by Kelsey (pictured above) of Lifewithcoco2
Some say that if your hair will not revert back to its natural pattern after straightening, then it is heat damaged, while another person considers it heat trained. I never really thought about it much until it happened to me. When my ends wouldn’t revert, I would just automatically declare my hair to be heat damaged. Generally I consider my hair to be pretty healthy. I don’t have severe spit ends (I say “severe” because I believe everyone has at least a couple, especially curly girls). My hair is very shiny and retains moisture well.
Recently, I cut off a few straight pieces because they looked terrible and out of place on a head full of curls. I found myself calling those pieces, “heat damaged.” Later, I realized the actual strands of hair were not exactly ‘damaged’, they were just permanently straight. Let me explain. The strands were still shiny and there were no split ends, they just would no longer curl. I tried putting extra product on them. I tried air drying instead of diffusing and I even tried to sleep without putting my hair in a pineapple because it was stretching out the hair even more. Nothing worked, so I cut them off.
When I examined the strands, I realized that they were still shiny and healthy like the rest of my hair but they were just bone straight. Then I remembered how often I straightened my hair when I had a relaxer (at least once a week) and consistently experienced breakage. I didn’t retain any length due to the split ends I was afraid to cut for some silly reason.
The conclusion I came up with, in my particular case, is there is a difference between having heat damaged hair and heat trained hair. I’ve concluded that heat damaged hair is hair that lacks luster, looks dry, constantly breaks, is brittle, and is not able to retain length. Heat trained hair is hair that is still healthy but will no longer revert to its natural pattern because of the use of heat.
What are your thoughts? Do you think that there is a difference between heat damaged hair and heat trained hair?
About Kelsey: I’m Kelsey Janae aka Lifewithcoco2, I love all things natural hair. I seek to inspire and educate using my knowledge of all things hair, health, and beauty. My goal is to encourage women and men to always be the best version of themselves.
