I quit heat tools for a year and my hair hated me for it

So back in January 2024 I decided to go cold turkey on my flat iron and blow dryer. I had been frying my ends every single morning since high school and my hair was breaking off around my shoulders. For the first 4 months it was fine, I wore it up a lot and used a ton of leave in conditioner. But by month 6 my hair looked flat and stringy and honestly kind of dull. My stylist in Norfolk told me the heat was actually what gave my fine hair any volume at all. I felt so dumb, lol. I stuck it out the full year anyway because I'm stubborn and my ends did get healthier, like noticeably less splits. But the trade off was I had zero body and I hated how it looked down. Now I blow dry once a week on low and that seems to be the sweet spot for me. Has anyone else gone no heat and ended up going back, or did it actually work out for you long term?