Should I Use Heat Protectant on Wet Hair? How Does it Work?
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Should I Use Heat Protectant on Wet Hair? Yes!
How does Heat Protectant work? Do you really need it?
As a stylist, many people ask me if heat protectant is really necessary. The answer is yes.
Should I use Heat Protectant on Wet Hair?
Absolutely use heat products on wet hair. Some products are designed to be used as a pre-blow dry heat protectant. Others might be designed to be used or even reapplied after the hair is 100% dry and ready for a flat iron or curling iron.
☑️ If the heat protectant is more of a leave in conditioner type of protectant, it has a more creamy base, use it in wet hair, not dry.
☑️ If the heat protectant is aerosol or a pump spray that is more misty but not wet feeling, use it on dry hair.
Why use Heat Protectant on Wet Hair
Heat lifts the cuticle
The more you curl or straighten your hair the more often the cuticle is lifted and the more moisture is let out, or cooked out, leaving your hair dry and brittle.
What is a cuticle?
The cuticle of your hair is the outside of each individual hair shaft. It looks like shingles on the roof.
When the cuticle is damaged due to everyday wear and tear, color, bleach, or excessive hot tool use, the hair becomes dry and breaks a lot easier, causing split ends.
How does heat protectant prevent this kind of damage? Does it really stop the hair from losing all of its moisture and cracking the cuticle? At the time yes. It definitely helps.
How does heat protectant work?
What heat protectant does is coat the top of the cuticle of the hair, so when a heat tool is used, such as a blow dryer, flat iron, or curling iron the product is what burns off, instead of the hair itself.
Most products usually have a sheen that makes the hair shiny that is activated by the heat.
Others work as a 3 in 1 product, also activated by the heat, not only leaving the hair shiny and burning the heat protectant off instead of the hair but also as a hold. Unlike hairspray, it is activated by heat. Some heat protectants have this quality, others don’t. The strength of the hold varies per brand.
Is it Better to Put Heat Protectant on Wet or Dry Hair?
👍 When blow-drying wet hair it is best to use a blowout spray or heat protectant after it’s been towel dried.
👍 But heat protectant / blow dry spray also works well on damp hair too. Always use some kind of heat protectant before using a hot tool of any kind- whether that’s a blow dryer, or flat iron, or curling iron.
👎 If the heat protectant is more creamy based and leaves the hair feeling damp, this type of protectant product is designed for wet hair as a pre-blow dry to protect from the hot air. But if it’s more misty and leaves the hair dry, it is absolutely safe to use a hot tool on this type of dry hair heat protectant.
Do I use heat protectant on dry hair?
Yes, you can use heat protectant on dry hair.
If your hair is already dry and you are planning on flat ironing or curling your hair with a hot tool, you can mist your hair lightly with the heat protectant spray.
The hair shouldn’t be damp or wet with the spray.
Heat protectant and blow dry spray are the same. Both coat the hair and create a smooth surface to protect the hair from the heat of either the blow dryer or the hot tool, and the heat will burn off the product instead of the hair.
You want a heat protectant that will not be too crunchy when activated by the heat.
I recommend Ion Blowout Quick Blow Dry Spray.
Find Ion Blowout Quick Blow Dry Spray at Sally Beauty Here for $10.49
Ion Blowout Quick Blow Dry Spray helps reduce the dry time with the blow dryer and leaves the hair mildly shiny. You don’t want a heat protectant that will leave the hair so shiny that it seems blindingly bright and almost oily looking.
Best Blow Dryer For Natural Hair
How to Use Heat Protectant Spray Before Curling – 7 Easy Steps
- Wash and condition your hair
- Towel dry your hair so that it’s not soaking or dripping
- Mist a leave in conditioner heat protectant thoroughly throughout your hair, all of the layers, underneath, and the length to the ends
- Blow dry (be sure that you use a leave in conditioner heat protectant!) or allow to air dry completely
- Once your hair is 100% dry you can apply a mist heat protectant. You can flip upside down or turn your head to the side and run your fingers through your hair to ensure all of the layers and all of the hair is getting the protectant product
- Section your hair into 4 quadrants or if you’re like me, into a horizontal bottom section and a top section or two
- Begin with short or small sections to create even curls and curl the hair throughout the sections until the style is complete!
