In this modern day and age, us, women, have become reliant on heat styling tools for our everyday styling needs. This means that you do not have to go to a salon every time you wanted to a blowout, curl or straighten your hair. With some heat styling tools (and some helpful tutorials you can find online), it becomes easier to be your own hairstylist at home. But you need to observe proper heat styling techniques to ensure that you not only achieve your desired style, but also prevent damaging your hair in the process.
Read on to find out styling tips for common heat styling tools such as blow dryer, flat iron, and curling iron.
Blow Dryer
The blow dryer is probably the most frequently used heat styling tool for women. And yet, there are still plenty of complaints with regards to its use such as causing too much frizz (mostly on curly hair), inability to completely dry hair, tangles and making hair harder to style.
All complaints point to probably one reason – over-drying the hair with the use of blow dryer. The main point of blow drying is to direct heat to remove excess moisture out of your hair. But in some cases, the heat might be set on a high level of temperature that it heats up the hair too quickly. Most women keep blow drying even when the hair is already dry. When hair loses too much moisture, it becomes vulnerable to tangles and frizz.
When using the blow dryer, you need to take advantage of the various heat settings. Use only high heat when doing a blowout or adding curves with the aid of a round brush. But if you simply want to dry your hair, it is best to stick with medium or lower heat setting.
In addition to the temperature level, look into the air flow speed of your blow dryer as well. With a higher air flow, you have less control over the styling of your hair. Use a medium setting to ensure that you can direct the hair according to your desired style and maintain control when styling.
The final consideration when blow drying is to assess your hair type and adjust your styling accordingly. For curly haired women, using a diffuser is recommended to produce a soft flow of air. This means that you can dry your hair while keeping curls intact (versus causing a lot of frizz). Women with fine and thin hair can also benefit from the use of a diffuser because it disperses the heat and is therefore not too harsh. For long haired women, a methodical approach to blow drying offers many benefits. Start drying the bottom section of your hair, then move up to the middle section and finally the top section. This approach ensures even and more thorough drying of hair.
Curling Iron
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One of the biggest complaints among women using curling iron is that their hair is unable to hold the curl. The secret to that is the prep for the styling. Make sure that your hair is completely dry before using the curling iron. There is also danger presented in using curling iron on damp hair as this could “cook” your hair, which is extremely damaging. The use of the right styling product also ensures that your hair strands respond well to the heat to form a new curl shape. For instance, use styling gel on hair before drying it so that hair has more structure to it.
Flat Iron
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To get more success straightening your hair with a flat iron, you need to blow dry hair straight before you start styling. You will get much better result when you use the flat iron once you have blow dried the hair.
Do not overload the flat iron, too. Putting in too much hair at one time against the flat iron won’t give you the result you want. Instead, it results to uneven heating and tension rather than having a smooth finish to your hair. It also poses more damage as you have the natural tendency to leave the iron clamped on the hair longer to compensate for covering thicker section of hair. The ideal thickness of hair to pass through the flat iron is about 1/8 of an inch. Slide the section of hair slowly on the plates starting from near the scalp. Then, press the plates together and run it all the way down towards the ends.
Are you guilty of common mistakes with heat styling? Follow the recommendations above and make the most out of your heat styling tools!
Abby is a writer and social media manager for My Hair Care. If you would like to get an additional resource for hair care and hairstyling, visit their blog at http://www.myhaircare.com.au/blog.
Read on to find out styling tips for common heat styling tools such as blow dryer, flat iron, and curling iron.
Blow Dryer
All complaints point to probably one reason – over-drying the hair with the use of blow dryer. The main point of blow drying is to direct heat to remove excess moisture out of your hair. But in some cases, the heat might be set on a high level of temperature that it heats up the hair too quickly. Most women keep blow drying even when the hair is already dry. When hair loses too much moisture, it becomes vulnerable to tangles and frizz.
When using the blow dryer, you need to take advantage of the various heat settings. Use only high heat when doing a blowout or adding curves with the aid of a round brush. But if you simply want to dry your hair, it is best to stick with medium or lower heat setting.
In addition to the temperature level, look into the air flow speed of your blow dryer as well. With a higher air flow, you have less control over the styling of your hair. Use a medium setting to ensure that you can direct the hair according to your desired style and maintain control when styling.
The final consideration when blow drying is to assess your hair type and adjust your styling accordingly. For curly haired women, using a diffuser is recommended to produce a soft flow of air. This means that you can dry your hair while keeping curls intact (versus causing a lot of frizz). Women with fine and thin hair can also benefit from the use of a diffuser because it disperses the heat and is therefore not too harsh. For long haired women, a methodical approach to blow drying offers many benefits. Start drying the bottom section of your hair, then move up to the middle section and finally the top section. This approach ensures even and more thorough drying of hair.
Curling Iron
One of the biggest complaints among women using curling iron is that their hair is unable to hold the curl. The secret to that is the prep for the styling. Make sure that your hair is completely dry before using the curling iron. There is also danger presented in using curling iron on damp hair as this could “cook” your hair, which is extremely damaging. The use of the right styling product also ensures that your hair strands respond well to the heat to form a new curl shape. For instance, use styling gel on hair before drying it so that hair has more structure to it.Flat Iron
To get more success straightening your hair with a flat iron, you need to blow dry hair straight before you start styling. You will get much better result when you use the flat iron once you have blow dried the hair.Do not overload the flat iron, too. Putting in too much hair at one time against the flat iron won’t give you the result you want. Instead, it results to uneven heating and tension rather than having a smooth finish to your hair. It also poses more damage as you have the natural tendency to leave the iron clamped on the hair longer to compensate for covering thicker section of hair. The ideal thickness of hair to pass through the flat iron is about 1/8 of an inch. Slide the section of hair slowly on the plates starting from near the scalp. Then, press the plates together and run it all the way down towards the ends.
Are you guilty of common mistakes with heat styling? Follow the recommendations above and make the most out of your heat styling tools!
Abby is a writer and social media manager for My Hair Care. If you would like to get an additional resource for hair care and hairstyling, visit their blog at http://www.myhaircare.com.au/blog.
Very interesting an informative since I use a lot of heat on my hair ! Thanks !
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