Support for those stopping Heat Styling

[DarkSky]

Hi LHCers, I was just wondering if there is anyone out there that needs support with their decision to greatly minimize or completely cut out heat styling from their hair routine. I figure this could be a place to try to encourage each other. Perhaps those of you that have already cut it out can send some words of encouragement or advice on how you got through it.

For a month I've cut down on the heat and since the beginning of this week I made it official to stop all together. No blow dryer and no flat ironing. I don't believe I had much damage to begin with probably since I didn't do it every day and I used lots of heat protection but I mainly want to find out what the potential is for my hair texture and curls if I avoid it completley. Will it get easier? I've had a few moments of weakness already though since I like how I look with straightened hair and my natural wurly curls have been high maintanance these past few days. I'm also starting CG. Maybe I shouldn't have started all this so suddenly but weaned myself into this routine slowly LOL.

[redwoman]

I stopped blowfrying my hair two years ago and I have about a foot and a half of silky soft hair. It does matter. My textures is a lot smoother compared to where I blow fried. I will never do that to my hair again. Now I have a fan that blows room temp air. It takes longer, but like I said, the difference is like a new head of hair.

[nocojojo]

I've long thought that I had to blow dry, use product and a flat iron to get acceptable hair. Surprise! When I stopped using the heat, my frizzies calmed down and my nice little wave showed.

I haven't used any heat since May. My hair looks lovely when I use a BBB and properly condition it. I haven't figured out the best wash/condition routine yet. Still working on that!

Sort of dreading winter, though. I'm not sure how I'll deal with hours-long drying then.

[sarahbrownie]

I stopped blowfrying my hair two years ago.

:laugh: Blowfrying, love the description of what it really is!

Let me tell you, it is possible to give it up. I use to put hot curlers in my hair nearly every 2-3 days for 2 years and it pretty much ruined my hair. Do I miss it? Yes, I miss my curls and the lack of frizz a lot, but now my hair is growing out. Before I would literally burn the ends off and break the rest and the length stayed stagnant for those two years. Have I've given it up completely? No, once and a while I like my hair straight for special occasions or going out with my friends (once a month, maybe.) My hair has certainly thanked me. However, with the high humidity this summer I've been falling off the bandwagon with the urge to pick up my flat iron. Even worse, I've been really curious about the Brazilian Blow-Out and even if I know all about the risks. That's how desperate I am about frizz free hair, I am contemplating going through a process that contains formaldehyde! Yikes. I probably won't, it's really expensive, but just the idea of contemplating it scares me.

[DarkSky]

Thanks ladies! Nice to see I'm not alone.

Redwoman, I'm hoping I notice a similar difference. Thanks for your feedback... it's encouraging!!!

Nocojojo I also am a little concerned about winter. It's easy now to just air dry since it's so hot.

Sarahbrownie have you tried the CG/CO method. I am already noticing some good results with my frizz control and it's been less than a week. Also try switching up your products and see how that goes.

Yesterday I experimented by putting my hair up in bun with some coconut oil and left it overnight. In the morning I was so surprised that my hair was so smooth and silky and had more body and nice waves compared to if I flat ironed it. The only problem that I had were a few kinks and micro-waves at the very back of my head that I couldnt smooth out. I think I might keep up that method though on the days that I miss my straightener. Maybe I can experiment with the types of buns and see how that affects the final look.

[tinfoilsally]

I have given up on heat treatments of all kind recently, and my fried, bleached-out hair is really getting to me :/ It's going to be a loooong road, ladies and gents.

[catiebloo]

Hello! I'm trying to give up all heat stuff too!

It's been two weeks since i started and i've used my hair dryer and GHDs twice each during that time. There have also been once of twice where i've not wanted to go to bed with wet hair, so i've used my dryer on all the lowest settings and with the cool shot button on...so it was basically very cool air to dry my scalp, roots and some of the length. Not sure if that counts as heat free but i didn't feel as bad as i would have done had it have been full on heat!

I've noticed that since i've stopped frying my hair, the colour is a lot brighter (i henna) and my hair is now smoother and really shiny. Before if i would air dry my hair it would all pouff out and look rather sad. Now i have this whole fabulous hair thing going on!

Also i've noticed my hair is starting to wurl!! I've always had super straight hair, but underneath and at the front, my hair is starting to form loose ringlets and the ends are going flippy too! It's exciting!

[mathnerd]

I'm just starting this journey as well! I've just recently given up my blow dryer (about a month?), and prior to that I had reduced my straightening to once a month....my ends still have a straw type look/feel, so it'll probably take me a while to get them back to what they were prior to straightening. Right now I'm trying to find a routine that will work for me....it's a bit of a slow process. Not sure how the air drying will work when the colder winter months arrive. Does any one have any suggestions on winter drying methods?

[Flossy]

I've pretty muched only used my hair dryer a handful of times since joining LHC a year ago. The GHD has been harder to give up. I very rarely use it on my length, but twice a week (after a wash) I use it on the front part of my hairline, otherwise I would look like a crazy person. I've tried so many ways of getting it neat without heat (pinning, scarves) but it makes no difference. It's a fair swap for me, I get the hair I want, and only get the heat damage at the very front, the hair that I keep a little shorter for face framing and to soften my length.

The real texture of my hair took a little while to come out after stopping the heat, and I wear it up a lot more too, which is better for my hair health.

