Heated styling tools have become a big part of modern-day life. Whether you blow dry your hair every couple of days or you can’t live without your curling wand, it’s so easy to become dependent on the professional finish that heated styling tools provide.

However, there’s a downside to heat styling; heat damage. Fortunately, this is avoidable, so long as you’re using a heat protectant. Read on as Evalectric explains exactly why a heat protectant is so important. We’ll also share expert advice on how to pick the very best one for your locks, along with tips on how to use it.

How Does Heat Damage the Hair?

Let’s begin by taking a closer look at what happens to your hair when you heat style it without using a heat protectant…

Whenever you apply intense heat to your locks, meaning anything over 280°F, this affects the shape of the keratin proteins in your strands. Roughly 79% of your hair consists of keratin, with this protein responsible for maintaining the structure and smoothness of your locks. Once it becomes damaged, the hair weakens while also losing its elasticity. 

In addition to giving your hair structure, keratin also helps with moisture retention. Therefore, another side effect of altering the protein structure in your strands is increased moisture loss. Moisture evaporates from the hair at a much faster rate. This not only damages your hair over time but also leads to cracked cuticles, leaving your hair more susceptible to future damage.

If you dye your hair, then heat damage will affect your color too. It can cause the dye to oxidize, meaning that your glossy new shade will fade much faster. 

Signs of Heat Damage

Wondering if your hair has already been damaged by heat? 

Some of the signs to look out for include:

• Hair that looks dull and lacks shine. This is down to damaged hair cuticles
• Hair that feels brittle and breaks easily. This is because of how the hair loses elasticity when keratin is damaged, causing it to snap instead of bending
• Extra frizz and flyaways, due to how heat damage causes roughness and split ends
• Hair that tangles easily. Heat damage prevents the hair from lying flat on the head, making it more susceptible to knots and tangles

If you’ve noticed any of the above, then using a heat protectant becomes even more important!

What is a Heat Protectant?

A heat protectant is a product that’s applied to the hair before any sort of heated styling tool is used. As you can tell from the name, its purpose is to protect against heat damage, although many heat protectants offer up additional benefits too. 

The Benefits of Using a Heat Protectant

Of course, the main benefit that comes from using a heat protectant is preventing heat damage. By forming a barrier between your hair and the source of heat, a heat protectant cuts back on the level of direct heat that hits your strands. This benefits the hair in a few different ways:

Prevents Moisture Loss

Using heated styling tools increases the amount of moisture that your hair loses each day. However, coating your hair with a heat protectant first reduces this to a huge degree. Thanks to the extra layer created by the heat protectant, moisture won’t be able to evaporate away quite so quickly.

In addition to improving moisture retention, many heat protectants are also infused with hydrating and moisturizing ingredients. These give the strands a moisture boost, leaving them looking silkier and glossier.

Leaves Hair Looking Smoother and Frizz-Free

Your hair cuticles lie on the outer layer of your hair. Each one overlaps, almost like shingles on a roof, giving your hair a smooth finish. However, heat damage causes these cuticles to crack, leaving the hair looking rough and frizzy.

A heat protectant smooths over already-cracked cuticles to give them a sleeker appearance once again. It also helps to block heat from further damaging cuticles, therefore preventing your hair from looking even frizzier.

Makes Hair Feel More Manageable

If you’ve ever wished that your hair felt easier to manage and style, then a heat protectant is definitely worth trying. Thanks to how these products coat each strand of hair, they leave the hair feeling much more elastic, and therefore easier to work with. 

Helps to Preserve Hair Color

As we mentioned earlier, heat slowly strips away dyes. If you want your hair color to last for as long as possible, then using a heat protectant is a must. It will prevent the heat from coming into direct contact with your strands, and therefore the dye that coats them, which will help to preserve your color.

Choosing the Best Heat Protectant Product

Heat protectants come in many different forms. The best one for your locks will depend on your hair type. 

Those with fine or thin hair often prefer light sprays as these don’t weigh the hair down. On the other hand, those with very coarse or curly hair tend to do better with creams or leave-in conditioners, as these help to add an extra moisture boost.

