Reviewed by Dr Rekha Yadav, Certified Trichologist
Glossy curls, poker straight hair, streaks of different hues – the possibilities in hair styling are indeed countless today. But if you’re planning to join the legions that bleach, add highlights, straighten, perm, or crimp your hair, watch out! You may actually be damaging your hair in an effort to make it look more ‘trendy’. Hair treatment procedures like blow drying, bleaching, dyeing, permanent waving, and straightening – all damage the hair to some extent. Learn how to play it safe.
Says Dr Rekha Yadav, "It is very essential to evaluate your current hair texture, porosity, elasticity and the presence or absence of any hair damage before going for these procedures."
Blow drying in an instant
Whether you blow dry to style your hair or simply to dry your hair after a shampoo, the instantaneous drying can be quite harmful. Excess heat (above 175 °C) can lead to kinking of hair, leading to it breaking easily. It may also cause patchy hair loss. If this happens, you can only cut off damaged hair and wait for it to re-grow.
If using dryers cannot be avoided, use them at a low temperature, i.e. at a temperature that is pleasant on your hands. Using hair care products that contain glycerin, propylene glycol or an ingredient called ‘hydrolyzed wheat protein polysiloxane coplymer’ are known to prevent cracking of hair.
Cool curls
Permanent waving or perming disrupts the structure of the hair. Certain agents are used to break the chemical bonds that give the hair its structure. When the hair is given a new shape, the chemical bonds are reformed in their new position by using a neutralizer.
For a perm or to straighten curly hair, a hair relaxer is used. Read the label before using a hair relaxer for a substance called lye. Lye or sodium hydroxide, commonly known as caustic soda, is a strongly corrosive alkaline substance, which breaks the protein bonds in the hair to facilitate reshaping. Some other relaxers might contain slightly milder yet caustic chemicals such as potassium hydroxide, lithium hydroxide, or guanidine hydroxide that share the same method of action. Either way, most relaxers cause scalp irritation, dry and brittle hair, and also chemical induced hair loss. So don’t forget to read the labels before you make a choice!
Avoid coloring permed hair and use hair conditioners regularly. Never re-perm your hair before the original perm has grown all the way out. A perm on top of a perm can cause double damage.
Iron it right With flat ironing your hair loses moisture and elasticity, and becomes brittle. If you must iron, apply a spray or serum containing dimethicone. It melts in the heat and forms a protective layer over your hair. Use a flat iron with ceramic plates which heat up evenly and do not stick to or singe any one area. The hair also straightens faster since the area of application is more with heat spreading over the ceramic plates.
