How 3 Months Without Straighteners Improved My Hair Health

As someone who's had bleached hair for 15 years, I wouldn't say “hair health” has ever been at the top of my agenda. Sure, I'd love to have glossy, shiny, and long locks, but getting the perfect ashy-but-creamy bright-but-not-white blonde has always been my priority above all else.I'm also partial to heat styling and have used a hair dryer, hair straightener, and the occasional hot brush for just as many years. At some points every single day. Usually it's to tame frizz and revive three-day hair, rather than to manage texture, but I have definitely been guilty of reaching for the ghds as default when my lid just looks a bit ‘off.’And while my hair type is fine-but-full (I have a lot of dense hair, but the individual strands are thin), all of this inevitably took its toll on the quality, thickness, and length of my hair. See Exhibit A:This picture was taken at the beginning of the year, when my hair was visibly broken, damaged, and breaking off. On the reasons why, Charlie Illi, top stylist and advanced technician at Brooks & Brooks, explains, “Hair is made primarily of keratin, and its outer layer (the cuticle) works like protective roof tiles, shielding the hair from damage. When straighteners, tongs, or even hair dryers are used repeatedly at high temperatures, the cuticle can begin to lift, weaken, and wear away.”“As this protective layer becomes compromised, the hair loses moisture more quickly, starts to feel rougher, tangles more easily, and becomes far more prone to split ends and breakage,” says Illi. “Heat damage rarely happens overnight. It builds gradually, often going unnoticed until the hair begins to feel fragile, dry, or starts snapping.”While I tried bond repair treatments like K18 and the L’Oréal Professional Metal Detox range to fix the problem, my hair felt beyond the point of no return. I was in a constant cycle of my hair looking crappy because it was so damaged, and trying to make it look better by using hair straighteners, which in turn made the hair more damaged, and so the cycle went on.Aware that it was probably a problem I couldn't fix by chucking money at it, I went hair straighteners cold turkey, instead relying on a medium-heat hair dryer only. I tried to wash and style my hair three times a week maximum, using a mixture of shampoos and conditioners, the Ouai Leave-in Conditioner and L’Oréal Paris Elvive Bond Repair Serum (my favorite), while avoiding taming the frizz with my trusty iron plates.In total, I went 12 weeks straight without using hair straighteners, and in the eight weeks since, have used them about three times (needs must). Here's where I'm at now:“The hair looks calmer, smoother, and less distressed,” Illi says of Exhibit B. "There still appears to be some existing damage through the lengths and ends because damaged hair can’t fully reverse itself, but the overall texture looks less brittle. The hair looks like it is retaining moisture better and sitting with more natural weight."To avoid future damage, she added, "Be gentle when brushing, avoid rough towel drying, use a wide-tooth comb, and protect the hair from heat, ultraviolet, pollution, and hard water where possible. You can absolutely improve the shine, strength, and manageability of damaged hair—but the most compromised areas usually need to be grown out and trimmed away over time."I'd call that before-and-after a win!Dusty Baxter-Wright is an award-winning journalist and the Entertainment and Lifestyle Director at Cosmopolitan, having previously worked at Sugarscape. She was named one of PPA’s 30 Under 30 for her work covering pop culture, careers, interiors and travel, and oversees the site’s Entertainment and Lifestyle strategy across print, digital and video. As a journalist for the best part of a decade, she has interviewed everyone from Louis Theroux and Channing Tatum to Margot Robbie and Ncuti Gatwa, while she has also spoken on Times Radio and BBC Radio. You can find her on Twitter and Instagram here.