In the same way that you wouldn’t just sit under the hot sun without putting on sunscreen, you absolutely should not put a 400-degree hot tool on your hair without first using a heat protectant. These necessary hair-care products build a boundary between your hair and the heat, which staves off breakage, frizz, and all-around damage to the follicle.
According to cosmetic chemist Ginger King, you’ll want to look for products with ingredients like meadowfoam seed oil and VP/DMAPA acrylates copolymer, both of which “form a shield” to prevent heat damage. But those aren’t the only protective ingredients out there; brands use a range of familiar additives like aloe and argan oil to help seal the hair cuticle and keep heat from scorching your precious hair.
If you like to style your hair with a hair-dryer and curling iron, stylist Sarah Potempa recommends a flexible, lightweight formula that plays well with tools like the Nexxus Weightless Style Prep & Protect Leave-In Hair Spray. But if you have textured hair and are more interested in enhancing your natural waves, she suggests focusing on a product that’s more moisturizing and conditioning like Mielle Organics’s Mongongo Oil Thermal & Heat Protectant Spray. Folks with fine hair should look for light sprays that won’t weigh your hair down.
To help narrow down the best heat-protectant sprays out there, we asked Potempa, Williams, and several other hairstylists to share their go-to products. Each stylist had not one, but multiple favorites, which work across a range of hair textures and styling needs.
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