Here’s how you can keep your hair safe before using heated beauty and styling tools

Even with the best hair products available today, let's face it, we do need to add a little heat to tame and style our hair. Whether you’re adding volume to your hair with your blow dryer or maintaining your curls with a diffuser or straightening your hair with a hair iron, ultimately you are relying on heat to style and set your hair.

Anything that we do to our hair- colour it, brush it, style it- takes a toll on our tresses and that truly is the hard truth. Some of us use hot hair tools almost daily and we might look like a million bucks after, but at the end of the day, our hair gets burnt, dehydrated and becomes extremely and frustratingly dull. But, there is hope for our damaged tresses. It is actually super easy to prevent this type of damage without giving up on your beloved curling iron or blow dryer. Heat protection products are specially formulated to add moisture to your tresses and fortify strands against heated hair tools. These products smoothen the cuticle of your hair and protect it from appearing frizzy.

So what really is heat protection and does it really work, you wonder? A heat protectant is a product that reduces damage to your hair when used before you apply heat to your hair. So, for all you frequent users of styling tools, a heat protectant is your new best friend! Available in spray, serum or cream form, you apply it to preferably damp hair (some can be applied to dry hair too), and the protectant starts acting as a barrier between your hair and your styling tool. The ingredients in this magic product form a thin film on the hair surface, providing it with a thermal protectant that helps slow down heat conduction and distribute the heat more evenly. So basically, your hair will heat up gradually rather than suddenly to minimize the damage caused by styling tools. And yes, this means IT WORKS and you need it to keep your tresses looking super smooth and hydrated, causing less damage and keeping your hair frizz-free.

Heat protectants help to reduce heat damage, but that's only 50% of the solution. Nothing can insulate the hair completely, so not only is it important to practice safe styling, but one has to use hydrating shampoo, conditioner, hair serum, regularly apply oil to the hair and use hair masks and leave-in conditioners to maintain the best hair health.

There is a vast variety of heat protectants available in the market today, to suit every hair type and every pocket. Some of these products protect heat upto 230-degree C along with giving hair a glossy and smooth finish whilst protecting them from the harsh effects of the environment truly a must-have for everyone who heat styles their hair. So get one that suits your hair type and never let go of your new best friend.

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