Protect your hair from heat damage with the best hair heat protection products of 2024.
In this guide, we’ve compiled 15 proven products that shield your hair from styling tools while keeping it healthy and shiny.
Discover the top choices to keep your locks safe and beautiful.
Table of content
What is a heat protectant?
A heat protectant is a leave-in product applied to hair before using heat styling tools to minimize damage. It acts like sunscreen for your hair, shielding it from high temperatures. Ideal for bleached, colored, damaged, or thin hair, effective heat protectants contain silicone, protein, and moisturizing ingredients.
They come in various forms, including sprays, creams, and serums.
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What are the best heat protectant products?
Here are some of the best heat protection products to buy:
1. Best overall: Scandinavian Biolabs Hair Protection Oil
Scandinavian Biolabs Hair Protection Oil is a salon-grade vegan product that helps protect and nourish all types of hair. Carefully crafted with a blend of natural oils, it helps promote hydration and reduce frizz while shielding hair from heat damage.
With its unique combination of ingredients, the Hair Protection Oil is tested and proven to protect hair strands from temperatures up to 230°C, while remaining free of silicones and fragrances.
Perfect for natural and all types of hair, this oil is dermatologically tested and made in Denmark for top-notch quality you can trust.
2. Best budget: Odele Leave-in Detangling Tonic
This salon-grade lightweight leave-in conditioner is milky magic and works effectively as a multitasker. With amino acids and plant proteins, this daily tonic hydrates, detangles, shines, and protects hair from environmental damage and heat styling.
As its name suggests, it also protects against heat and environmental damage and gets even the toughest knots out cost-effectively. The price you're paying compared to the value you're getting is unbeatable.
3. Best for natural hair: Gisou Honey Infused Leave-In Conditioner
This brand is a favorite of ours due to its signature honey and propolis blend, which nourishes natural textures and adds shine simultaneously.
Honey from a sustainable source, which is full of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and antioxidants, fixes and heals, and propolis adds texture and shape. In addition, it protects you from dangerous ultraviolet rays.
4. Best for colored hair: Purology Fanatic Multi-Tasking Hair Protectant Spray
Even before you apply heat to it with a curling or flat iron, hair that has been colored or treated in some other way is already at a disadvantage.
The reason for this is that because the coloring process causes damage to the hair, using hot tools on colored hair can make the situation even worse. Pureology Color thermally styles natural hair with a thermistor, making it the best choice for colored hair.
5. Best for curly hair: Mixed Chicks Straightening Serum
Without a doubt, curly hair is more beautiful than straight hair. However, people with amazing natural curls sometimes want a sleek style, which calls for a heat protectant that can seriously reduce the risk of hair damage.
This straightening serum, which contains chamomile, goldenseal, and rosemary extracts, should be applied to wet hair before styling to make the hair smooth and free of frizz.
In addition to protecting the hair from the effects of heat, it also shields the strands from the effects of humidity for up to a full day.
Read this: The Curly Girl Method UK: The Foolproof Guide To Perfect Curls
6. Best for split ends: TRESemmé Thermal Creations Heat Tamer Spray
With TRESemmé's thermal heat spray, you can eliminate split ends and dry, brittle strands. It also gives your hair a lot of nourishment on a reasonable budget.
Even if you style your hair daily, you can keep it healthy and hydrated by spraying a vitamin-enriched product from the middle of the shaft to the ends before applying heat.
7. Best for UV protection: Sun Bum Heat Protector
Sun Bum Heat Protector blocks UV rays from fading and drying out strands while also adding a lustrous shine. It also has anti-frizz and humidity properties, which are useful in the summer. It's made to speed up blow-drying time indoors, so hair is less likely to break.
To use this sun bum heat protector, you should first dry your hair with a towel. After giving the formula a quick shake to combine the clear and turquoise components, spray it directly onto the hair and style it as desired.
When your hair is dry, you'll notice a sleek, smooth finish due to the inclusion of noni, a vitamin C-rich fruit that hydrates and nourishes hair.
This heat protectant also contains giant sea kelp extract, which gives hair a glossy, high-shine finish and protects it from heat.
8. Best drugstore: Pantene Pro-V Heat Primer Thermal Heat Protectant
It's possible that you use heated styling tools regularly and go through protective products like water, but it's also possible that you don't like to spend a lot of money on your haircare routine. In either case, this drugstore heat protectant is a great pick.
Before you begin styling your hair, spray it all over, then stand back and watch the heat-resistant polymers in the formula work their magic to protect your hair from the heat up to 450 degrees.
9. Best oil treatment: Olaplex No.7 Bonding Oil
It is difficult to choose a favorite product from this company; however, their No. 7 Bonding Oil is truly magic in a bottle because it dramatically improves the hair's glossiness, vibrancy, and overall softness.
The weightless, highly concentrated oil fights frizzy hair, tames flyaways, and repairs damaged hair while protecting against UV and heat up to 450 degrees. After styling, it can be used as a shine oil because it's lightweight.
10. Best for moisture lock: Oribe Balm D’Or Heat Styling Shield
This product protects hair from heat up to 450 degrees, tames frizz, and gives dry hair back its moisture. It shields your hair from the damaging effects of heat styling.
