• Free Express Shipping
  • Premium Quality & Competitive Pricing

Hair Steamer Machine for Natural Hair

7 Color LED Micromist Hair Steamer Ozone for Hair Styling Tools VB007R2 03

Hair Steamer Machine for Natural Hair

Nov 10, 2022 Blog by Vaney-Beauty

There are many ways to add moisture to hair, but there’s one you might not have considered: using a hair steamer. The level of your hair porosity is what determines how well your mane retains moisture, but that isn’t set in stone.

Using steam is a natural hair care hack that can help manipulate how well hair absorbs moisture and the products you apply.

When you love curly hair as much as we do, you learn that moisture retention is the name of the game and using steam (or heat) is a great option to do just that. So if you’re considering buying a portable hair steamer for home use and wondering what are the best hair steamers for natural hair right now, you’re in the right place! This guide will help you choose the best hair steamer for natural hair.

We’ll review the benefits of a hair steamer at home, followed by everything you need to know when purchasing an at home hair steamer machine. Then we’ll take a closer look at the pros and cons of the various natural hair steamer types including a professional hair steamer, handheld hair steamer, tabletop hair steamer, and a hair cap steamer. Finally, we’ll check out the top hair steamers for sale so you can choose the best hair steamer for home use for you. Sounds good? Let’s get started!

What is a Hair Steamer?

So, what is a hair steamer? A hair steamer is an appliance that uses heat and water to produce steam, a moist heat that temporarily lifts the hair cuticle, allowing moisture to penetrate by way of your chosen deep conditioner. The heat of the steam makes curly hair malleable, increases the elasticity of the curl and allows hair follicles to better absorb conditioner treatments.

Hair steamers do not dry your hair or use “dry heat”. Hair steamers are designed to add moisture to your hair cuticles for treatments and styling by adding water/steam to your hair. However, I’ve seen people use a hair dryer as a steamer by putting on a plastic cap on wet hair before going under the hair dryer. If you don’t have the budget, this is kind of like a DIY hair steamer.

What Does a Hair Steamer Do?

There are a few things that a hair steamer can do, but before diving in, let’s answer an important question: What is a hair steamer? It’s not far off from what you’d imagine it to be. If you’ve ever used a clothing or facial steamer, you know the concept. The steaming device, whether big or small, turns water into steam and shoots it out into the air.

The Benefits of a Hair Steamer

There are lots of benefits to hair steaming, but it does require knowing the right hair steamer tips for how to use one and nail down the best hair oils and hair conditioners to pair with it. All of this will ensure that you’re maximizing the moisture benefits that this hair care technique has to offer.

Hair steaming is beneficial as the heat aids in hydrating dry hair leaving your parched tresses happy. The moist heat also encourages blood flow to circulate, promoting growth too. The steam lifts the hair cuticle allowing your treatments to penetrate deeply into the hair shaft helping to heal damaged hair.

How to Use a Hair Steamer on Natural Hair

Ok, let’s talk about how to use a hair steamer on natural hair. Professionals recommend that the best way to steam hair at home is by using your personal hair steamer every two weeks to build up moisture retention. It’s important not to steam your hair more than this as over steaming can in fact over moisture your hair making it limp and weak. The hair steaming process takes about 30 minutes, so nding the time in our busy schedule is sometimes a challenge. We always schedule to steam our hair on wash day, after a cleansing shampoo, with our best deep conditioners for curly hair.

Professional Hair Steamer with Stand

Most people are familiar with the hair salon steamer, which is basically a free standing hooded hair steamer on a rolling base. A professional hair salon hair steamer is great because it can move around as required, the hood is usually fully adjustable and sits over the entire head being able to steam all the hair at once. You can absolutely buy professional hair steamer models for use in your own home!

Professional Salon Hair Steamer

Professional Salon Hair Steamer is a great hair steamer for home use or the salon with great maneuverability, perfect for anyone who has limited space to store the steamer in one stationary location.
You will love the adjustable hood and adjustable height on this free standing hair steamer making it comfortable for anyone to use. The steamer hood tilts up and down and has an opening of 12-inches in diameter and 11-inches deep leaving plenty of room to t your head comfortably. It also has an Auto Switch-o function so when the water jug runs out you won’t continue to accidentally run the hair steamer, potentially causing damage to it or your hair. Another great feature of this portable stand up hair steamer is the 5 Swivel Casters so you can easily move it wherever you need it to be. This hair steamer is well recommended with various reviews mentioning how strong and sturdy it is as well as how fast it heats up.

How Often Should You Steam Your Hair?

Once you see the benefits of hair steaming, you may want to do it all the time—but should you? Steaming isn’t the type of thing you do every day. Think of it as a special treatment for when your hair really needs a boost. For healthy hair, once a month will usually cut it. Introduce it to your self-care and pampering routines—you definitely deserve one of those at least every month.

If your hair is really parched and seems to be struggling, you can amp things up a little. Still, don’t steam more than once a week. Since using a hair steamer works into your shower routine, you don’t want to start washing your hair more than necessary.

Can Steam Treatments Damage Your Hair?

Steam your hair the right way, and damage shouldn’t be a concern. One thing to keep in mind is that you don’t want to go overboard. Sitting under a steamer for way longer than recommended won’t make your products work even better, unfortunately. On the contrary, exposing your hair to the steam for too long can damage your hair. You don’t want to exceed 30 minutes of steam time, so make sure to break out a timer.

What Are the Best Hair Steamers?

There are a couple of factors to keep in mind when shopping for the best hair steamer for natural hair. The biggest is probably going to be space. There are some hair steamer dryers that are floor standing and have a full, hard hooded dome like a salon dryer. These are, of course, the most space consuming, so you’ll need a place to stash it in between uses. And then there are versions that you can literally set up on a table. These still have a hard hood, so while compact, you can’t just toss it in a drawer.

As mentioned earlier, there are also portable options that look like a blow-dryer. Naturally, the steam will be focused on where you aim it as opposed to all over, but this is a good choice if you need more moisture attention on specific areas of your head. (This is a very real possibility since you may have different curl patterns in different spots.)

The last option is very similar to those hair drying hoods that you attach to your blow-dryer. The design concept is the same, but these versions are pumping steam to your hair rather than dry heat.

Choosing the best option really depends on your hair needs. Low porosity hair can benefit most from a traditional full-head steamer, whether that’s the hard hooded type or the soft flexible one. The portable options, on the other hand, are for more light or focused treatments where you may be experiencing dry patches.

Is a Hair Steamer Good for Natural Hair?

Wondering if steaming is good for your hair? Anything involving adding moisture to natural hair is good, and using a hair steamer on naturally curly hair is one of the most beneficial moisturizing methods out there. In most cases, you don’t want your hair cuticle to be opened for any extended amount of time—this is what makes hair frizzy and vulnerable to moisture loss and breakage. However, using a tool like a steamer can significantly boost your wash day efforts by replenishing any lost moisture that compromises the health of curly hair.

Can You Steam Your Hair at Home?

Many hair steamers and steam treatments can be done at home and not all even require a dedicated tool. While using an actual device will get you the biggest benefits from this process, you can also utilize the steam from your shower to work in a similar way.

Most hair steaming devices are compact enough to be used at home and don’t require a major salon chair setup to use. There are even handheld versions that look like blow-dryers that you can use to focus your moisture-boosting efforts on specific dry areas.