Hair Retains Heat

Hairdresser using heat on hair
Photo: Depositphotos
Q: Hello, I was wondering why my hair retains so much heat. It holds it up to 10 minutes after my stylist puts heat to it. She complains regularly because it's so hot to the touch that she nearly gets burned after using heat on it. Is there a way to help the heat cool off as well?
 
A: The answer to this question can get a bit technically complicated, but bear with me. There are two main reasons why hair gets exceptionally hot when coming into contact with heat.
 
Firstly it might be because your hair contains too little moisture. Hair that can retain a lot of moisture takes longer to heat up and the heat is more evenly distributed along the hair shaft, because there is a larger surface amount for the hair to be distributed. Water has the ability to absorb and give off heat.
 
Think about a shallow pond in direct sunlight. The water will steadily get warmer as the day wears on, and it will lose that heat again during the night. It’s the same concept with your hair. If there is very little moisture in your hair, the hair structure itself will heat up very quickly, and as the hair shaft tends to retain heat, it can stay very hot for an extended amount of time.
 
In this case, I would suggest that you buy a moisture rich treatment that you can apply once weekly to your own hair. Apply the treatment to your hair after you have washed it and while it’s still wet. Leave the treatment on for 20-30 minutes before you rinse it. You should also go for a monthly salon-professional treatment done by your hairdresser. As the moisture content in your hair increases, your hair should be able to distribute the heat along the increased surface available within the hair, meaning that your hair won’t get so hot.
 
Secondly, the reason for this intensive heating-up phenomenon can be caused by a layer of product build-up around the circumference of the hair shaft. This happens when products are used of which the compounds (amino acids, keratin protein, etc.) are structurally too large to penetrate the structure/cuticles of the hair. It can also be caused when an excessive amount of particularly moisture rich products are used too often on the hair, resulting in over-saturation of the hair shaft and clogging up of the structure of the hair.
 
The hair becomes so over-saturated that the products actually build up around the hair, causing a thick layer around it that can be difficult to be penetrated by shampoo and other cleansing products. The heat applied by the flat iron then literally sits on the surface of the hair, not being able to be absorbed into the structure of the hair, but still being trapped into the relatively thin layer of product build-up; causing it to burn the stylist.
 
In this case you’ll have to ask your hairdresser to take your hair through a cleansing and revitalizing process, where she will wash your hair with a strong, specially formulated shampoo that will strip the product build-up away. This shampoo can be damaging if it’s used too often or if it’s not used in conjunction with an aftercare treatment. She’ll then apply an intensive treatment with microscopic molecules that will replenish the hair’s structure but will not clog the cuticles up.
 
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See also: What are the physical effects of blow drying on the hair structure?