4 Ways Flatirons Can Damage Your Hair

Flatirons are a common tool at home or the salon to help sisters achieve their desired hairstyle. But over time, how can heat affect your hair? We’ve compiled a few tips to consider when using flatirons. Your Hair Is Just Like Your Skin The hair shaft is a delicate structure with two main layers: the inner core and the outer coating. (It can also be divided into three separate layers: the cortex, cuticle and medulla.) A healthy hair strand has a uniform structure with a hollow, water-and-air-filled medulla and a smooth cuticle. This allows light to pass through it, giving it an internal glow (translucent center) and an external, reflective shine (smooth cuticle). Excessive heat can damage all of these important layers. RELATED: Salon-Healthy Hair…At Home Some Heat-Styling Tools Deplete Hair of Its Natural Moisture Over-applying heat to your hair when it is already dry causes brittleness, breakage, dullness and dryness to the point where hair is stripped of its natural moisture, causing your cuticles to dry and snap off. Some Irons Are Better Than Others Hair straightening tools use the natural moisture content of your hair to create a new style. However, if the proper care is not taken,...