. overall though, giving up the irons has helped immensely!


i also want to add that i NEVER blow dry my hair, even back when i heat styled all the time.. i have always let my hair dry naturally so that may have helped me out a little.

[MissCoco]

I straightened once for fun last December, but I haven't regularly straightened since over a year ago. I no longer get split ends. Or white dots. Or flyaways. Or an oily scalp with dry, dead ends. My hair has thickened up. And it grows much faster too. Need I say more? :p

[McFearless]

Very painful process filled with many tears. A curly knows that straightening your hair for years will get your straight hair..and when the curly roots grow back in you can't leave your hair out until all the straight hair is cut off. It looks TERRIBLE. I haven't straightened since the end of 2009 so I have a bit of growth but my ends are very much straight. It will take years to cut off all of it.

So I strongly recommend curlies to not make a habit of heat styling. Learn to love your natural texture and work with it. I love my curls but straight hair was so easy to manage and fun. Curls can be easy to manage if handled right. I regret heat styling so often.

/end rant. *fans self*

[onlyforhim]

I know this might be tooo late. But I just wanted to say that I also stopped using heat for one month now. I also rinse with cool water ..(I always did as I never liked it worm on my head) and my hair feels much much better. I thought my hair had weird waves with straight stick like ends. But now I know I have "lovely" I can call it straight hair (they can be waves if I have my hair in a braid or a bun for long time). it is much shinier thought it has only been one month now.

This article made me decide to not use irons...or heat... :)

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=79

it was the first thing I read when I became a member...

but I have seen this forum long before I became a member

[Hollyfire3]

Very painful process filled with many tears. A curly knows that straightening your hair for years will get your straight hair..and when the curly roots grow back in you can't leave your hair out until all the straight hair is cut off. It looks TERRIBLE. I haven't straightened since the end of 2009 so I have a bit of growth but my ends are very much straight. It will take years to cut off all of it.

So I strongly recommend curlies to not make a habit of heat styling. Learn to love your natural texture and work with it. I love my curls but straight hair was so easy to manage and fun. Curls can be easy to manage if handled right. I regret heat styling so often.

/end rant. *fans self*

This. As a wurly who ended up with straight hair after years of heat styling, I can say this is all true! Luckily, my hair is not wurly enough to look funny with straight ends and wurly roots...but then again it only hais like 5 inches of healthy growth..so we will see

[ozzy]

I went from straightening almost every day to once a month, I plan on going to 6times a year next, and then only using the straighter on special occasions.

[OrganicJewel]

I used to flat iron my hair at 425 degrees. Eek. Then I bleached the heck out of it and realized that now that it's chemically fried that I couldn't use heat on it anymore. It was so hard because as we all know the heat styling temporarily makes fried hair look much better. But with each and every flat ironing I did, my hair was worse off and breaking more. So I stopped. It looked so awful for the first month or tso. I started to Henna it hoping it would help. Honestly, the colour doesn't look very good on me, but it coated my hair and made it heavy, Henna wasn't for me. But now after it's been a solid two months since I've stopped heat styling and it is finally paying off! It's so much smoother, and bouncier and softer! Plus it's actually gaining length, instead of just breaking off. Just keep at it and it will eventually get better!

[MaryMarx]

When I feel the urge, I just look at the pics in my hair album, and when I see what heat made to my hair, I want to throw the straightening iron down a cliff.
(I still have it but never uses it)
Those pictures can make anyone stay off the iron, with joy! :D

[Becky Safari]

My hair is much less dry and breaks less often. Also after about one and a half years of being straightener-free I have noticed that my hair has become thicker!

[cremenoir]

the condition of my hair really seems to be improving after giving up the flat iron. i'm not 100% heat-free, since i still blow dry with a diffuser... but i use a pretty low heat setting and only get it about 60% dry. it hasn't been long enough for there to be a significant change in my hair's condition (I haven't trimmed since giving up the flat iron) but since it's staying so much more moisturized without all the heat abuse, it really does look a lot better already.

[palaeoqueen]

I haven't used heat since December and before then I'd already cut down drastically. It sounds mad now but for years I washed, blow-dried and straightened it Every. Single Day. It was a horrible cycle I was completely stuck in. My hair is now so much happier and healthier. I also have a lot more time in the mornings now as I only wash it twice a week and never heat style :lol:

[DarkCurls]

Oh, I love this thread. :) I love how almost everyone here thinks flatirons are evil (if used often), whereas at school for example, because I'm a boarder, I've noticed practically every single girl blow-dries and straightens her hair.
I used to have straight hair. Then when it started frizzing out weirdly, though it was still mostly straight, I started straightening it with a flat iron every two or three days (after washes). Then after a while, I couldn't even straighten it properly and started upping the heat 'til I was frying my hair at 210°C (which is, like 410°F). My hair was really hot after I'd finished straightening it, and it still wasn't properly stick-straight.
Then I cut back on the straightening to only every few weeks, realised I had curly hair (I have no idea how or when that happened), and stopped straightening forever. That was, what? Probably less than a year ago.

