No-heat hair care: How to achieve great hair without heat styling

May 24

Constantly using heat styling tools such as blow dryers and hair straighteners can eventually damage your hair in the long run. Although we love our curls and jet black straight hair, we do recommend no-heat hair care once in a while. If you’re worried about getting the volume and the curls without heat, don’t! We have a few tips to help you out if you want to lay down on the heat styling.

Check labels and avoid foaming ingredients

Shampoos that lather are not doing your scalp any favors. Even natural and organic shampoos contain synthetically derived foaming agents or foaming ingredients to create lather. If your hair product contains sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) or sodium laureth sulfate (SLES), avoid them for the mean time because they strip the scalp of natural oils. Disrupting the cycle of oil production makes your scalp even greasier as it tries to overcompensate, and all that extra oil weighs your hair down.

Squeeze, don’t rub

Here’s another tip most hairstylists do: squeeze water out from your hair instead of rubbing with your towel. When you rub your hair to dry it, you create frizz and damage through friction. Gently squeezing removes more moisture and keeps your hair cuticles smooth.

If you're in a hurry to get your hair dry, squeeze it once while you're in the shower to get rid of most of the moisture then squeeze it again while it's wrapped in a towel. The towel is important for absorbing the moisture, but squeezing out the excess before doing so keeps the fabric from getting drenched.

Use extra absorbent towels like Aquazorb to cut out even more drying time.

Give your roots a lift

After you squeeze out the water from your hair, don’t brush or comb it immediately. Wait a while and air dry it while you do other tasks. To give it more volume, use volumizing sprays such as the Phytovolume Actif Volumizing Spray (P795 from Rustan's) or the Sea Spray Volumizing Hair Mist (P425 from Lush).

Using a boar bristle brush tames frizz without heat

The boar bristle brush isn't actually made from wild boar or hog hair, if you’re concerned. Most manufacturers use hair from domesticated or farm-raised animals. Boar bristle is known to be gentle on the hair and very similar to human hair. Because of this, boar bristle brush carries the sebum oil from the scalp and evenly distributes it throughout the rest of your hair. By doing so, you not only reduce the oil buildup on your scalp, you also condition your hair naturally with its own oils and add a healthy shine to it.

Tease at the roots

This is such an 80s trick, but hey, it still works. To tease without causing tangles, gather the hair at the crown of your head and backcomb, or tease gently two to three-inch sections down the roots. Brush with your fingertips to make the look softer.

Switch your part

This is the oldest trick in the book and also the easiest. Make sure you make a deep part by taking a comb and drawing a line starting from your eyebrow, moving diagonally back to the center of your crown.

Get a layered textured cut

If you’re a wash and wear kind of girl, ask your hairstylist to add layers to your ‘do to add volume without daily maintenance. For fine hair, ask for soft layers around the chin. If you have medium to thick hair, ask for choppy layers throughout.

Make curls with buns, flexi rods, or socks

If you you want sexy beach waves though, start setting your hair before you sleep! Take your damp, towel-dried hair and separate it into large or small sections, depending on your preference. Twist each section into a bun and secure with bobby pins. Remember that freshly washed hair will hold curls better than unwashed hair. You can also use socks or cheap, affordable flexi rods from SM for less than P200.