Do you feel like you’re spending a considerable amount of time and effort caring for your hair but still dealing with issues such as dry hair, split ends, frizz, and hair loss?
You might unknowingly be making certain hair care mistakes that actually cause harm to your hair instead of help. Maybe its time you take a good look at your hair care routine and see if you’re making any of the 14 common hair care mistakes I’ve listed below!
- Brushing your wet hair
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Our hair gets tangled after every hair wash so I’m sure most of us have the tendency to comb our hair the moment we step out of the shower. However, you should really avoid doing so because your hair strands tend to swell when wet, making your hair more fragile and susceptible to damage. Swollen hair strands break more easily so if you want to avoid hair damage and hair fall, you should allow your locks to be partially dry before combing through them.
- Excessive combing
Many of you probably have the misconception that constantly combing your hair will make it feel softer and look shinier. In reality, your hair only needs 8 comb strokes a day to help distribute the natural hair oils. Anything more than the recommended number of comb strokes might tear the hair, pull it out and ruin the hair cuticle layer thereby causing split ends.
- Washing your hair with hot water
High temperatures may strip the scalp and hair of essential oils and moisture, causing your hair to become frizzy and dry. With the steam of the hot water acting like a sauna, opening up your hair cuticles, it will make your hair brittle and prone to breaking.
- Daily blow-drying
Blow drying removes the surface water of your hair and causes your hair cuticles to become rigid, dry, and brittle. Using a blow dryer every day to dry your hair exposes it to an excessive amount of heat, which will result in huge hair loss over time. If you’re short on time and really do need to blow dry your hair, I recommend using the lowest setting. Even though you will be spending more time drying your hair, it will definitely look smoother and feel healthier!
- Skipping hair serum
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Hair serums are often seen as the antidote to common hair problems like frizzy hair, split ends and dry hair. It acts as a mask for your hair strands, which helps to minimise dryness and frizz. By coating the surface of your hair, it adds shine and helps prevent split ends and breakage. You’ll notice an improvement in your hair’s condition and appearance almost immediately upon applying it onto your locks!
- Rubbing your hair when towel drying
Trying to dry your hair by rubbing it with a towel in back-and-forth motions will damage the hair shafts. With wet hair being more fragile, the rough nature of the action will cause it to simply break off. Do consider gently dabbing your hair with a towel instead before leaving it to air dry.
- Putting conditioner on your scalp
Your scalp produces sebum on a daily basis so by applying conditioner on it, you will risk having clogged follicles, which inhibits hair growth and increases the sebum production rate. Your hair ends need all the oil and nutrients so you only need to condition the ends and mid-section of your hair.
- Not cleaning your combs and brushes
Your hair tools can trap all sorts of residue in its bristles, both from your hair and the environment. When you use an unclean comb or hairbrush, all that dirt, oil and dead skin that build up on a daily basis can transfer back to your hair each time you brush it. Do try to wash your hair tools at least once a week and change it every five months to prevent your hair from itching and minimise the risk of scalp infections.
- Delayed haircuts
Prolonging your haircut can lead to unhealthy and dry hair. Split ends that are left unattended for too long will result in further split up the hair shaft. In order to have damage-free hair, it is recommended to get a trim once every two months to keep unwanted split ends away and ensure healthy hair tips.
- Not shampooing enough
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Dead cells and grease tend to build up at our scalps and environmental pollution tends to stick to our hair strands. Shampooing the hair removes all these accumulated dirt and excess oil from the surface of the hair and scalp. It is recommended to shampoo for at least three minutes for not only your hair and scalp to be thoroughly clean, but also to increase the blood flow to your scalp and bring more nutrients to the hair follicles.
- Not being careful with your ponytails
Ponytails are a great hairstyle regardless of the occasion but they can cause broken strands if you’re not careful enough. Constantly having your hair done up in tight and high ponytails will cause damage to your scalp that results in receding hairlines. Try having your hair tied up in looser, lower ponytails instead for a change although the best thing for your hair would be to leave it down whenever you can.
- Leaving your wet hair in a towel for too long
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I know most of us tend to wrap our post-shower hair in a towel for a long time with the intention to ‘soak up the water’. But the prolonged contained dampness from doing so actually causes frizz and damage to your hair. In addition, the weight of the towel on your head causes stress to your roots. It would be best to leave your hair wrapped in a towel for not more than three minutes, before allowing it to air dry properly.
- Sleeping with wet hair
With hair being fragile when wet, the friction from tossing and turning in bed will undoubtedly cause hair breakage and chances of developing dandruff would be higher. In addition, the dampness from your hair encourages the growth of mould and bacteria on your pillow that would lead to scalp and even skin problems!
- Using too much dry shampoo
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Dry shampoo absorbs the excess sebum on your scalp but even when brushed out, some of the powder particles will remain on your scalp and hair strands. When using dry shampoo over several occasions without washing your hair, the leftover powder particles, pollution, and oil will begin to buildup on your scalp thereby clogging your hair follicles even more. In the long run, excessive use of dry shampoo may result in hair loss due to completely clogged hair follicles.
Alicia Goh