What changes? Well, now, every time the hairdresser (every six months) asks me if she should straighten it, I make a face. I now hate the idea of heat styling my hair, even just once a year. Going from one extreme to the other, eh? Oh, and she also says my hair is pretty healthy even though (she's a stylist, she's supposed to say this) I really don't trim it very often. I've noticed more body & bounce to my hair (obviously, since I now wear it curled), definitely more shine, less damage, and especially, less dryness/feeling of having fried hair.
But that's just because I was using the flat iron way too much to start with. ^^

[melusine963]

After I gave up heat styling (straightening, in my case), it took a few years of S&D and trimming to grow out most of the damage. Today is literally the first day in two or three years that I'm wearing my hair down. I'm trying to see if it can look presentable using only curl creme. So far so good, but I have yet to leave the house or do anything that might mess it up.

[Vampyria]

I haven't touched the flat iron for a year and a half. My hair was breaking all the time, I had a lot of splits, the ends were stringy and thin.

This is my hair 6 months after I stopped straightening:
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=9938&pictureid=128096

I already cut off the more visible damage here, there were no visible splits or white dots, but the ends still looked fried. Nothing really helped with that so I had to cut that too.

Now my hair is softer, I don't get split ends, it doesn't break and it looks better. It also got thicker (well I stopped dyeing at the same time also) so I 'm trimming frequently to get rid of all thinness.

This is now (a lot shorter but feels a lot better :) )

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/album.php?albumid=10059&pictureid=130679

[hairconvictions]

I've never been a big heat user, only because of sheer laziness, not because I knew it was bad.
But I have a friend who grew her hair out to terminal recently, and afterwards stopped using heat completely. And her hair grew another FOOT! Just from that one change! It's now past her knees. I couldn't believe that heat could be so bad for your hair.

[proo]

I have an entirely different head of hair now;
It's been 2 & 1/2 years since I last used heat, mostly flat ironing to get rid of frizz.
I bit the bullet, chopped all damage off and continue to microdust often.
My hair is now smooth, moisturized, thick and wavey instead of a big unmanageable poofball.
I love it now. Too bad it took me 53 years to figure out something so obvious.

[blackgothicdoll]

Bumping this thread. If anyone has an experience to share I'd greatly appreciate it. I've reduced heat styling a lot, but as my hair gets longer, I become more and more tempted to want to enjoy the length more and more frequently. i've already straightened once this year and enjoyed wearing my hair down for one day. Plus I like touching it, being able to comb it, wearing different hair styles. But I don't want to end up back down the same road of thin, breaking hair and heat damage. -_-

[Luna Starsetta]

I have to say that my hair improved greatly when I decided no more heat. I didnt wanna Torture my already chemically processed hair. So I stopped all heat and started deep conditioning once a week for 20-30 minutes and it saved my curl pattern and texture! I can't tell you how happy I am to have stopped the heat. I'm now transitioning to completely virgin hair. I'm not there yet but working on it. In these pictures you can see my hair journey over a few years 2015- 2018 you can see the progress I have made and I will never go back. https://i.postimg.cc/SJL17G2T/IMG-20190123-191556-117.jpg (https://postimg.cc/SJL17G2T)

[Begemot]

I used to be obsessed with curling my hair. Most around me would straighten their hair but for years I used a flatiron to make curls and waves (should have just got a perm, duh). I loved the look. Years later I took a closer look at my ends and it was a nightmare. My hair was full of white dots. It was very noticeable since I had dyed my hair dark brown. Many times I would part my hair, hold out some strands and just pick out the breaking hairs. In the end there would be maybe two strands that had no damage. In front of me there would be a pile of broken off hair. I grew my hair longer but it was so damaged, dry and sad looking hair. I just can't have it all, heat styling and long, nice hair. So my hair's health comes first since I want long and pretty hair first and foremost. Having experienced such severe damage keeps me from heat styling again. I remember the white dots too well. Now I flatiron my bangs now and then and blowdry my roots rarely (even then it's on the lowest setting possible and for about minute or two max.). Putting down the flatiron has made me appreciate my own texture more.

https://www.htandrc.com/images/article_assets/Blog_Assets/Picture5.jpg
This is how my damage looked like :( it looked probably ten times worse on my dark hair.

[BerrySara]

I have not heat styled in almost four months and I have noticed a tremendous difference in my hair appearance. My hair would seem to look great, but in all actuality, my hair was brittle at the ends and would break off more than I would prefer.

