All of us want to enjoy hair that looks shiny and is healthy. But then again, we also want to have the freedom to experiment with our hair.
Some days, we may like our hair to look curly, some days we may want it to look poker straight. While frequent styling may make for really good selfies, it can have a negative impact on hair quality – a really bad impact.
Heat damage is a reality that you have to accept if styling the hair is a daily part of your morning routine. And, while using a heat protectant can be useful, you also need to take the necessary steps to reduce damage.
Before you start taking measures to reduce hair damage, you have to find out whether you are actually suffering from it. To make it easier for you, we have created a list below that will help you determine whether your hair has heat damage or not. So, let’s get started!
The Ends of Your Hair has a Lot of Split Ends and Looks Brittle
Split ends are never good for your hair under any circumstances, which is exactly why hairstylists are often advising us to get our ends trimmed frequently. The ends of our hair are also the oldest inches when we consider the whole shaft of the hair. This, in turn, makes it more prone to damage that may be caused due to heat, friction, or lack of moisture.
Frequent styling using heat products will leave you with frizzy and dehydrated hair. Inspect your hair to figure out whether it looks too dry or dull and lacks a healthy shine. If your hair ticks all these boxes, you have done severe heat damage to your hair.
Having said this, there might be cases where your hair is not that damaged but instead requires a bit of TLC. A good way to differentiate between the two is to look for white nodules at the ends of your hair.
In case of damaged hair, the hair ends will have these nodules that will break off easily once you hold the hair strand between two fingers. If you want to restore the quality for TLC, we would suggest you invest in hair vitamins to improve the overall quality.
Touching Your Hair Tends to Feel “Funny”
One of the best ways of determining heat damage is to check how your hair feels. Healthy hair will always feel smooth. However, softness isn’t a necessary factor as some of us naturally have harder hair strands.
If your hair feels rough and even singed with an overall dry feel, there are high chances that you are suffering from heat damage. The hair strands also will look uneven with some strands looking way thinner in comparison to the others.
Your Hair has Suddenly Become Hard to Color
Before we talk about heat damage in terms of hair coloring, it is true that sometimes, coloring darker hair can be a bit difficult using only hair dye products. In such cases, you may also need a developer.
The issue arises when, no matter what you do, your hair is just not turning into the color you wanted due to which you have to schedule an appointment with a hair color professional. In addition to this, if your hair is porous, coloring it will, once again, be an issue. Treat this as an indication of heat damage and take immediate action to replenish it.
Your Hair is Shedding Way More than Usual
Hair fall is an unwelcome and yet natural part of our life. According to experts, on average, we shed around 50 to 100 hair strands on a daily basis. But, if you feel that the hair shedding is taking place at an alarming rate, hair damage might be present.
You see, when we subject our hair to a lot of heat, the hair strands, as well as the hair follicles, will become adversely affected. This, in turn, will make the hair roots weak making it fall out.
Check your hairbrush and the bathroom to find out whether your hair is shedding more than usual. If you can locate tons of hair with a small bulb at every end, immediately stop using heat styling products. Instead, nourish your scalp by opting for healing oil scalp massage, turban therapy, and anti-hair fall hair packs.
Your Hair is Lacking Elasticity and Feels Dry Even After Taking Preventive Measures
Generally speaking, our hair has a natural elasticity to it. In fact, one of the signs of healthy hair is good elasticity. But, in cases of heat damage, your hair starts breaking a lot or starts snapping off quickly. This is because of a reduction in elasticity. As a result of this, even a gentle tug can lead to breakage.
Just like our skin, even our hair needs to be moisturized. A good way to ensure this is by drinking lots of water, using hair conditioner, and oiling it periodically. If you feel that even after doing all these steps, your hair still feels dry and dehydrated, you are suffering from heat damage.
Takeaway Thoughts
The damage that heat can do to your hair is definitely intimidating and while you may feel that there is no returning back to healthy hair, that isn’t the case.
If you suffer from heat damage, make sure that you stop or suspend using heat styling tools. You have to start using home remedies like natural hair packs, restorative oils, and so on to improve quality.
You can also schedule an appointment with a doctor to help you out. Most of the time, doctors can prescribe you with health supplements, prescription pills, and hair treatment to improve the overall quality and texture of your hair. The results are surprisingly fast and effective provided you make sure that there is no added damage to the hair strands.
Resources – Naturally Curly, Well + Good