Have you ever wondered what unprotected heat is doing to your hair? When you heat-style your hair the wrong way, the keratin proteins that give your hair strength break down. The result is cracked and frayed cuticles. Also, the pigments that give your hair its color will change, vibrancy and tone will fade, and you will notice your hair losing its shine and becoming dull.

 If you don’t protect your hair from the dangers of heating tools, you will damage your hair. It’s important to take the right steps to make sure you’re protecting it, so we’re sharing some tips to keep your locks shiny and healthy.

10 Tips to Protect Hair from Heat

1.   Choose high quality tools: When shopping for a new tool, don’t get the cheapest one out there. Instead, look for tools that offer a variety of different heat settings. For hair dryers, we recommend using a professional brand from a beauty supply store. You’ll get stronger airflow and more power with less damage to the hair. When using curling irons and flat irons, find a brand that uses higher quality material like ceramic or titanium. Investing in good-quality tools is worth it in the long run.
2. Hydrate your hair: Using moisturizing products weekly will keep your stands healthy and less prone to breakage. We recommend using our Replenishing Hair Cleanser to wash and Supreme Revitalizing Moisturizing Mask for Hair to moisturize if you tend to style with heat often.  Replenishing Hair Cleanser contains amino acids and essential vitamins and minerals that deeply infuses hair with moisture and shine. Nourish your cuticles by using our Supreme Revitalizing Mask once or twice a week to further strengthen and moisturize your hair.
3. Protect your hair: Applying a heat protection spray for hair prior to heat styling is ESSENTIAL. We cannot emphasize that enough. Our Miracle MulTEAtasker spray, Something To BeLeave-In (daily hair moisturizer), smooths, detangles, and protects from pollutants and heat (up to 450F). This product contains our Signature Tea Complex, which is a blend of five steeped teas, each with their own purpose for the scalp and hair. These teas work together to insulate your hair from heat. Work this hair protector through your hair after you towel dry and comb through to evenly distribute.
4. Lower the heat setting: If you’re using quality heat-styling tools, then there should be heat settings that you can adjust. Just because the heat setting goes up to 400F, doesn’t mean you should use that much heat. Think about when water is over just 212F, it starts to boil. Can you imagine what this is doing to your hair without protection? The average heat styling tool goes up to 185-200-degrees.  If you have fine hair, we recommend staying around 180F. Medium to higher settings are okay for coarser hair. If you see steam coming from your hair while heat styling, that's a major indication that the heat is set too high.
5. Never use heat on soaking wet hair: Never, ever put heat to your hair immediately after you wash it. If you’re blow drying your hair after the shower, towel dry first and then wait at least 10 minutes. You can also wait until your hair is about 50-70 percent dry, depending on your hair type. Be extra careful by putting your blow dryer temperature low until your entire head of hair is dry and then going in with a higher heat where it’s needed most.
6. Regularly visit the salon: Get a trim from your stylist every 4-6 weeks. The ends of your hair are typically the most damaged from heat styling. When you cut the ends every month or two, you will continuously strengthen your hair. Talk to your stylist about any additional in depth tips on heat styling and protecting hair from heat. 
7. Limit how often you style: While styling your hair with heat may be part of your rouTEAne, try to limit yourself to only using heat 1-2 times per week. Cutting your normal time in half will help revitalize your hair back to health.
8. Use sections when styling: Creating sections will minimize damage by allowing you to control where you need the most heat. Sectioning out will also help manage your time so that you’re not rushing and being careless.
9. Work quickly: Keep the styling tool moving to protect your hair from heat. This avoids overheating any one specific section of hair. On average, you should only be in one section for 3-5 seconds.
10. Prolong your style: Use satin pillowcases or a satin cap while sleeping to prolong your heat style. This will lessen the amount of times you will need to refresh your hair during the week.

 By not following these simple tips and tricks on how to protect your hair from heat, within seconds, your hair can become extremely damaged, while repairing that damage can take a long, long time. That’s why it’s important to live in moderation when heat-styling your hair. Don’t over do it. When you have the chance to let your hair rest, air-dry! By working these easy hacks in your styling rouTEAne, you will notice reduced split ends and improvement in the overall health of your hair.

 Read this: How to Detangle Hair