Heat Protectants: Hype or Necessity?

I was looking for some new hair videos to watch on Youtube yesterday and stumbled across an interesting video from a pretty popular natural hair vlogger. This young lady has been natural for 11 years and has seriously gorgeous, beautiful, amazing hair! In the video her hair fell maybe around MBL/WL, it was hard to tell because she did a quick picture collage; but once I stopped drooling over her hair and listened to what she was saying I was a little shocked. 

In the video she is seen flat ironing her hair and while she completes this process she explains why she does not use a heat protectant, that's right ladies, she said she DOES NOT use a heat protectant! Her reasons for skipping out on traditional heat protectant sprays was that she did not find they did anything special and her hair held up just fine without them. In her words "there is nothing that she could put on her hair that would protect it from 450 degree temperatures" and "heat protectants are for newbies in the hair game". She then explained that although she did not use a heat protectant in the traditional sense (i.e. sprays or serums) she did however use a good quality deep conditioner that contained silicones. I laughed a little at her language, but I suppose I don't entirely disagree with her. 


This young woman is not the only hair blogger I have encountered that does not use a heat protectant when heat styling - there is another young lady with absolutely gorgeous hair that seems to use a heat protectant whenever she remembers and her hair is still thriving. She also uses a high quality conditioner that contains silicones.

I did a little research and although the current consensus is that silicones are "bad" for the hair, there is research that also indicates silicones actually form a barrier on the hair - they are what give the hair slip when detangling, moisture, and shine. They also provide protection against high heat due to the barrier they form on the hair. I also read the labels on my current heat protectant spray and other common heat protectants and guess what they all had in common? Yup, they contained a silicone derivative. 


The idea of not using a heat protectant called my attention back to a post I did on dual purpose products and how my stylist never used a "heat protectant" in the traditional sense, but applied a serum (BioSilk) to my hair after washing and conditioning. BioSilk contains silicones, which is why she was able to forgo a typical heat protectant spray. 

KeraCare Conditioner 

So are heat protectant sprays and serums as necessary as we make them out to be? Or can we get away with simply conditioning and applying leave ins containing silicone to adequately protect our tresses during the heat styling process?


Although we may not agree on the type of heat protection to use, we can all agree that when heat styling to prevent excess damage our hair needs adequate protection to remain healthy and continue to thrive.

What are you using to protect your hair against heat?