Heat training is literally just minor damage. It’s just a matter of how much damage or “curl loosening” you’re comfortable with.

People say it's minor but it Is not "Minor" damage. What is commonly called "heat training" is actually progressive, chronic thermal damage. The straight look is achieved by denaturing the hair's keratin protein structure and snapping or breaking down the internal disulfide bonds that give the hair its natural coil and elasticity.

 While some people feel the aesthetic tradeoff is worth it for ease of styling, it is a zero-sum game for structural integrity. Maintaining healthy, resilient strands, especially for tight coil geometries that rely heavily on intact elasticity and moisture retention, is generally considered incompatible with intentionally compromising the internal bonds for permanent straightness.

The debate over "heat training"—the practice of repeatedly applying high heat to persistently alter wavy, curly, or coily hair into a permanently straightened state—comes down to a fundamental misunderstanding of what that change actually is.
Here is what is happening structurally and why many experienced hair care communities view the practice differently.
Permanent Structural Alteration is what they call heat damage. Once hair is consistently subjected to heat at levels high enough to permanently loosen or straighten the pattern, the protein bonds have been fundamentally compromised. That portion of the hair has lost its elasticity and cannot revert to its original state.
 It creates a High Risk of Breakage. Because the cortex of the hair is weakened and porous from repeated thermal stress, "heat-trained" hair is significantly more fragile. Over time, the line between "straightened" and "severely snapped" becomes very thin, often leading to a sudden, dramatic increase in breakage as the damaged sections reach their breaking point.

I always ask would they put 375-450 degrees on any other part of their body. The answer is no because you will burn. The hair is still burning. It doesnt make sense to fry your hair.

Yep there's still no such thing as heat training, it's not scientific. It's still minor damage to permanently deteriorate the disulfide bonds and make the strands appear looser.

I’ve always wondered if heat training is actually a thing or just damage we’ve learned to accept. This video is needed.

Hair is dead, the reason it gets easier to straighten and stuff is because the hair bonds have been weakened.
Relaxers/chemical straighteners and curlers break the bonds that form your curl pattern down and reform them in the pattern you give it, so repeated damage like this will cause it to weaken these bonds and it won't bounce back like it used to.
Similarly, repeated bleaching/dying will damage your hair enough that it will no longer have the ability to hold onto the hair dye.

Some damage isn't a bad thing at all, you just have to be careful because further damage can destroy your hair (causing breakage, rough texture, ect).

Calling it heat training is fine, but not acknowledging that it's damage is dangerous cause you can end up overdoing it and cause damage that ruins your hair since you're in denial that it's already damaged.

I love that this perspective is gaining light in such a space. The education of heat on natural hair cannot be overemphasized. Every woman should look at how their hair responds in their element, as against generic definitions that give no cognisance to hair type and/or history.

Loud it 💯💖🔥

Previous """straight natural" (relaxed at 7, hair straighten since 8 because it will be "easier", natural since 19/01/26), my hair was tailebone lenght, thinner, full of splits ends and incapable to revert. I had to big chop the 31/03, because the hair was destroyed 😂. Its regrows slowly but surely. Mind you, I have only 4a/4b hair.

0:23  and it HAS

This video definitely opens up the floor for a more in depth conversation. As you mentioned, people are doing the most with the least amount of information provided especially with this method.

“Heat training” is breaking bonds at a much slower pace than heat damage without compromising the cuticle this is why bond building and using protein treatments is vital because it helps in maintaining the hair’s integrity. Heat damage not only removes bonds rapidly, but the cuticle is also severely compromised with splits, holes, cracks etc.

Just because someone’s hair doesn’t revert back does not mean it’s automatically damaged.

The most common damage that people refuse to even address is mechanical damage. Hair in its natural state endure this damage the most, but do not know because hair in its natural state camouflages it so well.

The natural hair community conflates curls with health and that is the farthest thing from the truth. Yes, it’s possible to have healthy curly hair and it’s possible to have healthy stretched hair. But how healthy is curly hair really, if you never seen it in a stretched state.

I’m a cosmetologist and “training” your hair is an actual thing. You can train your hair to have a different natural part, girls w slightly wavy/straight hair can train their hair to have more of a curl pattern by scrunching it every single day/diffusing etc, and curly hair can be trained to be straighter or have a looser curl pattern . Not all heat training is bad it really depends what tools you’re using. When we say heat is bad for your hair we’re mostly talking about hot tools, not blow drying. My rule is: if you can hold it to your skin and not burn yourself, it should be safe for hair (ex:holding a blowdryer 6-10 inches from the skin won’t burn it, but you’d never hold a flat iron to your skin). So it’s all about the tools and techniques (and products) you’re using . Flat ironing the hair constantly is going to produce damage, idc how good your heat protectant is the integrity of hair will be compromised. But if you’re training by just doing a blowout w the correct techniques/products  it shouldn’t be detrimental to the hair.