When it comes to going about your daily life, it’s certain that you want to ensure your hair is properly styled and presented to impress others. But spending too much time styling your hair each day can lead to serious harm. Although you might not realize it, the way you treat your hair can be having deleterious effects. To ensure your hair remains healthy while still looking good, you should ensure to stay away from some of these common over-styling pitfalls.
Drying Your Hair Too Roughly
It’s common to dry your hair with a towel once getting out of the shower. You’re already drying the rest of your body, so you might as well dry your hair while you’re at it. There’s nothing wrong with drying your hair with a towel, but the problem emerges when you begin drying your hair too roughly. Rough drying of your hair can cause your hair cuticles—the outer layer of your hair—to become damaged. The likelihood of damage is heightened when your hair is wet because your hair swells, causing it to become more susceptible to damage brought about by direct contact.
If you’re someone who dries your hair roughly, you should consider letting your hair air dry first. Then, once your hair has begun to dry some, you can reach for a towel to get any remaining moisture out.
Drying Your Hair with Heat
Heat is a common method applied to both style and dry hair. Styling devices such as curling irons and flat irons are often used to style hair, either through curling straightened hair or straightening wavy hair.
The use of hot styling devices isn’t serious if used sparingly, but regular use can lead to hair damage. Issues arise when using high-temperature heat, where the natural oils and moisture contained within your hair is lost due to excessive heat. With regular use of these high-heat products, your hair is more likely to become brittle, eventually falling out after enough damage.
It’s recommended that you use high-heat styling devices as minimally as possible. Better yet, it’s worth considering ditching them to save your hair from potential damage.
Using Chemicals Daily
Daily styling products can lead to a great hairstyle, but they can also lead to serious, long-lasting damage. While these products might be a part of your everyday routine, you might not be aware of what’s inside of the product you’re applying to your scalp.
Certain hair styling products contain quantities of harmful chemicals that can cause your hair to become damaged. Common chemicals included in these products can include sulfurs, parabens, formaldehyde, and other dangerous preservatives. When applied to your hair every day, these additives can lead to your hair becoming dry, brittle, and weak; moreover, some of these chemicals can even ignite bodily issues that eventually lead to hair loss.
Consider reading labels before you purchase a hair styling product. Furthermore, whether you’re trying to regrow hair lost due to chemically laced products or you just want tested-and-tested-again hair care products, you should consider seeking out clinical hair care products to restore the health of your hair.
Combing Your Hair When Wet
As we mentioned, your hair becomes more delicate to physical touch when it is wet. Just as we recommend against aggressively drying wet hair, you should also stay away from combing your post-shower hair. While it might feel like the smart move, so you can style your hair prior to it drying, it can lead to damage.
When you pull a comb through wet hair, you’re increasing the chances that your hair will fall out. The force of pulling the comb through your hair heightens the likelihood that your hair will become damaged at the root, either falling out in the moment or falling out in the near future. If you’re seeing more hair accumulating in your brush than normal, you might be brushing a bit too hard, even when your hair is dry.
To avoid this, consider combing your hair only once it has dried. If it has not dried completely, consider patting your hair down with a towel prior to combing. And when you comb, consider pulling the comb gently through your hair, ensuring that you don’t pull on any knotted hair along the way.
Tension on Your Hair
Along with aggressive combing and drying, hairstyles that place tension on your hair and scalp are a bad choice. Hairstyles like braids and ponytails and other tightly bound styles can lead to hair becoming damaged at the follicle. When the follicle undergoes continued stress, it makes it more likely for your hair to become damaged, eventually falling out due to severe stress.
To avoid putting serious stress on your hair, you should go for hairstyles that are not so tight and taut. Consider letting your hair hang loose, sitting naturally, as it wants. If you’re still not comfortable with the work, you can consider styling it as you see fit. But, in general, avoid the tight buns and taut ponytails.
How to Reverse the Damage to Hair
If any of your hair styling methods have led to serious damage, it’s worth knowing that it might not be irreversible. As mentioned above, there are ways you can reverse any damage before it gets any worse, from changing your hair styling products to being a little gentler on your hair each day.
But if you’ve found that you’re at the state of damage where you’re losing hair, it’s not the end of the line. Whether you use clinical hair care treatments or seek out the help of a hair regrowth treatment, you can undertake trusted methods that can return your hair to a state of considerable health.
Rather than letting it get any worse, you should take preventative measures to protect your hair now. A healthy head of hair is better than any modern hairstyle.