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Can You Straighten Wet Hair or Damp Hair: Is it Bad? What Happens

Straighten Wet Hair or Damp Hair

Your hair is at its weakest when it is wet and straightening your hair when wet or damp can be a tough experience. In this article we try to answer multiple questions like Can You Straighten Wet Hair or Damp Hair, Is It Bad to Straighten Wet Hair, What Happens If You Straighten Wet Hair & How to Straighten Wet Hair Correctly.

Can You Straighten Wet Hair Or Damp Hair?

No please avoid using a flat iron to straighten either wet hair or damp hair as it may cause a lot of long-term damage to your hair. Even if your hair is only damp and not wet it is still at risk of damage including hair breakage and the only time you should use flat iron on your hair is when it is completely dry. There are modern wet-to-dry styling tools that you can still use to straighten wet hair but a traditional flat iron has to be avoided at all costs.

Is It Bad to Straighten Wet Hair?

Yes, it is bad to use a flat iron to straighten either wet hair or damp hair it can cause a lot of damage to your hair including hair breakage or maybe even burning off your hair it should strictly be avoided at all costs.

What Happens If You Straighten Wet Hair or Damp Hair?

When you straighten wet hair or damp hair with a traditional flat iron it will suck the moisture suddenly from your hair leading to extreme dryness and hair breakage.  The temperature that your flat iron works are 365 to 446 degree Fahrenheit  (185 to 230 degrees Celsius) which is higher than the boiling point of water 212 degrees Fahrenheit (100 Degree Celsius)  and when you are using a flat iron on your wet or damp hair the water in your hair evaporates suddenly moving out from the cortex of your hair this will lead to frizzy and coarse hair at the minimum and hair breakage or burning of hair at worst. This damage cannot be protected by even using a heat protectant.

Should You Straighten Wet Hair?

Ideally, you should only straighten your hair only when it is 100% dry by using towel drying or air drying your hair but if you still want to straighten wet hair because you are running late then you should use a blow dry to dry your hair to 80% and only then try to style your hair and using some of the modern wet to dry stylers.

How to Straighten Wet Hair Correctly

The correct way to style your hair when wet is to use a blow dryer with a round brush and an attachment of a concentrator nozzle type. To Style your wet hair start the blow dryer and turn the round brush and move down the whole length of your hair while rotating the brush to ensure all strands of your hair are dry and styled.

If you are not up for blow drying your hair then you can use wet-to-dry styling tools to straighten your hair this however doesn’t mean using the old traditional flat iron but rather modern wet-to-dry styling tools which can handle the straightening of your hair or even curling your hair.

Tips to Protect Wet Hair  When Using Wet-to-Dry Styling Tools

These are some tips to help protect your hair when using wet-to-dry styling tools.

Apply Heat Protectant

Before using any wet-to-dry styling tools apply a heat protectant to your hair some recommendations are L’Oreal Paris EverPure Sulfate Free Weightless Blow Dry Primer or CHI 44 Iron Guard Thermal Protection Spray However this will not work if you are using a traditional flat iron.

Dry Your Hair

You will not be successful with styling your hair when wet the best way to style your hair is to let it Towel dry or air dry and then style it however if you are in a hurry make sure that you blow dry your hair to make it at least 80% dry before styling your hair. When you style your hair with at least 80% dry you can do the styling in half the time as compared to when it is wet and you will also cause less damage to your hair.

Oil Your Hair

When you apply any heat product to your hair it can take out moisture from your hair so it is always better to oil your hair all through the hair except on the roots this will end up hydrating your hair and help you avoid frizziness and dryness

Practical Tips to Style  Your Wet Hair

Condition Your Hair

If you use a conditioner on your hair then they moisturize your hair and if the hair is moisturized well it dries faster.

Towel Dry your Hair

Use a towel that has microfibers and you will be able to get your hair dry much faster When using a Microfibre towel use that to squeeze your hair and don’t rub your hair.

Try Washing Your Hair at Night

You can choose to wash your hair at night which will allow it the whole night to dry out and in the morning the hair will be dry and easier to style also since morning is the rush time it will save you time in the morning.

Try Skipping Washing Your Hair

You can simply choose not to wash your hair if you are in a rush and it will be easy to style.

Questions

Difference Between Damp Hair & Wet Hair

Wet hair is when you have just come out of the shower and your hair is completely dripping with water while damp hair is in the middle when your hair is slightly wet but is not dripping with water but is not completely dry either.

Should You Straighten Your Hair Everyday

No, you should not straighten your hair every day as straightening causes a lot of damage due to heat on your hair.

Hairspray  & Hair Straightening Before  or After

You should use a hair protectant spray before straightening your hair and you should follow it up with a regular spray after straightening to style your hair.

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