Most afro-haired curly girls know from their own experiences that too much heat can damage your curls. However, no one said that you could not use heat to style your hair once in a while with the proper protection and tools.
Without a heat protectant, frequent use of tools like blow dryers, flat irons, and curling irons can kill your original curl pattern and result in brittle, split ends. This is because your looser, less bouncy curls cannot hold moisture as well as a healthy set of kinky hair.
You can also experience heat damage if you’ve used heat styling tools at temperatures greater than 400 degrees or tried to style your hair with a heat tool when wet. While restoring your heat damaged curls can be a long process it's still worth investing the time to do so. Here are the main ways to revive your heat damaged curls.
Give Your Heat Styling Tools A Break
Since the heat has caused havoc on your curls you must treat them with care as it might take a little while for them to grow back correctly. So, in the meantime, you can opt for a protective style like cornrows, box braids, or two-strand twists. If you do opt for a two-strand twist-out, you can use our Leave-In Conditioner to detangle your hair from root to tip when preparing your hair for this style using a wide-tooth comb.
Then towards the end of your twist-out routine, opt for our Curling Crème to give your curls extra definition and moisture when working through roots to ends. In addition, if you want to achieve defined curls without heat, try our vitamin E-infused Curling Mousse after washing your hair.
Cleanse Your Afro Hair To Get Rid Of Build-Up
To restore the original condition of afro hair, you need to use a sulphate-free shampoo to remove build-up from your hair. Any build-up can prevent moisture from penetrating your scalp and its strands. Unfortunately, this means that you would not be able to repair your heat damaged curls as it would not get access to the much-needed hydration it needs.
Once the shampoo has cleansed your kinky hair, it can let moisture in, which will allow you to revive your original texture at a quicker rate. To start your journey of replenishing your hair’s moisture levels, use a generous amount of our hydration shampoo with Manuka honey on wet hair. Then rinse the mixture from your curls and repeat.
Condition After You Cleanse
When your afro hair has had excessive heat applied, it can cause moisture to leave your hair. Restore the hydration to your strands by using a nourishing conditioner like our Moisture-Rich Conditioner with Manuka honey & avocado, which, when applied, can reduce frizz, improve shine and seal in moisture.
Leave this mixture on your hair for a maximum of two minutes, and then rinse. When styling, you can apply our Curl Elongating Gel with flaxseed oil and rosewater to naturally elongate your curls without heat and still achieve definition even while your natural texture is in the process of being restored. You can also use this gel to hydrate your curls in between washes.
Adopt A Hot Oil Treatment In Conjunction With Steam
Steaming your afro hair using the butter, oil or conditioner of your choice can help nourish your scalp and restore the elasticity, thus prepping it for better hair growth. Start this process by rubbing your choice product into your afro hair from root to tip and then place a shower cap over this mixture.
Next, put a warm towel or turban around your head after putting it in the microwave for 2 minutes. Finally, leave your hair like this for 30 minutes and let the steam from the towel or turban do its magic.
Once completed, you can rinse the conditioner mixture off using cold water. You can also trim the ends of your hair to prevent further breakage, as the ends are often the most visible area of heat damage.
In most cases you will be able to repair heat damaged curls without immediately going for the big chop, but, it will take time and a lot of patience to revive your afro hair, especially if it’s been exposed to excessive heat damage.