Worst Things You Can Do to Your Hair (Explained)

1. Waiting Too Long For A Trim Or Cut

If you have split, or curly hair, if it looks sloppy, and has no shape anymore, if your hair confusions easily, or gets lots of single knots — you are probably way, tardy for your hair, cutting appointment, especially if you require to have long hair. Your locks will be longer if you trim them on a regular basis; not because your hair will grow faster, but because the ends won’t be splitting, and cutting. Solution: Visit the hairdresser regularly.

2. DIY Dye Hair Yourself

DIY might be a handy practice for many times, but coloring the hair is not one of them unless you are an acknowledged hairdresser, perhaps, or at least know precisely, what you’re doing. Most likely, you will end up going to a salon anyhow, but it will be way harder, and more expensive to fix whatever you have done. Just let the professionals deal with it from the beginning.

Changing up your appearance on a regular basis may be fun, but coloring your hair is a chemical process that can be harmful to your hair and scalp. Solution: Pause your coloring sessions to take a rest. For some who find that at-home temporary hair color isn’t enough of a color change, hair extensions can transform your locks and add dimension without the need to commit to a permanent color change.

3. Brushing Or Styling Wet Hair

When your hair is wet, it is very sensitive, and more prone to breakage. You can experiment a little to check it, next time you wash your hair. Select one (only one, we don’t want you to get bald), and try to break it. You will find that it breaks much lighter, compared to when the hair is dry.

The brush (brushing hair 100 times) does the same thing, but preferably of one hair, it breaks hundreds. The heat from hot tools, (a curler or straightener) makes the water evaporate extensively and, as we all learn at school, water expands with escape, breaking your hair. Plus using hot tools while having wet hair will simply damage your hair.

When hair is damp, cuticle scales can lift, leaving moist strands more sensitive and susceptible to breakage and split ends than dry hair. Always smooth damp hair with a wide-tooth comb. By pulling excessively hard on the hair, it might result in snaps and breaking while using a brush or narrow tooth comb. In the same way, if you rub your towel too hard, it can cause ripping or breaking of the strands in your hair. Solution: Let it dry before brushing, and styling, and doing some heat protection products is also approved.

4. Using Dirty Brushes

When you brush your hair, lots of dead skin particles end up in your brush, even if you cannot see it. Dead skin is the perfect environment, for growing bacteria, all sorts of them. Apart from being simply disgusting, it can get transferred back to your scalp, if you don’t wash your hair brushes regularly. Solution: Wash your brushes, or put a tissue onto the brush before combing your hair. Dispose of the tissue, after brushing, transmitting the cover itself clean.

5. Washing Your Hair Too Often, And With Very Hot Water

The glands in our scalp produce natural oils that, are required for healthy curls, and hot water can remove them, making your hair dry, and brittle. Over-washing will ultimately do the same thing. The hairdressers suggest washing your hair twice a week, or three times if you have very oily hair. Solution: Don’t wash your hair every day, and only use warm water.

If you wash your hair too frequently, it will become dry and lifeless in appearance. Your hair is stripped of all of the essential oils that keep it healthy and beautiful when we over-wash it. Exactly the same is true for our skin. In a same vein, when we don’t wash our hair on a regular basis, we can suffer major consequences. The build-up of dirt, dust, and more oils in our hair will cause the pores of the scalp to get clogged, which, in some situations, can cause hair loss or brittle hair or even damage hair in the affected area of your scalp. Your scalp and hair deserve the same level of attention as our faces and bodies. If in doubt arrange an appointment with a hair professional and choose a wash plan that is right for you.

6. Not Using Conditioner Or Using It Instead Of Shampoos

Shampoos and conditioners are totally different produce that is used, for different purposes, and cannot replace one another. Shampoos clean, conditioners moisturize. Here’s a simple illustration: Your car needs both petrol and oil, not one or another. These are two different products, and your car won’t appreciate it if you pour petrol, where oil is assumed to be. It is the same with your hair: if you use conditioner instead of shampoo, or not use it at all, your scalp won’t say, “Thank you.” Although, the damage won’t be as expensive associated with the car… probably. Solution: Use both, first shampoo, then conditioner.

7. Too Manny Chemicals

Too many chemicals absorbed into the hair could be harmful. An excessive amount of artificial chemicals is detrimental to any part of your body, including your hair. When you use too much coloring, keratin, or relaxer on your hair, it might break and become damaged. Consider limiting the number of chemical processes and developing a routine that includes preemptive care prior to undergoing chemical treatments, such as using a scalp mask or an elasticizer, which is a pre-shampoo protective treatment, a couple of days before visiting the hairdresser, prior to undergoing chemical treatments. Solution: When you arrive at the salon, always tell the stylist about any past treatments you’ve had, even if they were unsuccessful. It’s possible that the damage was not fixed.

8. Over-styling Might Cause Your Hair To Become Brittle

Blow drying, using a flat iron, coloring, bleaching, and even over-brushing your hair can all cause damage to the outside layer of your hair, known as the cuticle. The inner core of your hair becomes dry and lifeless as a result of the exposure of the inner core. Despite the fact that it does not create lasting health harm, you can over-style your hair to the point where the only way to maintain healthy hair is to cut it off and start over. When it comes to your hair, less is more when it comes to having healthier strands.


References

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

Wagner, E. L., & Shin, J. B. (2019). Mechanisms of hair cell damage and repair. Trends in neurosciences, 42(6), 414-424. sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0166223619300402

Ribeiro, A., Matamá, T., Cruz, C. F., Gomes, A. C., & Cavaco‐Paulo, A. M. (2013). Potential of human γ D‐crystallin for hair damage repair: insights into the mechanical properties and biocompatibility. International journal of cosmetic science, 35(5), 458-466. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ics.12065

Draelos, Z. D. (2000). The biology of hair care. Dermatologic clinics, 18(4), 651-658. sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0733863505702163