HARDCore Protective Style Challenge - Part Deux

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 nubiennze wrote:

For all who have encountered heat damage, how often and at what temperature were you straightening? What tools were you using (blow dryer, flat iron, pressing comb, all of the above) and at what temperatures? What preventative tips can you offer the rest of us so that we can avoid heat damage?

I don't straighten much--my progress pic for this challenge was probably the first time I've ever flat ironed my whole head, lol--but I do not use more than one form of direct heat at once (e.g., I rollerset to stretch my hair instead of blow drying).

I also use a form of the chase method with the brush in this thread, which I think allows you to get straighter results with far less heat. (My flat iron goes up to 25; I won't allow it to touch my hair past 15. I'm planning to get an FHI Platform so I can know what temp it is, as I'd like to stay between 275 and 325 if possible.)

If I see smoke, I STOP. (Thankfully that didn't happen this time.) I use very little product (and the ones I do use are purposeful--grapeseed oil and Nubian Heritage Heat Protect Leave-In) so that nothing is burning off and frying my hair.

At this point I'm only using heat quarterly for dusting/length checks, but if I wanted to wear my hair straight more often, I don't think I'd want to apply a heat tool to it any more than once a month...every two weeks at the absolute most. No mid-week touch-ups. Reversion would either mean gradually transitioning into curlier styles like pincurls, bantu knot outs, or braid & curls or washing and starting over.

These are just my amateur recommendations based on research and experience with chewed up relaxed hair from daily heat usage as a teenager, lol. Hopefully some of the other ladies have more insight.

I've only straightened my whole head of hair three times in the past 1 1/2 yrs. 
The first two times i blow dried on cool/warm and then flat ironed between 360-400 degrees with heat protectant using the comb chase method. Maximum of two passes. Minimum retouches once its straight. Never experienced any heat damage this way. 

I believe my heat damage this time was due to my not being proactive about asking the stylist questions before he did my hair. He blow dried, hot combed and flat ironed my hair. He's a family friend and he let me borrow his flat iron to take with me for the rest of my visit home, since I didn't bring my own. He assured me that i would probably need to touch it up, though I insisted i wouldn't. It wasn't until I got home that I realized that the flat iron was set to the highest temp possible-- 450 degrees. That's the temperature at which hair burns. So I was pretty sure there was some heat damage. 

My since you're already pretty cautious when straightening, you should be okay, though there's always a risk of some heat damage involved. 

Simply put, my advice would be to ask plenty of question before you let someone else go diggin around in your head. Hth.