HOW TO AVOID DANDRUFF WHEN FLAT IRONING

Flat irons and straighteners can be damaging to your hair and scalp, but it is possible to minimize this and avoid dandruff.

The damage caused by flat irons comes from two main sources:

• the heat generated by flat irons can dry out your scalp

• the heat and pulling motion of using straighteners can harm and even strip hair’s cuticle.

Heat from flat irons close to the scalp can damage its moisture barrier, allowing moisture to escape.

This in turn can cause the scalp to become dry and flaky.

Dryness is one of the major symptoms of dandruff. By exacerbating that, hair straighteners can also make a dandruff problem appear worse.

Add to that the itching associated with the irritation, you can actually do more damage to the scalp.

How to straighten the right way

In order to keep your hair and scalp healthy when straightening it, there are a few things to keep in mind:

• Keep the flat iron on a lower setting. Hair becomes damaged above 350 Fahrenheit (180°C), so keeping the temperature around this point will minimize the harm

• Straighten your hair only when it’s dry, as wet hair is more easily damaged at lower temperatures

• Be gentle when straightening your hair, so that you do not pull it unnecessarily

• Use a good conditioner to help the flat iron slide more easily down your hair strands without damaging them.