A woman’s love for her hair isn’t something to be underestimated. On a good Healthy and Gorgeous Hair day, you can be sure that she’ll be taking many selfies and repeatedly checking herself out.
While you may think that your hair experiments with products and home remedies are helping, they might be doing more damage than good. This may result in a frizzy mane, that lacks luster and shine.
But fear not, you can turn things around by avoiding damaging hair practices and opting for healthier ones instead.
Top 5 Things to Avoid for Healthy and Gorgeous Hair
Hair Products with Chemicals
This is the number one thing to avoid if you love your hair. From hair shampoo to hair conditioner to hair serum and styling gels, we use many products on our hair daily. Using products with chemicals in them, subject your hair to much damage over.
Read the ingredient list before buying any hair product, and don’t get drawn by the label claims or marketing gimmicks. Avoid anything with silicones and parabens, which weigh the hair down, attract dust, and negatively impact hair health. Other ingredients to avoid are Laureth sulfates, alcohol, and petroleum products.
Over-Washing or Under-Washing
Even if you have the right products, using them the wrong way can damage your hair in the long term. Based on your hair type, you have to find the right frequency for washing your hair.
The hair and scalp are exposed to dust, dirt, sweat, and pollution every single day, along with our natural oils, all this tends to accumulate. Not washing enough will lead to build-up and excess greasiness, and can end up clogging the hair follicles.
Many people are unaware that over-washing is just as bad as under-washing. Washing too frequently will strip the hair of its natural oils and dry it out, leading to frizz and breakage. It can also make the scalp dry, scaly, and itchy. The ideal frequency is about 2-3 times a week, fewer if your hair is dry and more if it is oily.
Over Handling Hair
Repeatedly touching or playing with hair is something you shouldn’t be doing! Brushing your hair once or twice a day and washing it a few times a week is all the care and attention it needs.
Brushing hair spreads the natural oils in the scalp along the strands, which has two advantages – it removes some of the oil from the scalp and nourishes the hair strands along the way. However, over-brushing makes hair greasy and can be rough on the scalp.
Do you start detangling your hair from the roots? This is a surefire way to breakage and split ends. Instead, start from the ends and work your way up, using a wide-toothed comb. Avoid backcombing or teasing your hair – this can damage the cuticle. Another thing to watch out for is tight hairstyles that put too much pressure on the roots and cause hair breakage.
Not Being Gentle with Hair
We’ve talked about how you can damage your hair by overhandling. Still, wet hair is particularly delicate and needs special care. Wet hair is at its weakest, and its cuticle is the most vulnerable. When you brush wet hair, you are likely to cause breakage, and some of this damage can be irreversible.
Avoid rubbing your hair with a towel when you dry it. Instead, use a microfiber towel or old t-shirt to blot your hair, letting the fabric absorb all the excess water. If you need to comb wet hair, use a wide-toothed comb with blunt bristles.
It’s best to blow-dry occasionally and not use it in one spot for a long time. Wait for hair to be at least 80% dry before styling it and finish off with a blast of cool air from the dryer.
Heat Tools and Chemical Treatments
It’s not the everyday things, but the occasional things that do the most damage to your hair. You may not color or straighten your hair every day, but the times you do, it is enough to damage your hair.
The heat from tools like flat irons or curling irons damages the cuticle, making hair dry, rough, and prone to breakage and split ends. It draws out moisture from the hair strands, making them more likely to frizz up.
Embrace your natural hair and work with it to create new styles. On occasions that you do need to use heat, use it at the lowest setting, and never use it on wet hair. Always use a heat protectant before using heat styling tools.
These are the top 5 things to avoid for healthy hair, but you also need to pay attention to your lifestyle as well. Avoid junk food or processed food that’s devoid of nutrients and full of sugar and salt. Stay away from fad diets that cut out food groups, which can lead to deficiencies that affect hair health. Try going to bed early as your sleep directly influences your Healthy and Gorgeous Hair. By showing yourself and your body some love, your hair begins to look healthy as well!