This lightweight styler with heat-activated polymer technology protects and feeds fragile hair while you blow-dry, straighten, or curl it.
11. Sulfate-free: EverPure Sulfate-Free Weightless Blow Dry Primer
Heat protectants from drugstores perform just as well as those from salons. But if you have colored hair or problems with your scalp that can be caused by product buildup, it's important to choose products without silicone and sulfate. In this regard, this EverPure Blow Dry Primer is the best pick.
12. Best for detangling: Loreal Professionnel Mythic Oil
The Mythic Oil Original from L'Oréal Professionnel is a multi-purpose argan hair oil designed for professionals that also provides protection against heat styling.
Professionally powered, highly concentrated oils nourish dry hair, enhance shine, and tame frizz. Its lightweight, fluid texture makes hair drying easy for silky, beautiful hair from root to tip.
This product is great for removing tangles and adding shine to your hair after you wash it and before or after you blow dry it. In addition to that, you can use it as an overnight treatment before washing your hair. L'Oreal's best-selling oil protects hair from heat up to 230 degrees.
13. Best for fine hair: BIOLAGE Thermal Active Spray
If you have fine hair, this protective spray is for you because it protects your strands from the damaging effects of heat and gives your hair more body and volume. For even results, spray thermal protectant on dry hair in sections before using a hot tool.
14. Best cream formula: Miracle Blow Dry Balm
Try out this formula, which is weightless even though it's a cream. It seals out moisture to prevent frizz and shields the hair from even the most direct heat, such as that produced by curling irons and straighteners. It makes the hair shiny and silky, and it eliminates frizz.
Because of its dense consistency, a hair balm can sometimes be applied directly to the scalp, but it is not advised to do so more frequently than twice or thrice per week. It could damage your hair if used too often. However, always follow what is stated on the bottles.
15. Best hair straightening- Garnier Fructis Style Flat Iron Perfector Straightening Mist
Try this pleasant-smelling spray on dry hair if you use your flat iron after a workout or a night out. It gives you a 48-hour straight finish by protecting your hair from flat iron heat up to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
How do heat protectants work?
Heat protectants work by creating a barrier that shields hair from heat damage caused by styling tools. They contain humectants to retain moisture, amino acids to strengthen hair, and silicones to slow heat transfer and seal the cuticle.
"Using a heat protectant is crucial for maintaining hair health while styling, as it significantly reduces damage," says Dr. Ahmad Chaudhry M.D.
While they reduce heat damage by about 50%, incorporating a good hair care routine is essential for optimal protection.
Benefits of using a heat protectant
Here are some benefits of using a heat protectant before working with any heating tool:
1. Restore moisture
Heat styling tools dry out your hair, which makes sense because that's how they keep your hairstyle in place. But if you use a hair protector or heat protection for hair, you add more moisture to your hair and keep it silky and smooth.
In the same way, it prevents moisture from escaping your hair, which in turn helps it remain healthier.
2. Damage and frizz control
A hair protector prevents your hair from becoming damaged in undesirable ways, as its name implies. Your heat protectant for your hair makes a barrier that prevents it from getting frizzy and protects it from heat.
3. Smooth cuticles
Many hair heat protection products are made with special ingredients that protect your hair from the damage caused by heat and make it smooth and healthy. Hair cuticles strengthen and protect the inner hair shaft.
The cuticles can get rough and break when your hair is exposed to heat. If you use a hair heat protection product, this won't happen, and your hair will look beautiful.
What to look for in hair heat protection spray?
If you're using a product on your hair, skin, or nails, you make sure it's natural and compatible with your hair, skin, and nail types.
So, if we talk specifically about heat protection spray, here's a checklist of what to look for when purchasing heat protectant spray.
Ingredients
A heat protectant with strengthening ingredients can help prevent heat-induced damage. There are numerous viable options, including amino acids, keratin, coconut oil, and wheat protein.
Keratin strengthens hair by increasing its ability to retain moisture. Also, coconut oil can nourish hair if combined with the right ingredients in a heat protection spray.
Maximum protection
Heat-protective hair products are essential. So, make sure your heat protectant has silicone to coat and protect your hair from heat damage.
Two silicones that are often found in heat-protectant sprays are cyclomethicone and dimethicone. Cyclomethicone coats your hair in a moisturizing film, and dimethicone keeps hair smooth and stops moisture loss.
Type of applicator
When it comes to giving your hair a new look, the technique you use to apply a product is just as important as the product itself. This is the factor that determines how effectively the product is applied to your hair.
You should look for a spray nozzle that distributes the product evenly in the form of a fine mist if you want a good mist of heat protectant. This will ensure that it coats all of your strands evenly without causing any of them to become wet.
Conclusion
Heat-protecting products have a mix of humectants, proteins, and plant extracts that help seal moisture in your hair. However, they do not serve as hair insulators. They can only attempt to lessen the direct heat that is applied to the hair.
Even though we strongly suggest that you style your hair after using a heat protectant, you can choose any heat-protecting spray or serum from the list we've made for your convenience. However, hair protection oil from Scandinavian Biolabs is our top pick.
In addition to using a heat protectant, you should take care of your hair in other ways to prevent heat damage.
Also, here's a free piece of advice: to protect your hair from getting damaged, ensure the temperature of your styling tool is never higher than 350 degrees.
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