I did go through a transition period and still am. The look of my hair without heat tools did not look that great in the beginning however, after the first month or so my hair has greatly improved in quality. My natural texture feels soft and my hair shines like never before.

I still have a lot of damage to grow out, but now I can see the error of my ways. Sometimes I do feel like my hair does not look great compared to others but then I realize that comparing my hair to other peoples hair is ridiculous. I have to be happy with myself and not worry about looking like them. In addition, I did look like them and all it got me was brittle breakage that stopped me from growing out my beautiful curls.

Just give it some time and learn to accept your hair for what it is. Once you accomplish this than the possibilities of your hair care will be unlimited.

I can really relate to this. I used to do so much to my hair (chemical straightening, blow-drying it straight, heat styling for waves, bleaching, dying lighter colors etc) to conform it to some narrow universal beauty standard of light colored straight hair or whatever. My hair really suffered for it. I had a damaged, dry, thinned out version of that standard with a length that was determined by breakage and chemical cuts.

It wasn't until I stopped comparing myself to that narrow view point and started to research and embrace beautiful women/gurus/idols who had textures and hair type similar to mine that I started seeing the potential in my own hair! Now I love how its unique and I know that with (ALOT!) of patience and care, I too can grow long beautiful curly hair that is healthy, full of volume, shiny and soft.

I haven't used any heat on my hair for almost two years and I now have about 90% virgin hair (the very tips still have old dye) and I am amazed at how its sooo much more cooperative and shinier than ever before. Just letting it be as its meant to be growing out of my head and providing the best care for my type of natural hair, has made all the difference.

[DaniGirl]

I’m at this point. I want to keep using chemical dye on my hair to cover my grey (I’ve found the gentlest permanent professional one possible). And I’ve heat styled for years. I currently own a flat iron, a curling wand, 3 curling irons all with different barrel sizes and hot rollers. I’ve never used them frequently. Max once or twice a month.

But I’ve always gotten the best hair growth and condition when I don’t use heat tools other than a hair dryer on low, medium or cool. I want long hair and if I have to pick what I have to give up to get long hair it’ll be heat and I’ll embrace my wurls again.

I knew I had to pick one or the other to grow so I did. Can’t have chemicals and heat on there and expect it to get to waist and look good and be healthy.

[cestlavie]

My became super shiny after I quit blowdrying my hair after each wash. I also got less breakage and my hair isn't dry anymore. I always thought my hair needed to be blowdried to look good but it only got worse and worse so I'm happy that phase is over.

[lapushka]

A number of years ago, I went back to chin, and from chin to shoulder, I heat styled with some sort of ceramic roundbrush thingy, but it was not unlike a straightener. And so I had white dots through half of my head starting about an inch to a couple inches from my roots. I then had it permed. More white dots. Then I grew it out to hip, because I could not live with pixielength.

Thankfully the "suckers" hung on until hip, most of them, surprisingly and so we did a major S&D session (well my mom did) and that thinned half of my hair up to BSL, so I cut back from hip to BSL because I had holes in my hair where hair used to be.

That's what heat can do to you. It not only pulls out the curl or wave, it also gives you these white dots, aka angular breakage points.

Even just straightening once can pull out the curl. I last saw a YT video of a girl who decided to celebrate her growth with a heat styling, a regular press from the hairdresser. When she tried to revert it back to curly, about 5 inches up it went flat in the front; and it seemed to affect only the front, the face framing layers. There went her progress. :(

I wouldn't do it; it is not worth it.

[milosmomma]

When I stopped all heat and dying I saw no improvement really. I tried to s&d and do small trims for about a year until I have grown out my natural color to chin and then chopped it all off. It was just a never ending battle with splits, dots and bends. I had no waves at all, the damaged hair just hung there and never recovered despite pampering with oils and expensive conditioners and deep treatments. All my efforts just slowed the splits from returning but they ALWAYS returned until I cut all the damaged parts out. Looking back I should have trimmed the damage slowly away an inch a month or so and let the damage be a buffer to protect the virgin hair growing in. I really did a number on my hair though so I'm not too surprised it couldn't recover. It was a case of a little too little too late.

[Vacurlylady]

I’m glad to be reading this about giving up heat related tools. I don’t have a testimony about giving it up as much as staying away from it. My hair is all virgin at SL. (Not long, I know, but started at Pixie length and this is long for me) Last weekend our son got married and a hairdresser came to the venue to do our hair. Everyone was having heat related styles. I was panicky. When it was my turn to sit down, I briefly said, do what you want, but little to no heat and natural curls. He did use some heat, but very, very little and I had a pretty updo. I’m glad I spoke up. If it wasn’t for LHC I would not have spoken up!