[Tomoyo]

I would like to be able to stop, but with a growing-out pixie I find that if I don't at least "finish it off" with a little blowdrying it sticks out all over the place like a scarecrow :/ .

Is there anything one can do to encourage hair to dry relatively straight without heat?

[DarkSky]

Hi Tomoya I here you can do something called hair wrapping (youtube it to check it out). It might work well for you since your hair isn't too long... but apparently it works. There is a thread on LHC about it. I have yet to give this method a try.

[DarkSky]

I'm just starting this journey as well! I've just recently given up my blow dryer (about a month?), and prior to that I had reduced my straightening to once a month....my ends still have a straw type look/feel, so it'll probably take me a while to get them back to what they were prior to straightening. Right now I'm trying to find a routine that will work for me....it's a bit of a slow process. Not sure how the air drying will work when the colder winter months arrive. Does any one have any suggestions on winter drying methods?

Hey Mathnerd! I think I might end up using the blowfryer in winter but on the cool or low heat setting. I think that should be safe right? Also I saw a youtube vid where a girl sits in front of a fan... but that might seem a little strange to do when it's well below zero outside :)

[HintOfMint]

Hey all, I've been mostly heat-free for about three years now. Granted, when I went heat free, I also had to chop off a foot's worth of damage so I started over at collarbone.

The best thing I did to help me get through both not relying on heat to make my hair look nice and mitigating the poof due to the length was a great leave-in conditioner. A styling creme/leave-in made my hair presentable as it air dried. I used Aveda Brilliant Universal Styling Creme. At the time I wasn't cone free, but there are plenty of other options out there.

Now I regularly get compliments on how "Pantene" my hair is, and all I do is damp bun out of the shower with a bit of oil. Not to compare this struggle with that of bullied LGBT teenagers, but to borrow a phrase, it does get better.

[kidari]

Going heat free has been one of the best things I've ever done for my hair. It dries better naturally and has a luminous shine to it that it never had before. It helps to learn some easy heat free updos and braids to put it in for everyday. I found that damp bunning with a leave in conditioner gives me the look of of heat styled curls and is actually less time consuming to do. Before I went heat free though, I had to chop off all the damage from my previous sins. If I didn't, I would probably just baby it, maintain with monthly trims, and always wear it up for a year or more.

[Avital88]

It took me a while to become a bit heat free,in 2010 i had a limit of once a month.
I didnt use any heat for 3,5 months begin of 2011 then i did it 4 times in 3 weeks.
April 28 untill July 19 i was heat free again.. haha im a freak for knowing the exact dates.
Since July 19 i heatstyled 4 times and blowdried twice.
I think after all the no heat periods my hair handles it alot better,so that really proved that it kills my hair.
I dont think i will ever be able to give it up totally, because i like the sleek look now and then, but if i can combine it with 3 heat free months and good henna i hope it will bring me to classic

[Mesmerise]

The last time I used heat was January 30th this year! I've been heat free for 6 months now :D.

Mind you, today I was really cross with my hair and a friend offered me her straightener, I said "NO!" a bit too vehemently :o.

My hair looked soooo good when I straightened it... I can wrap it and it works okay, but it hurts my scalp a lot *sigh* so I don't do it often!

I do believe ultimately it's best to use no heat on my hair, but it's also going to take some time to really reap the benefits as most of the hair I've got has already been damaged! However, I do have those three inches or so at the root that have never been coloured and never been heat damaged, and I don't want to change that!!!

[mathnerd]

Hey Mathnerd! I think I might end up using the blowfryer in winter but on the cool or low heat setting. I think that should be safe right? Also I saw a youtube vid where a girl sits in front of a fan... but that might seem a little strange to do when it's well below zero outside :)


Yeah, that's what I was thinking. My apartment gets awful cold in the winter (even with the heat on, haha) so a fan probably won't be an option. Maybe sitting closer to a heater in a given room would speed up the process?

[Kaelee]

I've actually never used heat styling! Maybe when I was a teenager, I know I tried it a few times...but I hated the noise blowdryers make and curls fell out of my (straight) hair anyway, and hairspray or gel made it crunchy (didn't like) and it didn't make the curls last anyway.

My stylist likes to blowdry my hair after she cuts it (because of the texture of my hair, she wants to see what it looks like dry after cutting it.) I let her so I get blowdried once every few months.

[Sweet Beat]

I avoid as much as possible. I blowdry my hair with mostly cold air. If I use the medium heat option I only do that for like 10 seconds periods and then go with cold air in between and I feel with my fingers on the hair all the time so I notice if the hair is too hot... And then I use protective mousse/creme. I almost never use curl och flat iron and those things.

[faerykitty13]

I used to never NEVER use heat on my hair. Now I do and I noticed a big damaging affect from it!!! I'm going back to my old hair routine now.

[Nutty]

I used to wash, dry and straighten my bleached hair every day! that was until a couple of years ago - then I deceide to go back to my brown hair (I still dye it) but only do the roots. I did try and give up the blow drying and straightening - but I hated the way I looked - i tryed for nearly a year - I felt I looked 10 years older and just didn't feel like me. So now I wash my hair every 3-4 days and dry - sometimes I will run the straightener through - depends what I'm doing - but if I do strighten my hair I can go longer between washing. I know not brilliant but my hair is in the best condition now (I know it could be better if I stopped altogether!) but I'm happy with how it looks again now. I'm not trying to grow it really long - just happy at BSL which is were it is- I get it cut every six months or so and I'm happy.