Heat protection is a non-negotiable when it comes to any hair styling routine. Whether you're blow-drying, curling, or touching up yesterday’s style, heat protection products act like a shield for your hair, protecting your roots and strands from heat damage a la various styling tools. “If you use heat when you're styling, do not skip your heat protection,” says Katie Manselle, Global Artist at Oribe Hair Care. “It's vital. It's like your sunscreen—you don’t go in the sun without it.”

While we pride ourselves on making some of the best heat protection sprays, serums, and dry stylers in the game, there’s more to Oribe’s heat protection products than meets the eye—they help to strengthen and nourish before you even pick up a tool.

Ahead, Katie breaks down her go-to heat-protective heroes designed to support every hair type, texture, and routine during heat styling.

Balm d’Or Heat Styling Shield

“I think of Balm d’Or Heat Styling Shield like the fountain of youth for hair,” says Katie. “If your hair is chemically processed or you just use a blow dryer and your hair needs more love, I think of this.”

Balm d’Or Heat Styling Shield contains a heat-activated polymer technology, plus cassis and sandalwood extracts to protect and nourish fragile strands, sealing in sleekness and radiant shine while you blow-dry, straighten, or curl. It provides up to 450°F heat protection while helping to smooth flyaways and restore hair’s strength and density. It’s a great product to have on hand for creating the best possible canvas for heat styling for all hair types, similar to the way you would use primer on your skin before makeup application.

Bright Blonde Essential Priming Serum

Formulated for blondes who want to maintain their tone while boosting hydration, Bright Blonde Essential Priming Serum is an essential first step for heat styling. “This is great for hair that is blonded or has highlights,” Katie explains. “It helps to keep the brassy at bay, but it also speaks to brittleness, so it adds a lot of moisture and a lot of protection.”

Bright Blonde Essential Priming Serum is formulated with violet and pearlized pigments to tone and eliminate brassiness. Additionally, it features the Oribe Signature Complex, which helps protect the hair from oxidative stress and photoaging. The Bright Blonde Essential Priming Serum protects hair up to 450°F while ingredients like sodium hyaluronate and lavender flower extract help to replenish moisture and add shine.

Hair Alchemy Fortifying Treatment Serum

“If you're growing out your hair, if your hair is prone to breakage, maybe you just have really fine strands that tend to break—this is for you,” says Katie.

This treatment elixir combines our curative blend of chia seed, bio-fermented bamboo leaf, plant-based protein with phytoceramides, and cotton seed extract to shield and fortify fragile strands. Plus, the Hair Alchemy Fortifying Treatment Serum rehydrates the hair from within with a multi-action hyaluronic acid complex.

While it’s sheer and lightweight in texture, it’s still a powerhouse when it comes to protection: This serum creates a protective veil around each hair fiber to improve tensile strength and elasticity, while providing up to 450°F of heat protection.

Gold Lust Dry Heat Protection Spray

OK, but what about heat protection for hair that’s already dry? “If you use hot tools, maybe it's day two and you want to retouch your hair with an iron or something hot, you can use this,” Katie reveals. “[The Gold Lust Dry Heat Protection Spray] is a dry spray [that] comes out as a really beautiful mist. You don't feel it.”

This dry spray contains a Bio-Restorative Complex packed with plant collagen, caffeine, biotin, and niacinamide that all work in tandem to help repair damage, fortify and strengthen the cuticle, and energize the scalp. A brassica oil copolymer helps to create a shield against hot tools, protecting the hair up to 450°F.

Katie describes the Gold Lust Dry Heat Protection Spray as “light as air,” but make no mistake—it still helps to deeply moisturize with coconut water and smooth frizz with macadamia oil. It’s what to reach for if your dry hair is in need of a quick refresh.

Mystify Restyling Spray

Let’s say that you gave yourself an amazing blowout yesterday and want to refresh it with a quick curl or two. Mystify Restyling Spray is a restyler designed to reactivate the product that’s already in your hair. “It is great for day two, day three, day four,” says Katie. “You can use it on damp or dry hair as a restyler. It's very sheer.”

Mystify Restyling Spray revives tired styles while delivering subtle hold and hydration. “If you want to reactivate previous product, add a little bit of hold, help take out a kink, or you need a little strength, Mystify Restyling Spray is the one you should use.” Much like the Gold Lust Dry Heat Protection Spray, Mystify Restyling Spray contains a Bio-Restorative Complex packed with plant collagen, caffeine, biotin, and niacinamide to help strengthen and fortify the hair from scalp to tip. This spray also boasts lactic acid to help restore elasticity to the strands, while panthenol and glycerin protect against heat damage. Think of this as a product that resuscitates a heat style that you thought had passed its prime.

Invisible Defense Universal Protection Spray

Katie mentions that the Invisible Defense Universal Protection Spray is as weightless as it is effective. “It's for people who have possibly fine hair, hair prone to oiliness, [and those] who don't want to feel any product on their hair, but they use heat tools.”

Invisible Defense Universal Protection Spray protects your hair from a range of factors that may cause deterioration, including thermal damage up to 450°F, UV rays (which can cause dryness and color fading), and pollution (which can cause oxidative stress). This spray imparts hydration and softness with plant-based collagen, while a vitamin B blend (niacinamide, biotin, and panthenol) helps to protect the hair from breakage caused by brushing and styling. Its multifunction UV absorber helps to protect the hair from UV rays while also providing anti-static properties. Invisible Defense Universal Protection Spray also helps to prevent frizz without weighing the hair down—anyone with any hair type can benefit from this type of protection.

TL;DR

Here’s a little cheat sheet when it comes to choosing the right heat protection for your hair goals.

• Weightless shield for every type of damage: Go with Invisible Defense Universal Protection Spray.
• Refresh and reshape a previous style: Reach for Mystify Restyling Spray.
• Using hot tools on dry hair: Spray on Gold Lust Dry Heat Protection.
• Blonde and battling brass and dryness: Bright Blonde Essential Priming Serum is your new go-to.
• Prone to breakage or growing out your hair: Use Hair Alchemy Fortifying Treatment Serum.
• Chemically processed or frequently heat-styled hair: Start with Balm d’Or Heat Styling Shield.

Heat-styled hair can be healthy—it all starts with the right prep. Oribe's heat-protective lineup gives you the freedom to style boldly, revive your day-three style, and even protect your color while keeping your hair strong, soft, and beautifully intact.