[lithostoic]

I thought I just naturally had rough, dull hair that matted together. I was wrong. All my heat damage is grown out and even my bleached ends are shiny and do not mat together.

[blackgothicdoll]

I have to say that my hair improved greatly when I decided no more heat. I didnt wanna Torture my already chemically processed hair. So I stopped all heat and started deep conditioning once a week for 20-30 minutes and it saved my curl pattern and texture! I can't tell you how happy I am to have stopped the heat. I'm now transitioning to completely virgin hair. I'm not there yet but working on it. In these pictures you can see my hair journey over a few years 2015- 2018 you can see the progress I have made and I will never go back. https://i.postimg.cc/SJL17G2T/IMG-20190123-191556-117.jpg (https://postimg.cc/SJL17G2T)

Your natural curl pattern is so beautiful!!

I'll have to keep coming back to this thread when I need motivation. I would love to see what my curls look like when they are longer, but that's not going to happen if I keep attacking them with heat tools.

[MarPreciosa]

It's hard to quantify what came from quitting heat styling and what came from other LHC practices but I would say: new growth, next to no splits, massive texture improvement and moisture retention. I also had a transition period of about 6 months where my hair just looked very odd texture wise - my waves could not figure out where to go. It's worth it though - just have to power through.

[SallySue]

You can do it, blackgothicdoll! I sent myself down a weird path early in life wanting silky straight hair exactly like Jennifer Aniston. Turns out, a) Jen was wearing extensions b) I'm more of a Carol Kane. And that's okay! It might be a source of encouragement for you also to look at more realistic hair crushes to inspire you to be the best version of yourself. Because the truth is, your hair won't get very long at all if you continue to use heat regularly. (but once a year probably won't hurt)

[frostedeyes]

My hair is less frizzy since giving up heat styling tools. I find that I don’t have to use heat to make it look pretty.

[sweetvalley00]

My hair is less frizzy since giving up heat styling tools. I find that I don’t have to use heat to make it look pretty.

I've just stopped using heat and I hope mine reacts like yours did!

[drummer]

My hair is fuller and way less breakage. Also much more manageable. Quite happy without the curler, straightener and hairdryer :)

[colormehappy]

I used to flat iron my hair all throughout high school and college. It was a vicious cycle where it was so dry and frizzy that the only thing that made it look halfway decent was straightening. I remember the ends being exactly like straw, and I took extra care to flat iron them MORE just to try and get rid of that straw-like texture.

It didn’t even occur to me that the straightener was the problem. I had friends that straightened their hair and had way less damage, so I thought I just had “bad” hair. Once I found LHC I realized that all those white dots were damage and part of the reason the condition was so bad was the straightener, I put it in the back of my closet and tried to forget about it. It was so hard. My hair was horrible air dried. Like someone else mentioned, it wasn’t until I cut off all the damage that it finally air dried nicely.

My hair then and now is like night and day. It dries with minimal frizz, and at my short length I haven’t found a split end or white dot yet. Granted, I haven’t been looking very hard, but the length and especially the ends are just so much softer.

[wendysandison]

I used to shampoo daily, then blow dry and flat iron. Also, I bleach the heck out of my hair and sometimes completely change the color. Needless to say, my hair was a total disaster. I went on like this for about 10 years.
Then I started reading about cutting down shampoo days and giving up heat styling tools. I went and got 6-7 inches of damaged ends cut off, and started my journey with a bob not quite reaching my shoulders. I also got a hair "dusting", where they cut off the split ends going up the hair length, not losing any length.
The first couple of weeks, were not pretty. My hair had no idea how to behave. I honestly had believed my hair became coarse and wavy after giving birth to my son, some kind of hormonal difference. I didn't even consider the daily damage I was doing to it. I used to work in a salon as the front end manager, I loved it and didn't know any different ways of doing my hair.
Fast forward about 5 weeks to today. I shampoo every second day, every third day if I can get away with it. I use a hair mask every time I shampoo. I have not blow-dried or ironed my hair at all. I use a good leave-in conditioner and hair oil and let it air dry.
I cannot believe the difference already! My hair is straight all on it's own, and SHINY!!! My hair never looked this good when I was trying to get these exact results with heat tools. It took the first 3 1/2 weeks to start to see the improvements, I almost faltered and got out the heat tools a few times, but I stayed strong and man am I glad I did this. If you are going to give up heat styling and get serious about the health of your hair, just hang in there, you'll be so glad you did!

[chomsky]

It's soft, the ends are in tact, and it doesn't break when I comb it!

Plus... I can retain length now!

[Begemot]

Once I grew all the dye and heat damage out I couldn't believe how different my hair feels and looks. The ends aren't a stringy mess that needs a ton of leave-in to look nice. My hair was always really dehydrated so it clumped together and looked awful. Never again will I use heat on my hair regularly.