I straighten my hair everyday for school and sometimes also on the weekends. I'm worried about the damage this could cause in the long run. My question is what is the best product for protecting my crazy hair? Thanks in advance :)

I'm not an expert on hair. Just go to Google and type in something about "Straightening your hair - damages" well, something like that. But it WILL damage your hair in the long run. If you can resist, try not to straighten your hair everyday. Think of a better way to make your hair look fashionably, without damaging it.

Coming from a fellow, "everyday-er" hair straightener who would rather stay at home than leave the house with crazy, curly, frizzy hair --I have tried several things to help protect my hair. The one that was suggested to me by my hair stylist that has seemed to work is Matrix --you put it in wet hair before straightening. It is not that expensive, it comes in an Orange bottle and you can buy it at drug stores or salons. Also, she said to strengthen my hair DO NOT use cheap hair products. Although this can be costly my hair is so much shinier and looks healthier once I started using the whole Matrix collection.

Flat ironing every day without good heat protection for your hair will damage your hair causing breakage and split ends. It's going to depend on the type of hair you have. You need good products and tools that work for your type of hair. Care to provide some more info on what you're working with?

I am bi-racial and have very thick, coarse, long curly hair. If I wash my hair, put in a little gel and let it dry on it's own, I end up with long flowing spiral curls. If I just blow dry it, I get a fro that even Chaka Kahn would be envious of! I have VERY stubborn hair when it comes to straightening or curling with an iron, so I need an iron that gets hot enough but not searing hot to literally fry the hair. I've had my fair share of fried and split ends over the years... resulting in my going curly more often than I wanted.

I found a WONDERFUL flat iron, Sedu. It has an adjustable thermostat (even my hair does well on a setting of 320 and it goes up to 410! -and as low as 250), the ionic ceramic plates are very smooth and NEVER catch or pull on the hair, it's easy to clean, easy to use and durable. I don't have to keep going over the same section of hair to get results and it heats up fast (like 30 seconds and you're ready to go)! Check around for it, it's somewhat expensive but WELL, WELL WORTH THE MONEY! Sedu also makes a very good heat protector. While I was willing to spend the extra money on the flat iron, I found a cheaper alternative for the heat protector... VO5 Miracle Mist works great, on wet hair before you blow dry and as a nice light mist before ironing. It doesn't leave the hair heavy or greasy feeling, leaves great shine and I've had NO problems using it with my super hot flat iron. Again, you will have to find a product that works for your hair type, but you always want to use a heat protector.

For those not familiar with the diva, Ms. Kahn... had to attach a pic :D