I Am Still Skeptical About Heat Protectant - Watch Why One Woman Refuses To Use One

Prior to my healthy hair journey I didn’t even know that there was such a thing as heat protectant* for hair, and to be honest, I’m still puzzled by it. Sure I understand the need for such a thing but there are a few things that just don’t seem to add up about this heat protectant thing.

For those who might not know what a heat protectant* is, it is a product you place on your hair in preparation for heat styling such as flat ironing and blow drying.

Essentially, it is supposed to prevent the high temperatures from your heat styling tool from burning and damaging your hair to the point where it is permanently altered by the heat and can’t revert back to natural. It is said to form a layer of protection against direct heat. It appears that such products have silicones as the active ingredient.

These days heat protectant comes in liquefied form that is sprayed onto the hair or as a wax-like stick that is rubbed onto the hair.

I’ve even seen a gel and foam type that is squirted into the palm and then smoothed onto the hair.  I’ve even heard of certain oils* and butters* such as grapeseed oil* and natural organic cocoa butter* being used as heat protectants.

Even after learning that some oils* have a high resistance to heat in that they don’t heat up or burn as quickly as others, I can’t quite get over the idea that oils are used to fry things. As it relates to commercial heat protectants, I find it hard to believe that only a few spritz or one dime size of the product can provide adequate protection.

I mean, it would make more sense if I needed to saturate my whole head with an entire bottle of the stuff to ensure every strand is covered.  At the very least spritzing every piece of hair that I run the flat iron* over would seem more logical, because wouldn’t I miss some strands if I just spritz my afro?

I suppose those are some of the reasons that some of us are skeptical of the claims of effectiveness of heat protectants. I’m not the only one either. I remember feeling a bit vindicated when SistaWithRealHair voiced her own skepticism on the subject.

In the video below she talks about why she doesn’t use it for her own hair. Anyone who has come across her channel knows she wears her hair straight most of the time and she has no issues reverting to natural.

It all just leaves me to wonder if heat protectants are another way to get money out of our pockets. Now by no means am I telling you not to use heat protectants because we all are different and what works for her may not work for you.

The whole purpose of this article is to raise the issue since some of you have been wondering. We’ll definitely do some more investigations into this topic to figure out exactly how they work. Hey, maybe the  scientists among you can do a study for us showing exactly how it all works.

How about you; do you consider how heat protectants really work? Do you even believe they work?