The Truth About Heat Damage

Before I started my natural hair journey I wore partial sew ins, and there really wasn’t a time that I could even remember not having a sew in in my head. I was obsessed with sleek straight hair.

Since my sewins were partial, it meant that most of my hair was braided up, except for the perimeter, which I made sure was always freshly relaxed and straightened every morning so it could blend with the hair.

When I finally decided to take a much needed break from sewins, I noticed that the hair that was always braided up was so thick and healthy, and majority all natural, because it wasn’t getting relaxed, like the perimeter.

However, the perimeter of my hair was so short and badly broken off, I could barely bare to look at it in comparison to the rest of my hair. So, when I finally decided to big chop, I also vowed to never get a sew in again or straighten my hair.

Fast forward to now, and I am completely all natural, and haven’t had my hair straightened in 2 years. I’ve seen and heard so many horror stories about naturals that had to start all the way over because they damaged their natural curl patterns by straightening their hair too much, and the only way to rectify it would be to chop it off.

I knew that I did not want that to be me. It wasn’t until I was home over Christmas break, and had an appt for a trim with the only stylist who I will let trim my natural tresses, that I learned the truth about heat damage.

The curlier your hair is, the more fragile because at every curling point along the strand is a potential point of breakage which means adding any type of stress that will not implement moisture but instead strip can cause breakage.

The sebum which is basically the natural oils* the glands from your scalp produce, have more difficulty disposing along curly strands especially to the end of our strands because of the curly road your natural oils* have to travel versus traveling down naturally straight or wavy hair.