Blowouts Vs. Flat Iron

Are blowouts less damaging then flat ironing. Or are they both bad?

jennifer30 said:

Are blowouts less damaging then flat ironing. Or are they both bad?

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I'll say flat ironing is more damaging as it is direct heat.

That is why I am still hunting for the best (doable) DYI blowout tutorial

I think it depends on your hair and how high you set your flat iron temperature.

I find blow drying very drying to my hair but I try to blow dry my hair dry from a wet state. From my reading I understand I should be blow drying my hair from a nearly dry state. When I blow dry my hair my ends suffer severely.

However, if I roller set and or let my hair air dry my hair seems to come out better. Because I can control the temperature of my flat iron I find that I can flat iron on a reasonable temperature and it doesn't dry out my hair or cause breakage.

Some people can blow dry and flat iron without any significant impact. This is where you have to know your hair. Just pay attention to your hair after you blow dry it and flat iron. Make sure you use the correct products: conditioners, protein conditioners and heat protectants.

I say that neither are bad. You just need to know your hair and know what you are doing.

I haven't done either since I've gone natural three years ago but if I were to guess, I would say flat-ironing is more damaging.

(Note: I don't consider curls loosened by heat tools "damage". Below, I'm talking about actual damage to your strands such as split ends etc. If you're talking about a loosening of a curl pattern, that's something different IMO.)

In my experience, using a quality flat iron with ceramic plates that emit even heat will give you less damage than using a blow dryer. Blow drying is a lot of manipulation on hair in its weakest state (wet), plus it tends to dry out the hair and rough up the cuticle.

I've seen a ton of long, healthy-haired beauties who either airdry or rollerset and flat iron weekly. I don't see many long, healthy-haired beauties who blow dry weekly and do some sort of stretched style.

YMMV however. I find that I can do either or (either blowdry or flat iron) regularly (for me roughly every other week) and still retain length/healthy hair.

Ultimately you have to know/learn your hair, and know/learn how to use heat tools to avoid damaging your strands. Anything can cause damage if you don't know what you're doing.

tapioca_pudding said:

In my experience, using a quality flat iron with ceramic plates that emit even heat will give you less damage than using a blow dryer. Blow drying is a lot of manipulation on hair in its weakest state (wet), plus it tends to dry out the hair and rough up the cuticle.

I've seen a ton of long, healthy-haired beauties who either airdry or rollerset and flat iron weekly. I don't see many long, healthy-haired beauties who blow dry weekly and do some sort of stretched style.

YMMV however. I find that I can do either or (either blowdry or flat iron) regularly (for me roughly every other week) and still retain length/healthy hair.

Ultimately you have to know/learn your hair, and know/learn how to use heat tools to avoid damaging your strands. Anything can cause damage if you don't know what you're doing.

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But how do you flat iron without blowdrying first? Don't you have to blowdry first? Or am I mistaken?

Crystalicequeen123 said:

But how do you flat iron without blowdrying first? Don't you have to blowdry first? Or am I mistaken?

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As long as your hair is dried in a stretched state, you can flat iron. I air dry in braids/twists, roller set, etc and proceeded to flat iron with stellar results.

Crystalicequeen123 said:

But how do you flat iron without blowdrying first? Don't you have to blowdry first? Or am I mistaken?

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Not always. I have fine hair and if I rollerset first my hair gets pretty straight and I can flat iron with decent results. I only blow dry because I'm not so great at rollersetting and I don't get my ends as straight as I want.

tapioca_pudding said:

As long as your hair is dried in a stretched state, you can flat iron. I air dry in braids/twists, roller set, etc and proceeded to flat iron with stellar results.

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Hmmm!!!!

Very interesting! Thank you for this info!

I never even thought this was possible because whenever I air dry my hair almost always seems to dry hard....

How long does it take you to air dry, and do you usually wait a day in between? (ie. wash hair, twist, air dry, wrap, go to sleep on it, then that following evening you flat iron?)

KammyGirl said:

Not always. I have fine hair and if I rollerset first my hair gets pretty straight and I can flat iron with decent results. I only blow dry because I'm not so great at rollersetting and I don't get my ends as straight as I want.

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Thanks for this info as well! I have fine-hair also (and low-med density), so I'm always worried about flat ironing or putting direct heat on my hair, but now that I'm hearing how you ladies are doing it I may try my hand at it.

Do you find that your hair STAYS straight as long as if you were to blow dry it and flat iron?

I just feel like air drying/rollersetting and then flat ironing would eventually be subject to humidity...

I think the right tools, techniques and products make the difference. I think you can do both safely without adverse effects when it's done correctly.