Stressed Hair Feels the Heat

Having a bad hair day? Stressed hair can have you looking and feeling frazzled.

Exposure to sun, humidity, chlorine and seawater are just some of the environmental factors that ‘stress the hair out’, not to mention the additional stress your locks undergo when styling. Because your hair doesn’t have any nerve endings, it isn’t able to alert the brain the heat is getting too hot.

“Continually high stress levels may even cause hair loss,” says Jason Frichol, Head of Marketing for Braun in South Africa. “Instead of pulling out your hair in despair, try tuning things down a little. Give your hair and yourself a rest, don’t schedule any too elaborate and demanding treatments in times of stress and use only high-quality styling tools that don’t damage your hair with excessive heat,” he says.

Ideally Frichol suggests that you never use temperatures above 200°C on your hair. If you have fine hair, a safe styling temperature would be between 130°C – 160°C. If your hair is normal, colored or bleached a temperature of 160°C – 180°C is recommended and strong, thick hair can work within temperatures of between 180°C – 200°C.

Independent research has also shown that temperatures above 200°C can produce visible changes to your hair, accelerate color loss and even destroy your hair's structure, while styling at 230°C your hair's strength and elasticity is reduced by up to 50% — permanently.