How to Protect Hair & Flat Irons

Flat irons can make curly hair straight.

Using a flat iron to style your hair is fairly common, but so is flat iron damage. As with any heated hair appliance, protecting your hair from flat iron damage is important. Furthermore, you should protect your flat iron from becoming damaged, as if your flat iron malfunctions it can be problematic for your hair. Fortunately, it is not difficult to protect both your hair and flat iron from damage.

Things You'll Need

• Shower or sink to wash hair
• Hydrating shampoo
• Hydrating conditioner
• Heat treatment and thermal spray
• Blow dryer
• Flat iron
• Comb
• Flat iron cleaner
• Hair clips
• Soft cloth

Instructions

1. Wash your hair with a hydrating shampoo. Lather well and get down to the scalp to ensure you remove all product build-up and residue. Dirty hair can become more easily damaged during flat iron styling because it is more likely to stick to the appliance and suffer heat damage.

2. Condition your hair with a hydrating conditioner after shampooing. This prepares and protects your hair for styling with a flat iron.

3. Apply a heat treatment, or mist your hair with a thermal protection spray and dry your hair before you iron it. You can do this with a blow dryer, or by allowing your hair to air dry. Heat treatment protects your hair during styling and helps your style last longer.

4. Comb your hair and make sure to remove all tangles. Separate hair into small sections and use hair clips to keep them separated. Straightening in smaller sections protects your hair because you do not have to keep the flat iron on the hair for long to straighten each section.

5. Start off on a lower temperature setting and work your way up to a higher setting as you determine your hair's tolerance for heat. You can usually straighten thinner, less-curly hair with lower heat. Thicker, curlier hair may require a higher heat setting.

6. Grab hair between the plates near the top of the scalp and move quickly from root to tip. Never allow your flat iron to pause on a section of hair. You should flat iron your hair in a fluid, steady motion, applying only gentle pressure to the hair that is clipped between the heated plates.

7. Wipe your flat iron with a soft cloth after using it if you use styling products. If you do not use styling products when straightening your hair, wipe your flat iron once weekly with a soft cloth. You should do this while your flat iron is warm because the residue from the products will come free more easily. Use caution not to burn yourself.

8. Clean your flat iron about once a month with a flat iron cleaner. This will help keep the plates free of build-up and extend the life of your flat iron.

References

• Misikko: How to Use a Flat iron

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish