“So There You Have It. Heat Styling Hair CAN Be Worse Than Relaxing”

The cold weather is upon us which for a lot of naturals means pulling out the flat iron.  I have been relaxer free for many years now and until recently my routine was to wear my hair straight during the winter months and wear my hair curly (I was a strictly wash and go girl) during the summer months.  Now I straighten my hair maybe once throughout the year.  I do this for several reasons: 

·         I do not need to expose my hair to any more damage than I already do (I color my hair)

·         It is way too labor intensive for me

Personal choice is a great thing and that is simply my choice.  I came across this article last week on Beauty Brains, which I frequent daily.  A reader responding to a previous article regarding relaxer damage vs. heat damage writes in with the following comment:

“As a black woman with 3B hair (i.e., tight corkscrew ringlets) living in the most humid place in the country, who has used both the flat iron and a chemical relaxer to straighten my hair, I (and any hair stylist specializing in “black hair”) will attest to the fact that regular flat ironing is far more damaging. When I decided to start wearing my hair straight for work, I had to flat iron it at least twice a week to keep it frizz free, and every time I washed it, I had to blow dry before using the flat iron. Well the cumulative effect of all that heat and tension was lots of split ends (even after use “heat protecting serum”). Once I relaxed my hair, which is a one-time process combined with regular “touch ups” on the new growth, my need for heat styling lessened severely as well as the associated breakage and split ends."

Take a look at the Beauty Brains response.

What side of the fence are you on?  Do you straighten your hair?  If so, how often?