One type of heat protectant that works with all hair types is a hair serum. They’re lightweight enough to not feel heavy on fine hair, yet they’re also super hydrating, making them great for dry strands. 

The Evalectric Hair Serum would be a great product to go for. It’s infused with aloe vera, a botanical that’s packed with vitamins that help to support healthy-looking hair. In this formula, it’s combined with vitamin E. This antioxidant helps to reduce the appearance of oxidative damage, which includes the visibility of damage caused by heat. This makes it a must-try if you’re trying to repair the look of existing damage while preventing more damage from appearing.

Using a Heat Protectant

A little advanced planning is best when using a heat protectant. While you can go ahead and apply one to dry hair, they often work better when applied to wet locks. Wet or damp hair is much more efficient at absorbing hair care products, enabling your heat protectant to work on a deeper level, rather than simply on the surface.

If you’ve decided to do some last-minute heat styling on dry hair that hasn’t had a heat protectant applied, then it’s still worth applying one now. However, you’ll need to wait for your hair to dry once again before you start heat styling – moisture in the hair doesn’t react well when heat is applied!

Other Ways to Prevent the Appearance of Heat Damage

There’s no getting away from the fact that a heat protectant is vital each and every time you use heated styling tools on your hair. However, this isn’t going to provide 100%% protection, making it important to take a few extra steps to prevent the appearance of heat damage:

Use a Low Heat Setting

Most heated styling tools soar to temperatures well over 400ºF. However, unless you have extremely thick or coarse hair, then you don’t actually need quite so much heat to style your hair. A lower temperature would be capable of setting a style just as efficiently, yet without causing quite so much damage to your locks.

If your heated styling tools don’t offer an adjustable temperature setting, it’s time for an upgrade. Check out Evalectric’s Ceramic Silk Straightener Pink Cheetah. It offers a temperature range of 140-450ºF, making it perfect for all hair types. At the same time, it has also been designed with far infrared technology and negative ion technology. Both will help to prevent the appearance of hair damage, keeping your locks looking sleek and shiny.

Apply a Weekly Hair Mask

Hopefully, you already use a conditioner each time you shampoo your hair. This will go a long way in keeping your strands moisturized, which heat can interfere with. 

However, it’s also worth adding a hair mask to your weekly hair care routine. They’re more intense than conditioners, boasting a higher concentration of active ingredients. As a result, they leave the hair feeling deeply conditioned while helping to minimize the look of damage.

The Evalectric Hair Mask does this particularly well. Its star ingredient is argan oil, which has been proven to leave the hair feeling better protected against oxidative damage. It’s highly moisturizing too, which will help to counter the feeling of dryness that heat styling can contribute to.

In this mask, argan oil is joined by panthenol, also known as vitamin B5. It acts as a humectant, meaning that it has moisture-binding properties that can hydrate the hair, leaving it looking fuller and glossier.

Take it Easy

Wondering if you can apply a heat protectant every day? 

Theoretically, you could, although this would leave you more susceptible to product buildup. However, you shouldn’t need to. Washing and heat styling your hair every single day will quickly take its toll on your locks, resulting in irreparable damage.

Ideally, try to limit your heat styling sessions to just a few times a week. Set your style with a quality hair spray, such as Evalectric’s Extreme Hold Hair Spray, and your ‘do will last for so much longer, doing away with the need for daily heat styling.

Regular Trims

Heat damage causes split ends, and while these are only found at the ends of the hair to begin with, it doesn’t take long for them to travel up the shaft, causing your hair to split further up too. Once this happens, it leaves the hair even more exposed to damage. At the same time, frizz, roughness, and dullness will become the norm.

Regular trims help to prevent all of this. By snipping away split ends as they appear, they won’t have time to spread their damage, which will help to keep your locks looking healthy.

Summary

If you ever use heated styling tools on your hair, then a heat protectant is essential. Not only will this help to prevent the appearance of heat damage, but it will also benefit your locks by adding moisture, shine, and smoothness. Whether you go with a spray, a cream, or Evalectric’s exquisite hair serum, a heat protectant should definitely be considered a non-negotiable part of your hair care routine.

Click here to browse more of Evalectric’s bestselling hair care products and styling tools.