by Aisling Keenan
29th Sep 2020
29th Sep 2020
Hair protection sprays might seem like an unnecessary step in your haircare routine, but if you’re heat treating your hair on a regular basis with straighteners and dryers, you need one.
Heat protection for your hair is as vital, to my mind, as SPF for your face. There’s no point in using expensive shampoo, the best conditioner and then scalding your hair with hot tools, and then wondering why your hair is broken and damaged.
What do they do?
Just like the ingredients in SPF acts like a barrier between the sun and your skin, the silicones in heat protectors do that for your hair. They form a protective barrier over the cuticle of the hair strand, and it will also protect your locks from damage caused by UV rays.
They also trap moisture. They seal off your hair, keeping in any moisture that could potentially be ‘burned’ off if you like, by the heat of your dryer, straightener or curling tongs. Many also have styling benefits like added volume, shine or staying power.
Do I really need one?
I learned many hair lessons the hard way, and this was certainly one of them. You absolutely don’t need one – in the same way no one NEEDS primer or hair masks or setting spray. But if hair health and damage avoidance are of interest to you, I would absolutely make the investment. Luckily, there’s a decent one for every budget out there..
The heat protection products I turn to time and again are as follows:
L’Oréal Elnett Heat Protect Styling Spray
Kérastase Discipline Fluidissime Leave-in
ghd Heat Protect Spray
Photography by Jason Lloyd Evans.
Read more: The best hair products to get bounce, body and shine according to lead stylist Alex Keville
Read more: The ‘skinification’ of hair: the new haircare routine
Read more: These are the products haircare professionals are using to get glossy locks at home
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