Curl Damage VS Heat Damage

Hey my beauties, I feel like I’m on an island with this topic. Saying ‘heat damage’ to describe your loss of curl from heat styling has become the normal hair vernacular, I think its an unfair description though. I’ve noticed more clients literally panic thinking they’ve damaged their hair beyond repair. While the curl is damaged, it doesn’t necessarily mean the hair strand itself is damaged. When your hair is naturally curly and you use a blow dryer and/or flat iron to heat style, the heat from those tools will break the disulfide bonds much like how a relaxer, color or perm would. The catch is that once the disulfide bonds are broken, it doesn’t automatically mean that the hair is damaged. *You can get more clarity on disulfide bonds in my post ‘Oops…Olaplex’.

TRUE heat damage, in my professional observation, is when your hair strands are singed or the strands are acutally breaking/snapping. That is when you need conditioning repair or a cut to “fix” the damage. When this happens the disulfide bonds are not only broken but in most cases they’re obliterated. So think of heat damage the same as a chemical that has over processed the hair. What I mean by this is that heat damage can happen on any and every type of hair. This is the main reason why I think there needs to be a distinction between curl damage and heat damage. Depending on your hair goals curl damage may not pose as a “problem” because there are some that have no desire to wear their natural curls. For those that want to go between straight and curly, curl damage is definitely problematic. It’s all about your personal hair goals and what you need to maintain the healthiest hair option for you. As always make sure you consult with a beauty professional to get proper guidance on what’s best for you hair goals. Please be sure to comment and share this post with a beauty you know that has a concern with heat or curl damage. Until next time…SMOOCHES!!!