3 Ways To Infuse Your Hair With Moisture Prior To Heat Styling

Heat styling is a must for many women during the Winter time and although there are more than enough heat-free styles to choose from, using heat can be a fun alternative to curly hair when the air is drier.

With that said with dry air is just ahead of us, moisture is our friend and it should be your priority throughout the process.

Below are some tips for infusing your hair with moisture prior to heat styling. Applying these techniques before you begin heat styling will work best and it will aid in the protection of your strands and lessen the chances of you overdoing it and severely damaging your hair.

1. Coconut Oil* overnight pre-poo

Coconut* oil has properties which have been raved about far and wide. The hype is legitimate and adding the oil to your strands and letting them penetrate your hair overnight can work wonders.

Apply a generous amount of coconut oil* from root to tip. After application, add a plastic cap and wrap your hair as you would normally when preparing to go to bed. The next morning, take down the wrap and remove the plastic cap. Wash and condition your hair with a moisturizing shampoo and conditioner and your hair will be ready for heat styling.

2. Heat and conditioner steam treatment

Heat aids the penetration of products into and under the hair shaft by raising the cuticles on the outer layer of the strand. This can be good and bad. If you expose your hair’s fragile inner layer to damaging products, then your hair will respond accordingly. Likewise, if you expose that delicate inner layer to products that nourish it, your overall hair health will improve and your strands will be at their best.

Using a conditioner with heat is a great way to get the beneficial properties of the product to the deeper layers of your hair. When your hair is cared for from the inside out, it will automatically perform well.

You want to wash your hair and apply your conditioner of choice. Then you can add heat by either applying a plastic cap and sitting under a hooded dryer*, or you could apply a thermal conditioning cap. Deep conditioning* for 15-20 minutes is enough time for this method to do what it does. Once you’re done, you can rinse the conditioner out and you will be ready for heat styling.

3. Protein treatment

Protein for your hair is like a bullet proof vest. It creates a tough exterior and rebuilds broken bonds you may have along with your hair shaft.

Treatments come in varying levels of intensity. There are products on the market designed to blast your hair with massive amounts of protein. This may be needed if your hair is particularly damaged, for example, from coloring.

Other, less intense, protein treatments are also available and incorporating those into your routine in preparation for heat styling could be a lifesaver.

Once you choose which type of protein treatment your hair needs, apply it as directed and rinse. You should be able to tell a difference in your hair right away.

Protein is not a ticket to apply excessive amounts of heat to your hair, but it is a great start for those of you who want to heat style this winter. The stronger your hair is the more moisture it will retain so that your style can last.

What are your tried and true tips for heat styling, share them below!