5 Ways You Might Be Overstressing Your Hair

I think we can all agree that we want healthy and shiny hair, right? Why does it at times seem so difficult to achieve? Between aging, humidity, and stress what else do we need to worry about? Today we are talking about 5 ways you might be overstressing your hair and not realizing it. But do not worry! I am giving you a few tips to help.

 I do not know about you but ever since I turned 50, I have been struggling with my hair. We did a blog post, 3 Ways Aging Affects Our Hair. You can read that here. The texture and dryness have been my biggest struggle.

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What are the signs of overstressed hair?

How do you know if your hair is overstressed? I will give you 5 ways that contribute, but here are a few signs to look for. You might have increased hair fall or loss if your hair is overstressed. The texture will also sometimes be dry and brittle. Our scalp can be itchy, irritated, dry, and flakey.

I had a lot of hair fall last year. I began using IR Clinical Hair Thinning Defense. It helped my hair thicken back up. You can find that here.

1. Pulling Your Hair Back Too Tight

A common way of overstressing our hair is pulling our hair back in a ponytail, bun, or braid too tight. This can cause strain on the hair strand and breakage. Especially if you are someone that does this daily or every night while you sleep.

A good option for pulling your hair back is using silk scrunchies or a clip. Regular elastics have a habit of getting wrapped too tightly and putting strain on the hair. I also never recommend any elastic that has metal clips on it that can catch on the hair. These will cause hair breakage.

2. Using High Heat

I can admit that I am guilty of using heat on my hair daily. But I make sure I use the lowest heat setting that works to achieve the desired effect. Think about it, we bake cookies at 350 degrees so why do we try to curl or straighten our hair at 450+ degrees and expect no damage?

When using heat always protect your hair with a heat protectant. This includes blow-drying your hair. It is also recommended to blow dry your hair on low to medium heat, not high heat. It might take a little longer but the damage to your hair will be less.

If you want to not stress your hair, give your hair a break from heat altogether occasionally. Trust me, I know it is difficult to do!

3. Shampooing Our Hair Too Often

Yes you really can wash your hair too much! We did a blog post on how often you should wash your hair. You can read that here.

Washing too often can do several things. If you color your hair, it can fade your color. It can also cause your hair to feel dry and brittle if you are someone that bleaches your hair.

Sometimes we can get into a vicious cycle and not even realize it. We start shampooing our hair daily because we feel like it is “dirty or oily.” Our scalp is confused and dry and is overproducing oil.

4. Not Protecting Your Hair From the Sun

The sun can not only damage our skin but our hair and scalp also. It can fade the color of our hair and dry it out. We can also get a sunburn on our scalp, leading to skin cancer if we are not careful.

It is always a good idea to wear UV protection on your scalp and hair when going out in the sun. They make sprays for this purpose like Coola Scalp and Hair Mist. You can also wear a wide-brim sun hat. This will protect your scalp and hair and help protect your face.

5. Not Treating Wet Hair with TLC

Wet hair is much more fragile than dry hair. Have you ever heard your hair snap when it is wet?

After washing your hair, using a microfiber towel to wrap your wet hair is recommended. Microfiber helps to absorb more water than a normal towel. You also never want to rub your wet hair. You know, “towel dry” your hair. This causes hair breakage.

Before combing use a detangler spray. Even if you have fine hair, they make some great ones that will not weigh down your hair. I prefer to use a wide-tooth comb, but you can also use a wet brush on wet hair.

Have you found yourself doing any of these 5 things to overstress your hair? They are easy to do and easy to correct! We have all been guilty of doing some of them. Which one do you find yourself doing the most? Please share in the comments below.