In the news: heat damage August 21, 2008
This from Stuff about hair straighteners.
Some dermatologist says:
Patients with major hair damage from tongs are told to keep their hair short for one to two years, stop use of tongs, hair dryers and heat products altogether and avoid sun exposure. But to avoid damage in the first place, only use the equipment on dry hair, never more then (sic) twice a week and at temperatures under 170 degrees celsius.
Which may be good advice, but don’t give up your GHDs just yet. If you get crud hair from your straighteners, then obviously give them up. But if you can maintain good hair with regular use, then why stop?
It would surprise me if someone let their hair get to such a bad condition in the first place. Obviously you must look after your hair if you straighten it a lot but you can still have your hair in good condition. I think this story must be applying to people who have ignored the damage building in their hair?? Surely you would notice!!
That’s what I reckon! I think the article is a bit scare mongering. It’s common knowledge that if you over do it you’ll get bung hair, just like if you over do it with curling, dying, styling…
It’s good advice not to use them on wet hair though - I had a ‘wet-2-dry’ starightener made for use on wet hair, but it left my hair looking like straw. so i never use it.
I’ve been using GHD straighteners for a couple of years. When my hair was at its longest (just past my shoulders)I was using them 2 to 3 times a week and I noticed the ends had got really horrible and brittle and split.
Part of the problem was that I had some coloured hair that was fragile and didn’t stand the heat as well, and my haircut only really looked good when it was straight.
So now what I do is a) always use straighteners on dry hair, b) always use a protective spray or cream first, and c) have a haircut that looks fine blow-dried.
If you want to see examples of badly straightened hair, just check out some Boobs on Bikes pics. (Or not…)