Fully styling your hair is already a massive time consumption, and even blow-drying your hair after a shower can take a long time to get fully dry. What’s the harm in straightening your hair and drying it at the same time with a flat iron? As it turns out, it can do some severe damage.
Should You Use Flat Iron on Wet Hair?
No. Straightening wet hair using a flat iron can cause serious damage to your hair. It can cause split ends, crack & very brittle hair. Let your hair dry first, then use a flat iron.
The Science Behind It
While it may not initially make sense why heating wet hair is so damaging, there’s actually a perfect reason that your hair isn’t able to deal with the heat while damp.
Water
Hair can be surprisingly absorbent. When hair gets wet from a shower, it can absorb up to 30% of its weight in water. This is part of why it takes so long to get fully dry but is also the reason that a flat iron can be extremely damaging if your hair follicles still have water inside them.
Heat
The intense heat from the flat iron actually boils and steams the water inside of your hair. This causes the water to expand and bubble, and the only direction it can go is out. Your hair practically explodes from the inside out, which is never good for your hair health.
The Result
Your hair will crack, split, and become extremely brittle. Even a single-time flat ironing wet hair can result in large swaths of blown-out hair. You may end up needing to chop off the affected areas, and no one wants to end up having to do that.
Only Flat Iron Dry Hair
Your hair should be completely dry before you attempt to straighten it, but even if you wait till it’s dry, you’re not out of the woods quite yet. Using a flat iron can damage even fully dry hair if not used properly.
Temperature
You need to make sure you aren’t setting your heat too high. Your hair can end up burning from the high temperatures, and this can be just as damaging as having it explode from the inside out. Keep the heat on low to medium, and you should be fine.
Heat Protection
Using some type of heat protection before styling will make sure you can straighten your hair with minimal damage during the process. Find the product that’s right for you, and make sure your flat iron is more modern or high quality to maximize your protection.
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