Meet the Hottest New Thermal Protectant Spray to Protect Hair from Heat Styling
We’re diligent about protecting our skin. We hide under beach umbrellas, meticulously apply sunscreen, and smooth on creams and serums that counteract harsh weather conditions. Yet we routinely use heat tools that fry our hair to a crisp and don’t protect us from heat styling damage!
Hair needs protection too—which is why you need to use a thermal protectant spray before wielding a curling iron, straight iron, or even just a blow dryer. Sauce Beauty’s Thermal Protectant Spray Hot Sauce contains a unique blend of natural, food-inspired ingredients like capsicum frutescens oleoresin (aka cayenne pepper extract) and aloe barbadenis leaf juice (aloe), which nourish not just your strands but your scalp too—and a healthy scalp leads to healthy hair.
How Heat Hurts Your Hair
High temps on your head can harm your strands in a variety ways. When you blow-dry your hair, you not only remove water that has collected on the surface of each strand from your shower (or your particularly sweaty workout), but also the moisture that naturally clings to the cuticle. So frequent blow-drying, especially with high heat, leaves the cuticle dry and prone to breakage. Curling irons and flat irons wreak their own kind of havoc: Applying a hot iron to your hair causes the cuticle to crack. (Think of how a log starts to splinter when you toss it in the fire.)
The Heat Styling Bodyguards
Sauce Beauty Thermal Protectant Spray Hot Sauce acts as a buffer between your hair and heat (up to 450 degrees), protecting it from heat styling damage. It contains silicones that coat the hair cuticle, preventing heat from seeping in. (It’s like putting on a long sleeve shirt at the beach to keep the sun from scorching your skin). Dimethicone and dimethiconal, are the two main silicones in the Thermal Protectant Spray Hot Sauce—and they both do pretty much the same thing. They create a barrier against harsh heat, and because the coating they create is soft (yet non greasy), they also make hair feel smooth and silky—while reducing frizz and tangling. Another silicone, an especially lightweight one called cyclopentasiloxane, is added to further condition and soften hair, and phenyl trimethicone helps out by both improving hair texture and repairing heat damage.
The Scalp Saver
When your hair is being exposed to harsh temps, you need to give your scalp extra TLC. We tend to forget that our scalp is skin, and that it needs to be nurtured like the rest of the skin on our body. A scaly, flaky scalp—caused by dead skin cell build up—can impact hair growth and health, and free radical damage can age hair in the same way it ages skin. A study published in the International Journal of Trichology found that oxidative stress (another way of saying free radical damage) is associated with hair loss and graying. The researchers pointed out that free radical action increases with age, while antioxidant production decreases (antioxidants are the body’s first line of defense against free radicals). So you need to pile on extra antioxidants to compensate, especially as you get older.
Sauce Beauty spikes their Thermal Protectant Spray Hot Sauce recipe with cayenne pepper extract, as this spicy seasoning has been shown to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory superpowers, found a study published in the journal Antioxidants. It also boosts blood flow in the scalp. This is important because blood delivers oxygen and nutrients to cells, and whisks away waste like evil free radicals. For these reasons, cayenne has long been known as potent a hair remedy. In fact, a survey that appeared in the journal BioMed Central Complementary & Alternative Medicine revealed that Palestinian women mix it with olive oil and vinegar and apply it topically to treat scalp and hair issues.
The Heat Styling Damage Hydrators
So while the silicones in the Thermal Protectant Spray Hot Sauce are keeping heat from penetrating the cuticle, and cayenne is nourishing your scalp, aloe is busy replenishing lost moisture and guarding whatever natural moisture you already may have. This prevents breakage (hydrated strands are less likely to fray) and keeps hair smooth and silky, regardless of how often it’s being blasted with a blow dryer or curled with an iron. Like cayenne, it’s also antioxidant rich and anti-inflammatory—plus it’s chemically similar to the keratin in your hair and full of amino acids. And if you happen to suffer from an itchy scalp or dandruff, it can help out with that too, found a study from the Journal of Dermatological Treatment.
The same study that showed that Palestinian women use cayenne to improve their hair and scalp health also found that Palestinian women boil aloe leaves and apply them directly to their hair, or apply aloe alone or combined with another oil. Sauce Beauty pairs aloe with argan kernel oil, which is rich in fatty acids and vitamin E, making hair super soft and shiny.
Prevent Heat Styling Damage
Once hair is dry (either air dried or blown dry—air drying is preferable for obvious reasons!), hold the nozzle of the bottle about six inches away from your hair. Spritz a light, even amount all over your head to coat strands before using your desired heat tool (curling iron or straight iron). Comb through, then you can go ahead and style as usual. While you want to coat your head evenly with product, you don’t have to go crazy. Just like with real hot sauce, a little goes a long way.