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Flat ironed hair: does it damage your tresses?

Hair straighteners and flat irons can be damaging to your hair and scalp, but it is possible to minimize this and avoid dandruff. We’ve put together some tips on how you can avoid this.

Modern ceramic hair straighteners can heat up to over 200°C so that it is easier to straighten your hair, but this also makes it easy to damage your hair and scalp.

The damage caused by straighteners comes from two main sources:

  • the heat generated by straighteners can dry out your scalp

  • the heat and pulling motion of using straighteners can harm and even strip hair’s cuticle.

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Heat from straighteners close to the scalp can damage its moisture barrier, allowing moisture to escape.

This in turn can cause the scalp to become dry and flaky.

Dryness is one of the major symptoms of dandruff. By exacerbating that, hair straighteners can also make a dandruff problem appear worse.

Add to that the itching associated with the irritation, you can actually do more damage to the scalp.

HOW TO STRAIGHTEN THE RIGHT WAY

In order to keep your hair and scalp healthy when straightening it, there are a few things to keep in mind:

  • Keep the flat iron on a lower setting. Hair becomes damaged above 180°C, so keeping the temperature around this point will minimize the harm

  • Straighten your hair only when it’s dry, as wet hair is more easily damaged at lower temperatures

  • Be gentle when straightening your hair, so that you do not pull it unnecessarily

  • Use a good conditioner to help the straighteners slide more easily down your hair strands without damaging them.

TAKING CARE OF YOUR HAIR AND SCALP

Healthy hair comes from a healthy scalp. This means that in addition to straightening your hair properly, it’s essential to keep both your scalp and hair as healthy as possible.

So, choose a proven anti-dandruff shampoo to help eliminate dandruff and help prevent hair damage.

With our dry scalp care shampoo, you can help treat damage caused by dandruff and restore your scalp’s natural moisture.

Used regularly, it allows your scalp to become healthier, so your hair grows strong from a good foundation.

Second, use a good conditioner, to help the flat iron slide smoothly over those hair fibres without damaging them.

Follow these tips, and you’ll have smooth, silky, straight and most importantly healthy hair.

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