Having healthy and strong hair can be difficult sometimes. Especially if you are like me and color or highlight it regularly. Not to mention throw in aging on top of it! We can all be guilty of some of these things and not even know it. So, today we are talking about the 3 common ways you are hurting your hair. And ways you can be nicer to it!
I can admit that I am guilty of all three of these things that I am going to be talking about. Well, a couple of things happened. First, I made changes and realized that my hair wasn’t as healthy as I thought it was. And two, aging happened! Lol. Ladies, as we age it can affect a lot of things and hair is one of them. As our hormone levels drop our body stops producing as many natural oils and our hair can become drier. I did a blog post that talks about how aging affects our hair. You can read that here.
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1. Ignoring your hair at night.
I don’t think we take advantage of our sleeping hours enough when it comes to our hair. Yes, we probably aren’t getting enough sleep, I know that I’m not! Gone are the days of just heading off to bed! I am going to give you a few quick healthy hair tips to use at night before you go to bed.
Gently comb out the tangles from the day
Do you brush your hair before going to bed? It’s a good idea to gently brush out your hair to remove any teasing or knots left over from the day. This will also help to distribute your natural hair oil. If I have any teasing in my hair, I like to start with a wide tooth comb to avoid breakage. Then I will finish with a brush.
Apply a leave-in condition to the ends
Most women have dry ends and a great way to help with this is to use a leave-in conditioner at night. Put a small amount into the palm of your hand and emulsify, apply to the ends of your hair. You can gently brush through the ends to distribute. My favorite leave-in conditioner is, Restore Leave-In Conditioner. I use this every evening before bed and after every shampoo. I have fine hair and it has never weighed my hair down. You can find it here.
Do an oil treatment the evening before shampooing
If you plan to shampoo in the morning, I highly recommend doing an oil treatment once a week. Oil treatments help to improve scalp health and replenish moisture in the hair shaft. The oil I use is Rejuveniqe Oil Intensive. It is a proprietary blend of 13+ natural plants and essential oils. You can find it here.
Tie your hair back with a silk/satin scrunchie
It is important that you do not use a regular elastic at night to pull back your hair. They can cause hair breakage. You also do not want to pull your hair back tight at night. Or even during the day because that can cause hair breakage. At night before bed gently pull your hair back into a hair bun, braid, or low ponytail. If you have short hair or even women with long hair can use a satin hair band to keep your hair back. Doing this helps to prevent friction while you sleep. This helps to reduce hair breakage and hair frizz.
Use a silk/satin pillowcase
I have mentioned using these multiple times through the years. I use one and love it. They benefit not only your hair but your skin. Just be sure to wash them regularly. This is true with any pillowcase. Using a silk/satin pillowcase will help to prevent hair breakage and reduce hair frizz.
2. Protect your hair from heat.
I know most people think of thermal heat when we talk about protecting your hair from heat. But we also need to protect our hair from the sun’s heat/rays.
Thermal Heat
One of the best things you can do for your hair if you are using a hot tool is to use a heat protectant. There are so many different options out there now. They have some that are built into styling products and spray that you can use right before using your hot tool. It is important to remember that you should use a heat protectant when blow-drying your hair also. That is heat too! People often forget this and only think they need to use a protectant when using a hot tool.
Use your hot tool at the lowest setting that will work for your hair. I heard the funniest thing recently, “you bake cookies at 350 degrees so why do you think you need to curl your hair at a higher setting?” I mean really, think about it!
When blow-drying your hair use a low to medium heat setting. There isn’t a reason to use the high setting. You can damage your hair on a high-heat setting. It may take longer to dry your hair, but your hair will thank you!
The Sun’s Heat/Rays
The sun can have a damaging effect on both our hair and skin. I have done several blog posts about the sun, but you might want to start with this one, 5 Reasons to Wear a Sunhat to the Beach.
The sun can fade your color and lighten up the color. You can protect your color from the sun by wearing sun protection. Wearing a sun hat is the best option. This will also help to protect your skin and scalp from sun damage also. Another great thing you can do is apply a leave-in conditioner prior to going out into the sun.
3. Over shampooing our hair.
Believe it or not, over-shampooing is not good for your hair or scalp health. The older we get our scalp tends to get drier. You might have had an oily scalp most of your life but that can change over time. You might not need to shampoo as often. It is always a good idea to reevaluate occasionally how often you need to shampoo. There is a great blog post to read on this, How Often Should You Wash Your Hair? You can read that here.
So why does it matter how often you wash your hair? There are a few reasons why!
- We can confuse our scalp. It can start a vicious cycle and you may not even realize it. If you overwash your hair your scalp is confused, it gets dry and starts to overproduce oil. So, you end up thinking you have an oily scalp when really you don’t.
- Overwashing can fade your hair color. Using quality products that are safe for colored hair will help. But over-washing hair can fade your hair.
- If you get highlights or tend to have hair that is on the dry side washing too often can cause your hair to feel dry and brittle sometimes.
So, do you do any of these common things that might be hurting your hair? Like I told you earlier, I have done them all at one point or another! But I have learned and adjusted my routines and it makes such a difference!
Please share in the comments anything that surprised you or maybe if you are already doing some of these and it is helping your hair health!
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