The sound of sizzling hot tools and the smell of heated hair are core memories etched into the brains of many Black women. For many of us, our experiences with heat styling began at an early age. By elementary school, most of us were intimately acquainted with salon professionals or at-home kitchen beauticians (typically our mothers, grandmothers, or aunts), entrusting them to style our curls and coils for special occasions with the help of a pressing comb, blow dryer, flat iron, or curling iron. And as we enter our teen and adulthood years, our hot tool usage typically continues.
There's been a continuous pendulum swing in the Black community regarding the reasons behind hair straightening. Because we exist in a society that upholds white beauty standards, our natural hair has been demonized and discriminated against since slavery. This rampant prejudice and racist messaging amplified by the media brought way to the belief that to be "beautiful" or "successful," Black women have to straighten and alter their hair, leading to an increased desire to use hot tools or even chemical treatments like relaxers.
When we look back at just the past 30 years, straight styles or supermodel-esque blowouts were seen as a symbol of beauty in the '90s and early aughts, with Black It girls like Aaliyah or Naomi Campbell becoming synonymous with these sleek looks. However, as we moved toward the late 2000s and into the 2010s, a second wave of the natural hair movement (the first being during the Black Power movement of the '60s) took shape.
The resurgence in conversations about embracing one's curl pattern emerged as information became more readily available about the potential dangers of using relaxers (i.e., damaging one's hair, increasing the risk of fibroids1, and causing uterine cancer2) and as women started to care more about the visible effects of heat-styling. The movement—largely led by curly hair influencers like Whitney White, Rochelle Graham-Campbell, and Jessica Lewis—inspired countless Black women to reclaim the beauty of their texture and learn how to nurse their heat-damaged or chemically straightened hair back to health.
In 2024, we've reached a point where Black women feel more empowered and protected (thanks to laws like the CROWN Act) to embrace whatever hairstyle works best for their lifestyle. Some of us choose to wear our hair straight all the time, some choose to forego heat and only sport our curls, and some like to alternate between pressed and natural styles, depending on our mood. The beauty of the current heat-styling conversation is that it’s less about promoting one style as being better or more desirable than the other and more about prioritizing the integrity of your hair, no matter how you choose to wear it.
"When it comes to peoples' attitudes today, it's about heat styling responsibly if you choose to use hot tools," says beauty and style expert Kahh Spence. "I've had clients like Jhené Aiko who want to take a break from heat and focus on their curls. Then, I've had clients like Victoria Monét and Kelly Rowland who want to use heat in a healthy way. It's all about heat styling in a protective manner.”
Black women’s expansive perspectives on heat and affinity for style experimentation have made the 2010s and 2020s a turning point for the hot tool market. This has encouraged brands to take note of where the industry has been, where it currently is, and where it needs to go to ensure Black women can achieve their styling goals with ease and with as minimal heat damage as possible.
Meet the Expert
- Kahh Spence is a beauty and style expert with over ten years of hairstyling experience.
- Becki Penfold is Dyson's design manager.
- Ni'Kita Wilson is Pattern's vice president of product development.
- Scott Thomason is the CEO and founding partner of RevAir.
- Danielle Lessing is the senior vice president of product development at SharkNinja.
The Hot Tools of Decades Past
Though the beauty of a fresh silk press or bouncy roller set is undeniable, the wrong tools, temperatures, and techniques can quickly deteriorate hair health. It's widely known that heat styling inflicts damage over time on all hair types—with blow-dryers, in particular, weakening and rupturing the hair shaft3. But, according to the International Journal of Trichology, African hair is more susceptible to breakage, as it has a thinner cuticle layer.4
It will always be true that repeated exposure to heat styling and manipulation carries risks to your hair. However, the appliances and approaches used to style textured hair decades ago often exacerbated the issue. The pressing comb—a metal, heated comb with fine teeth designed to smooth hair from root to tip—was one of the earliest tools available to straighten Black hair.
White French hairdresser Marcel Grateau was credited as the earliest inventor in the 1800s. Later, in the 1920s, American patents for modified versions of the hot comb emerged, with African American inventor Walter Sammons receiving one in 1920 and Clara Grant in 1925. Throughout the remainder of the 20th century, hot combs remained a prominent styling tool and continued to evolve from the versions Grateau, Sammons, and Grant produced. Trendy brands like Gold N Hot Hair and Hot Tools Professional became known for offering advanced options with greater temperature control and improved user experience.
