OIL AS A HEAT PROTECTANT?


Hiya,
Hope you are all well! Two months left and the year is over!!! Who is retaining length!!! We will soon know the verdict!

Back to my topic, who like me has felt using an oil to seal your ends before you apply heat(blow drying, straightening, roller setting) is enough? You can imagine my reaction when I was browsing instagram the other day and came across a post that simply read in bold letters- OILS ARE NOT HEAT PROTECTANTS! I was like what?! 

Went straight to consult with my friend google and to my greatest shock, the online resources were all saying the same scientific proven facts- using hair oils alone will NOT protect your hair from heat damage!

You see for the longest time after reading about smoke points of oils and how the higher the smoke point(meaning-the temperature at which an oil begins to break down into glycerols and free fatty acids and inevitably produces smoke) the better the oil's ability to tolerate heat, so for example Grapeseed oil and Olive oil have a smoke point of 485F and Avocado oil's smoke point is as high as 520F thus they have been advocated as great oils to prevent heat damage SOURCE.


 So you'd think that'd be enough protection no? NO!Apparently it's not enough for the following reasons;

Every good heat protectant should help prevent full heat transfer to the cortex of hair, preventing degradation of the protein bonds that largely lead to split ends and breakage. 
While oils are great as lubricants, apparently they slow down drying so that if you are using say a flat iron, you have to pass it through more times when using oils and could end up doing MORE damage than protection!!

You want to know what a good heat protector should have? 

1. Silicones- yeah cones, I know?!! Apparently Dimethicone and Cyclomethicone are must have ingredients in any good heat protectant because they are both thin, water proof and heat resistant man made compounds that when applied on the hair strands, coat the strands then evaporate while allowing the oils and nutrients on the strands to absorb, Demithicone is also known to have detangling properties- SOURCE

2. Hydrolized protein/silk amino acids- heat breaks down the protein bonds of our hair strands as mentioned before so a good heat protectant should have protein fill in any broken protein bonds and strengthen the hair to withstand heat damage.

3.Glycerin or any form of humectant to help attract moisture to the hair as the heat is being applied.

4. Propylene Glycol is also a chemical compound that attracts moisture to the hair strands.

5. Cetrimonium Chloride to increase tensile strength- SOURCE
  
6. Then your carrier oils for all their nutritional goodness!

These above products should be listed among the top 5 to 6 ingredients on any good heat protectant's ingredient list.

I did my home work and found this to be true, most heat protectants have most of the ingredients listed above; CHI silk Infusion, Tresemme Heat Tamer and in Naija I've found Organics Olive oil extra virgin smoother and polisher serum
Of the 6 must haves mentioned above, it has Dimethicone as the first ingredient, it also contains Phenyl Trimethicone, olive oil, hydrolized oat protein and silk amino acids #winning!!! I think it costs less than a thousand bucks for this 6oz bottle so that's a plus...Now there is NO EXCUSE again, a perfect heat protectant can be found in Naija and I dare say other parts of Africa!! European and American residents, you are spoilt for choice and have no excuse.

If you decide you want to use heat directly on your dry hair with no protection whether its blow drying, flat ironing, thonging, crimping, rollersetting....what you are doing to your hair is what too much sun does to leaves, it dries the heck out of them, so that when you touch dry leaves they simply crumble to pieces....Do you want crumbled hair? I don't think so, note to self I vow not to use heat on my hair ever again without a proper heat protectant!!

Of course the safest option will be avoiding heat totally but when you want to give into the craving of silky straight hair or bouncy robust curls, then you know what to do!!


P.S You guys, I have been really into chemicals and stuff lately, next week I'll dedicate an entire post to all that I've learnt, till then have a wonderful weekend!!


Thanks for stopping by!!

Xxx
Dabs

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