Can I Straighten My Hair After Drying It?

Whether you are dolling yourself up for a date or going out with friends, time is of the essence when you are getting ready and your hair is a huge part of that.

Because of this, you will want to wash it, dry it, then style it which, for some people, includes straightening it. However, the last two can be a tiny bit tricky if you want to take your hair’s health into account. So if you wondering if you can straighten your hair after drying, and how to protect it, let’s take a look.

What is so wrong with straightening your hair straight after drying it?

Well, it isn’t inherently bad, as long as you know how to do it right. Your hair can be extremely fragile after washing it, especially if you used really hot water which opens up your follicles, even more, making them more prone to damage. If you decide to blast it with hot air at this point, you’re going to end up with hair loss or damage eventually. On occasion it’s fine, but if you regularly damage your hair like this you will see the effects of it.

So, if you washed your hair with warm water, blasted it with hot air, then applied even more heat to your strands? Just… no. Stop it. If you care about your hair’s health even a tiny bit, you will avoid doing all this damage to it.

However, there is a way to go through this entire process, including straightening, without sacrificing the health of your hair.

Keeping your hair full and healthy doesn’t take much effort, the only thing that matters is how mindful you are. Once you get into the routine you will realize that it’s actually much more manageable than you would think at first and it will come as second nature to you.

How to avoid heat damage to your hair?

This is the key question to everything. You can do whatever you want to your hair, as long as you keep the damage to a minimum. And there are plenty of ways for that.

Water temperature

First of all, keep the water temperature at a reasonable level. You can boil yourself the same as the frog and while your skin might bounce right back as long as you don’t give yourself actual burns, your hair won’t. Your scalp is extremely sensitive and not as used to extreme temperatures as other parts of your skin, so take care of it. When you step into the shower the first thing you should do it put your head under the water. If it feels nice and warm, then it’s fine. If it’s even a little too hot then you should turn the temperature down.

As said before, warmth also opens up your follicles. This isn’t inherently bad, however, it can lead to damage if you don’t pay attention. in your next steps.

Hair drying

Let’s state the obvious first: the deciding factor here is your hair’s texture. Curly hair gets damaged by moisture if left long enough, while thin and straight hair will be just fine if you let it air dry.

The best case scenario would be to avoid the hair dryer altogether. Towels can damage your hair just as much, so a hair towel is recommended. Although a T-shirt will suffice just fine if you don’t have one. Either way, don’t rub your hair with it. It will thin your hair, tangle it and just generally damage it, it’s not worth it one way or another. Instead, scrunch your hair up with the fabric repeatedly. This will soak up much more of the moisture and if you have a curl pattern then it will show up much more.

There is a chance that you don’t have the time to dry your hair like this. That’s fine, as long as there is a cold setting on your hair dryer. Most modern ones have this option, so you should be fine, although drying your hair this way will still take a little more time than usual.

Straightening

Straightening isn’t a process that you can do cold or without too much warmth. It’s exactly the heat that breaks a certain bond within the hair that would keep the keratin in place. While the bond is broken the keratin can move just a bit, as long as the heat is kept up, so it will assume a new place within the hair strand. Since the iron used for straightening is flat, the keratin will also fall straight into the new flat chain.

The only thing you can do at this point is to try to get the straightening over as quickly as possible.

• Do it quickly, but efficiently. Avoid going over the same lock several times. Heating it up and then cooling it down, can have a very damaging effect.
• Hold the iron tight, move slowly, and learn how fast your hair can straighten.

This way you can avoid excess heat in the future.

Get a heat protectant for your hair

Heat protectants are a godsend if you regularly dry your hair with a machine and/or straighten it. A heat protectant is a simple spray that only takes a few seconds to apply but will save you a lot of trouble in the long run. 

It isn’t expensive either, so you will be much better off, you can even get one from the supermarket or Superdrug/Holland and Barrett and it will work just as well.

You can apply a coat of it just before drying your hair or if you prefer to air dry it, then you can apply it whenever you decide to straighten your hair. It can also help in the summer since it can help eliminate the damage from the sun.

If you are the kind of person who likes to spend a lot of time outside during the summer and especially if you like sunbathing, then a heat protectant is an absolute must.

Hopefully we’ve helped to answer the question about can you straighten your hair after drying it. Let us know what you think in the comments, or share you own tips!