Taking care of our hair and getting the look with which we feel most comfortable is rewarding, but it can also be time consuming. Especially if we have long hair, washing and drying our hair can be tricky with a busy schedule. When we add straightening, it only lengthens the process. For this reason, some wonder whether we can straighten wet hair to save time. We also may think straightening wet hair might be an advantage because it will prevent the hair from drying out or burning, something which can happen if we straighten our hair dry.
At oneHOWTO, we ask is straightening wet hair a bad idea? We look at whether we will damage our hair if we straighten is wet as well as find out the best way to protect it when straightening.
Is it bad to straighten wet hair?
Many of us have wondered whether straightening their hair wet is a bad idea. Part of the thinking might be that using hot hair irons on wet hair means the hair will be protected and prevent it from drying out. Maybe it would even ensure the hair is better moisturized and prevent a burning smell?
Unfortunately, although it may seem counterintuitive, this thinking is wrong. Straightening your hair while wet can actually be very damaging for it. For this reason, straightening wet hair is indeed a bad idea.
Regular hair straighteners are very powerful. Although they are designed not to damage hair while making it straight, they need to be hot to work. The problem with straightening wet hair is that the hair irons will heat up the water and cause it to steam. In doing so, the water and heat combination can cook the hair and damage the cuticle.
For this reason, you should only straighten dry hair. However, if we dry it with a hair dryer, we should let it cool before using the hair irons so that it doesn't overheat. Although straightening wet hair is a bad idea, there are some special hair straighteners which are designed specifically to work with wet hair, but they tend to be more expensive and we still need to be careful with them.
Ironing wet hair is one of the most common mistakes we make when straightening our hair. If you want to know what else you need to avoid, you can take a look at our related article on common mistakes when straightening hair.
What about using product when straightening hair?
Our hair can withstand all kinds of conditions, external agents, products and hairstyles. However, if we want to have a healthy mane, we must take care of it and protect it from anything that can cause damage. If you use hair irons regularly, it is important that you first protect your hair from heat. This is the same whether you have naturally straight or curly hair.
The first thing you should do is get a specific hair treatment for dry hair. This will give your hair extra hydration, avoiding the drying out process caused by the hair straighteners. You could also apply a specific mask for your hair type once a week, leaving it to act for a minimum of 20 minutes and massaging well so that all your hair is hydrated and repaired.
Finally, the most important thing to do before ironing your hair is to apply a capillary blocker. This will isolate the hair, ensuring the high temperatures of the iron do not damage it. These types of products are sold as balms or creams in supermarkets and beauty stores. They will make your hair look healthy despite abusing the iron and other hot hair appliances.
Even if you do what you can to protect your hair, it is still bad to straighten your hair too much. If you want to know more, we bring you more information in our article on whether it's bad to straighten your hair every day.
How to straighten your hair correctly
Now that you know that wet hair shouldn't be straightened, you may wonder what you should do to achieve healthy and straight hair. Although we may have a quality hair irons at home, we do not always get the results we expect when straightening our hair. Therefore, we provide our series of tips to straighten your hair to professional quality:
- The hair must always be clean and healthy, so that it looks shiny and homogeneous.
- The hair has to be completely dry and tempered, in addition to providing a good thermal protector.
- To prevent knots and frizz, before proceeding to iron and straighten the hair, we must make sure that it is well detangled and combed.
- For the best results, the key is not to be in a hurry to straighten your hair. Take time to divide the hair into smaller strands with the help of a comb.
- The best technique to straighten hair is to gather the hair, smoothing from the lowest to the highest parts of the head, always ironing from roots to ends.
- Between strands, wait for it to cool down a bit so that the hair acquires its shape and does not get too hot.
- To avoid frizz, avoid brushes and use a wide-toothed comb when combing your hair. If possible, it must be made of wood, so that static electricity does not take effect, as it helps to achieve a more uniform and smooth result.
We already know that it is not good to iron wet hair and that it is advisable to use the iron as little as possible. Therefore, we recommend this other article on how to straighten your hair without an iron or heat.
If you want to read similar articles to Is Straightening Wet Hair a Bad Idea?, we recommend you visit our Beauty & Personal Care category.