Heat Damage, Is It Really THAT Damaging?

[Sianna]

This may be a silly question, but please keep in mind that I've only been learning about my hair for the last six months or so.

About three months into my Natural Hair Journey, I heat damaged a small section of hair.

As you can see, even though my hair is wet and soaked with conditioner, this small piece does not curl. Even as ignorant about hair as I was, I should have known better than to test a shiny new flat iron (one whose instruction sheet I had not read ) on my unwashed, product laden, non-heat protected hair. This was the result.

I was disappointed when the hair did not revert and at first I was going to cut it off right then and there. But then I decided to wait. I pampered it along with the rest of my hair. Moisturizing, conditioning and protecting it as best I could. Still the hair refused to revert. I finally came to terms with the fact that it never would.

I was certain I would bite the bullet and clip it off one day, but now I'm not so sure I need to cut it at all. Why? Because aside from the loss of curl, it doesn't really seem damaged. There are no split ends. It seems to retain moisture as well as the rest of my hair, and it has the added advantage of not getting single strand knots.

I regret that this tiny piece of hair doesn't curl like the rest, but is it really necessary that I get rid of it?

ETA: I know I shouldn't make a fuss over such a tiny bit of hair, but when you have as little hair as I do, you want to hold onto as much of it as possible!

 

[chebaby]

it might not be that bad for you because its just a tiny section. to me it would be different if the section was 4 inches wide and 10 inches long. as your hair grows and you do maybe two small trims around the whole head, that heat damaged section will be gone in no time.

do i think heat damage is that bad? yes i do.

 

[Esthi777]

My hair was like that, ALL over. But a few protein treatments and it all curled back. Have you tried a hard protein treatment?

 

[Sianna]

My hair was like that, ALL over. But a few protein treatments and it all curled back. Have you tried a hard protein treatment?

No. I've only done the Aphogee two minute, and right after I realized it was damaged I sprayed it with the Aphogee Keratin and Green Tea Reconstructor, but to no avail.

Is there a hard protein treatment in particular you would recommend? I may give it a try!

 

[RoundEyedGirl504]

It depends on a) how much of it is heat damaged? and b) do you plan to wear it curly? Because a whole lot of heat damaged hair in a wash and go looks awful to me. For me I would be ticked! But if I wore my hair straight most of the time then it probably wouldn't be a big deal.

Since its such a small piece of hair in your case I wouldn't worry about it. I heard that a few mild protein treatments can help in reviving the curl in heat damaged hair as well - so you may want to try that if it bothers you.

 

[Ms Lala]

Just trim is at your hair grows out. You can camouflage it with coils outs or other manipulation to get the ends to curl. Heat damage isn't "bad" if you want to wear your hair straight. If your protein balance doesn't feel off I wouldn't do a hard core protein treatment on all your hair, maybe just on that one section. It really doesn't look bad.

 

[DesignerCurls]

My hair was like that, ALL over. But a few protein treatments and it all curled back. Have you tried a hard protein treatment?

I was going suggest the same thing. My hair did the same thing. I used a conditioner with protein in it (because I didn't have a hard protein treatment) and left it in for about 30-45 minutes and my curl came back.

Aphogee has a hard protein treatment that actually gets hard on your hair.

Hope that helps and HHG!

 

[Esthi777]

Yes, Aphogee does have a hard protein treatment. I just buy the one in the pack instead of the bottle because you shouldn't do hard protein that often. I get 2 uses out of the pack. I think it's about $3.00 at Sally's.