You may think that you know your hair best and how to treat it with care, but there are things you could be doing all the time that do more damage than good and not even realize it! We give you a list of horrible things you need to stop doing to your hair every day. Keep these in mind to stop mistreating your tresses and for happier, healthier hair always. 🙂
1. Manhandling Wet Hair
Your strands are at their most delicate when wet and are more prone to breakage. Brushing your locks and aggressive towel-drying after a shower can really wreak havoc on them and will definitely lead to hair shedding.
Save Your Hair: Use a wide-tooth comb to de-tangle your freshly washed mane and not a brush. Start from the ends and work your way up. Use your towel to gently blot or dab instead of forcefully rubbing your poor strands.
2. Scratching That Itch
It’s tempting to scratch an itchy scalp, but all that itching can seriously damage your hair cuticles and follicles, especially if you have long nails. It’s smart to keep those talons away from your scalp.
Save Your Hair: Itchiness can happen when you’ve skipped a hair wash and simply need to cleanse your scalp. If it’s dandruff you’re dealing with, then use a good shampoo with zinc pyrithione, like Head & Shoulders, or tea-tree oil, like Kiehl’s Tea Tree Oil Shampoo.
3. Bad Brushing Habits
Tearing through your hair with a brush, especially when you’re in a hurry, can damage your locks and pull them out by the roots or break mid-length. Another hair mistake is using a dirty brush. Sweat, oil and all your styling products can collect on your brush, so it’s important to clean it as well as remove the strands of hair stuck in the bristles.
Save Your Hair: Be extra gentle when running a brush through your hair and stay clear of over-brushing, which can cause breakage. Also, don’t forget to clean your brushes with shampoo once a month!
4. Using Too Much Heat
If you’re someone who constantly uses blow dryers or irons to style her mane, then you could be causing permanent damage to your hair. Too much heat can dry out your tresses and leave them brittle and weak.
Save Your Hair: Take a break from plugging in your heat tools every now and then. Skip a blow dry sometimes and embrace your natural waves instead. Also, try lowering the heat settings on your appliance.
5. Washing Your Mane Daily
Yes, we all love that fresh feeling after a hair wash, but shampooing your mane every day is actually causing more damage than you know. Over-washing strips your strands of moisture, leaving them dry and undernourished.
Save Your Hair: Washing your hair every other day is the best way to keep your locks clean and healthy. If you have oily hair, then it’s time you made dry shampoo your best friend. We love the Toni & Guy Dry Refresh It Dry Shampoo.
6. Spending Time In The Sun
Just like our skin, our hair is prone to sun damage as well. Our locks are the most exposed to the UV-rays, which weaken and cause breakage of our precious strands.
Save Your Hair: It’s important to sun-proof your mane. Wear a hat on a day when you’ll be soaking up the sun and look out for hair products with UV protection, like the Kerastase Soleil Micro-Voile Protecteur.
7. Pulling It Back Too Tight
If you prefer keeping your hair pulled back and off your face with a tight ponytail, bun or braid, you could actually be weakening your strands. Your fave hairstyle can cause extra tension at the roots, aside from giving a headache! Very tight elastics and hair-ties are also a bad idea.
Save Your Hair: Let your hair hang loose sometimes. And if you really must pull it back, make sure to tie it in a loose, more relaxed style.
8. Crash Dieting
You may be trying to lose weight, but starving yourself can make you lose hair as well. Hair is primarily made of protein, so a diet that cuts back on it will definitely affect your locks since you’re not getting enough of it. Weak and dull hair can be a result of too many crash diets.
Save Your Hair: A well-balanced diet is essential for your overall health as well as for your hair. Proteins, zinc and iron are important for strong, healthy and shiny hair.
9. Delaying That Trim
We all know that split ends are a bad sign. And skipping those regular trims can cause those damaged ends to split further and up the length of the strands, which leads to breakage and thinning.
Save Your Hair: Book yourself for a trim every other month to get rid of those dry, damaged ends. Even if you’re trying to grow out your locks, those dead ends aren’t going to add to your length. So make sure to get them snipped off.
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