Heat and Your Hair.

I know we've already covered what hot water is supposed to do to your hair, but we haven't covered heat styling at all. By heat styling, I mean: Flat ironing, blow drying, curling, etc.

I just recently started worrying about the effects that heat styling has on the health of my hair. I know that this probably wasn't the best time to start worrying, I should have began worrying a long time ago just because of all the ill effects, like breakage and split ends, that heat can have on your hair. I've been witness to the breaking of hair, and let me tell you ladies and gentlemen... It ain't pretty.

Let's start with the most basic of heat styling... Blow drying. When blow drying your hair, it's important to use some type of product to protect your hair. Although, if you're not into using a ton of products on your hair, there are other options like letting your hair dry naturally. One product out there that I enjoy is Redken Ultimate Blow Dry Lotion. This is heartily expensive though. (I will admit that I did not buy this product myself so when I run out, I will be trying to find cheaper options.) After applying the blow dry lotion, I use my blow dryer on the lowest heat setting and use a brush to section my hair. This takes a long time, yes, but the lack of heat damage is worth it. I don't have a preference on hair dryers, as long as they get the job done.

When I blow dry my hair, I end up with almost straight hair with a good amount of volume. Because of this, I don't usually continue with any other heat styling. Why mess up a good thing, right? If I do plan on any other type of heat styling to come later, I let my hair dry without aid of blow drying.

Flat ironing and curling somewhat go hand in hand when it comes to heat care. I just found out that the Redken Extreme Iron Repair that I use on my hair is discontinued... When I run out I'll be looking for other cheaper options, so no worries! I'll keep you posted. After applying the iron repair though, I like to use the lowest setting possible that still gets the job done... My hair is thick and so I have to use a fairly high setting so I try not to flat iron or curl my hair very often. When I do, it's normally a night out on the town with the girls, or I have a date.

Oh yes! The type of flat iron I use is a Remington 2" Wet 2 Straight which you can get at Walmart for under $30. I never go from wet to straight though. My roommate ended up with broken hair from doing that too often, and I've been scared of doing it myself ever since. I've been through two Wet 2 Straights since 8th grade and have tried a couple different brands like Conair... But I love my Wet 2 Straight. I'll recommend it to anyone with all types of hair. I also use my flat iron to curl my hair, so I can't offer up a good curling iron for those of you out there.

For protecting my hair on days that I don't style it at all, I use Redken Anti-Snap leave in treatment. It's supposed to repair split ends and protect against breakage. I will admit that I don't use it as regularly as I should and I'm probably not seeing the results I should be but my hair does not break as much as it used to when I would brush it without using product. It doesn't leave my hair greasy or smelling bad so I would recommend it.

Comment and share what products you have used and have success with. Don't be shy!

Happy styling!

Andi.

Hot or cold?

In my last post we talked about shampooing and conditioning. One thing that goes hand in hand with shampoo and conditioner is water. One thing we didn't touch base on is that water is another thing that also strips the color from your hair. You wouldn't think that water would be something that would threaten your hair color, but alas... it is! In my personal opinion, there isn't a single thing you can do that will, without a doubt, protect your hair color. All you can do is try and prolong it, until it's time to color your hair once again.

The argument that comes with washing your hair is whether to use hot or cold water. I'll give you the science behind it, and then my own results. After that... You can make your own decisions.

Heat makes things expands. So it makes sense that hot water opens the pores of your hair, which allows for color to "escape." The evidence of your color escaping is the bleeding of your color into your shower water. On the opposite hand, cold makes things contract. The idea is that if you use cold water, the pores of your hair will contract and won't let your color escape.

My personal findings:
I use hot water. I use hot water because I feel like it gets my hair cleaner and then I don't feel the need to wash my hair as often. I have used cold water before though and the amount of bleeding turns out to be about the same. I'd rather use hot water and not have to wash as often than use cold water and have to wash more often and get the same results. I also don't like using cold water because I don't like to be cold. I do use "cool" water to rinse out my conditioner though. A hair dresser once told me that by rinsing with cool water it locks in moisture and with as dry as my hair is... I need all the moisture I can get.

In the end though, it's really up to you. No one can tell you that if you use cold water your hair color will last longer. If anyone tries to tell you that, they're lying, maybe they get different results, or maybe I'm just a pansy when it comes to being cold. Who knows? Only the hair gods, that's who. Maybe it's all psychological and none of this actually matters at all!

If you've been religiously using cold water, and it works for you... Tell us about it in the comments. How do you do it? How cold do you get the water? How much "bleeding" do you experience even with cold water?

Happy washing everyone!

Andi.