Most of us are using some form of heat to style our hair on a regular basis. There is nothing wrong with using heated appliances, but it is important to ensure you are minimizing the risk of damage on your hair.

Excessive heat can reduce the amount of moisture in your hair, causing the cuticles to potentially break away.

How Do You Know If You Have Damaged Hair?

Trust me, you will know! Your hair will feel drier than usual and you may experience some breakage. The ends of your hair may be split. Your hair will feel generally lacklustre and dull.

But heat appliances don’t have to spell bad news. By following a few of the following tips, your locks should be able to stand up to the heat and leave you with a head of hair to be proud of!

How to Protect your Hair from the Heat

1. Don’t wait until your hair is damaged before doing anything about it. Prevention is better than cure.

2. Towel dry you hair as much as you can before blasting it with a hairdryer.

3. Always apply a heat protector, like a conditioner or spray. This is especially important if you are using hair straighteners.

4. On the topic of hair straighteners, make sure you choose the right ones for your hair type. Flat irons have come a long way in recent years and you can now buy the best hair straighteners for your hair type. Some models have variable temperatures enabling you to straighten at a lower heat. Straight Hair Day have a selection of reviews to help you with your choice.

5. Use a conditioner that promotes moisture in the hair. Better still, why not try making your own natural one at home? You can experiment with different ingredients but avocado, coconut oil, honey - even bananas make great options! If you would rather follow a tried and tested recipe, check these out.

6. As well as using the right conditioner, treat yourself to a weekly deep conditioning treatment. Again, you can easily make your own hair masks at home.

7. Visit your hair dresser at least every 10 weeks. Not only does hair salon hair make you feel great about yourself, you’ll also be doing your hair a favour by getting any split ends chopped off. Plus you hair dresser can advise you on the condition of your hair.

8. Getting the best nutrition from healthy and wholesome foods will do wonders for the condition of your hair. Make sure you include avocadoes, seeds, walnuts, green plants (spinach, kale) as well as avoid anything processed or full of sugar.

9. Drinks lots of fresh water. Not only will this flush out the toxins, it will also make your hair stronger.

10. Protect it in the sun. Cover up with a sunhat to avoid strong rays drying it out.

11. Be sensible about how often you use heat on your hair. See if you can let your hair dry naturally some days, and then use straighteners or heated rollers once it is dry. If you must straighten your hair after each wash try and use a low temperature.

There is no reason why you can’t have both healthy and great looking hair!