However, regardless of innovation, pressing comb usage paired with a heavy-handed application of grease, pomade, or oil (all used to prepare hair for styling) can lead to excessive hair damage, according to experts. "I used to watch my mom put blue grease in her hair and then press her hair," Spence recalls. "Many women believe they must apply a leave-in conditioner, oil-based heat protectant, and oil before they heat-style their hair. That approach is what helps to fry your hair."
In his 2008 book, The Hair in Black Women, Jamaica-based dermatologist Neil Persadsingh, M.B.B.S., explains, "Burns are common during hot combing … Other side effects of using intense heat to straighten the hair are various kinds of damage to the hair. One of these is what is called a bubble hair defect, which is usually associated with hair loss in the front of the scalp."
Similar findings can be associated with blowdryers, curling irons, and flat irons of the past. A 1998 study found that repeatedly washing and blow-drying hair can cause numerous cracks in the hair cuticle.5 Comparably, researchers found that repeatedly using curling6 and straightening irons7 can also cause structural damage to the hair fiber.
A significant reason these tools were found to be so damaging in previous decades, especially to fragile curls, is their dated design. Speaking specifically about the composition of blow-dryers, Dyson's design manager, Becki Penfold, says, "Traditionally, hair dryers have large motors, and because of their size, the motors need to be in the head of the machine. As a result, they can be bulky and blast air at extreme temperatures."
How Hot Tools Are Evolving
Fortune Business Insights reported that the global hair styling tools market was worth $30 billion in 2019 and is expected to reach $51 billion by 2032. The industry's skyrocketing growth makes sense, considering beauty consumers' insatiable desire for innovation. However, it wasn't until the last decade that brands started heeding the needs of curly and coily consumers.
RevAir
Utilizing air to gently stretch and style textured hair is an approach that has also contributed to the mega-viral success of RevAir, another brand focused on building breakthrough hair care devices. Its signature product, the Reverse-Air Dryer, launched in 2018, pairs innovative vacuum suction technology with a gentle, warm airflow to dry hair quickly and smoothly. Its highest temperature setting only reaches 220 degrees Fahrenheit to preserve your curl pattern, and the tool features adjustable tension settings to stretch the hair. Plus, the wand is designed to fit hair of all lengths, making it perfect for drying extensions, twist-outs, braids, locs, or wigs.
"We know blow-drying takes a lot of work for women with type 3 and 4 hair," says RevAir founder Scott Thomason. "The RevAir makes it easier because it essentially does the work for you. And with the reverse air method, you need very little heat to achieve your desired result, which is a huge benefit for the health of the hair."
What's Next for the Category?
The predecessors of modern-day styling tools failed to consider the nuances of delicate curls and coils, but many of today's hair care companies are taking steps to course-correct and safeguard natural hair as much as possible.
With RevAir being a pioneer in the reverse-air drying field, Thomason predicts that more brands will try to adopt similar technology in their tools. "Creating tools that use less heat is going to be the priority [for brands]," he says. "The health of the hair is something people are thinking about more and more. At RevAir, we're currently working on developing other tools that use the same low-heat, reverse-air technology."
Similarly, Wilson believes that other brands will draw inspiration from Pattern's approach to device development and create styling tools specifically tailored toward textured hair. She also foresees more progressive features—like automatic heat adjustment—being added to tools to make usage more intuitive and convenient.
To Wilson's point, Spence also hopes that brands continue to find ways to make styling tools more suitable for the on-the-go beauty enthusiast. "If you're going on vacation, for example, you don't want to pack several different tools," he says. "I wish there was one tool that offered interchangeable attachments—like a curling iron, blow dryer, and flat iron. A brand needs to work on that, and if they need help, call me."
With significant progress made and ample room left to grow, the hot tool market is stepping into an exciting time. The changing landscape has naturally led to an enhanced level of trust between Black women and the industry, as we now have a range of options available that allow us to achieve any look without worry.
"Based on our consumer insights research and the comments on our social platforms, we have definitely opened up new possibilities and changed some minds on the use of heat," Wilson points out. "Many curly, coily, and tight textured consumers stayed away from heat styling after experiencing heat damage or hair trauma. However, over the past five years, we have built trust with Black consumers to show that we'll deliver products, tools, and formulas for healthy and hydrated hair." Similar sentiments can be attributed to brands like Dyson, RevAir, and Shark, who have all created tools that resonate with Black women.
Reflecting on the hot tool industry's past and present, one can only hope that there are continued advancements on the horizon that ensure Black women continue to feel supported in their day-to-day hair care journeys. As Spence succinctly says, "I want to continue to see more innovation, with brands creating tools that allow women in our community to achieve heat styles or natural styles that they feel confident in."
byrdie.com | Olivia Hancock | September 04, 2024 08:45AM