How to prevent damage from hot tools
- Limit how often you blow dry and iron your hair
- Never use a flat iron or curling iron on wet or damp hair
- Always use a heat protectant when using a hot tool
- Wash less often to maintain the style of the curl or blow-dry style for longer
- Use a leave-in conditioner to maintain shine and retain moisture in the hair after washing
- Regularly treat your hair with a hydrating mask (my favorite is the Flaxseed Gel Mask)
- Get set on a haircut schedule, every 8-12 weeks and keep those split ends at bay, especially if you curl your hair often
By applying the suggestions above you will improve the quality of your hair’s maintenance and overall healthy life.
18 Quick Tips to Get Rid of Frizzy Hair Overnight
Keeping the hair hydrated is important because if the hair is dry the cuticle will lift, which encourages breakage and like we talked about above, we want the cuticle to stay down.
Getting regular haircuts is absolutely imperative because once the hair is broken, there isn’t anything we can do to repair it entirely. But just try to keep it from breaking further.
Split Ends, How to get rid of them?
Should I Wait for Heat Protectant to Dry?
If the heat protectant leaves the hair feeling damp, yes, wait for the heat protectant to dry.
NEVER iron wet hair!
Final note. Never under any circumstances use a heat tool, curling iron or flat iron, on wet hair! NEVER!
What happens when you do, is the water inside and on the hair will boil from the heat, cooking the hair from the inside out.
Even if some hot tools say on the box that it’s safe to use on wet hair, they’re lying! Don’t do it! With the exception of a blow dryer.
Once your hair is damaged by hot tools, there’s not a whole lot you can do to help restore the internal damage.
Never use heat on wet hair except for a blow dryer but only with a blowdry spray or another heat protectant.
FAQs for Should I Use Heat Protectant on Wet Hair
Should I wait for Heat Protectant to Dry?
Yes. If the product leaves the hair feeling wet, allow it to dry before using a hot tool on it.
If the product sprays onto the hair and leaves it looking and feeling dry, it is safe to continue curling the hair.
Is it Better to Put Heat Protectant on Wet or Dry Hair?
This entirely depends on the type of product that is applied. Be sure to read the bottle before spraying it on to know if you have the heat protectant for wet hair or for dry hair.
What Happens if I use Heat Protectant Spray on Dry Hair?
If the hair is already dry and you use heat protectant spray it will not change the appearance of the hair at all, but it will sit on the cuticle to be a barrier between the heat and the hair shaft itself.
When hair has any kind of moisture still left inside the strand and is unprotected, the heat will make the moisture steam, cooking the hair from the inside out, causing irreversible damage.
So, applying dry heat protectant spray on dry hair is perfectly safe and keeps your hair healthy when you use hot tools such as a blow dryer, curling iron, or flat iron often.
How do you Apply Heat Protectant Spray to Wet Hair?
☝️ Simply towel dry your hair, so that it isn’t dripping or soaking wet anymore
✌️ If your hair is longer than your shoulders flip upside-down and generously mist the hair all over, top, back, layers, and sides.
If your hair is shorter, you can simply tilt your head to the side and run your fingers through your hair while misting the product into your hair, to ensure that the product gets all over.
👌 Then you can section and curl or iron your hair the way you want!
Can I Use Heat Protectant Without Heat?
Yes. With a leave in conditioner type of heat protectant you absolutely can use a heat protectant without heat. It will not hurt the hair.
Use the Ion Blowout Quick Blow Dry Spray from Sally Beauty Here for $10.49