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Hair is often seen as a sign of beauty and youth for both men and women. Our hair goes through a lot of trauma. Over time, this damage can take a toll on hair, but there is some good news. You can improve how your hair looks and feels. All it takes is a little time and effort.
It’s important to realise that healthy hair is hair that looks good and feels thick and strong. This means that, if you want to improve how your hair looks and feels, you need to make sure that your hair is as healthy as possible. Here are some tips to help you to make your hair look thicker and improve your hair health.
The Causes of Hair Damage
When someone is unwell and goes to a doctor, the doctor has to diagnose the illness before they can treat it. The same is true for your hair. You need to know what could damage your hair before treating it. So, if you’re able to work out why your hair is unhealthy, you can take steps to improve your hair health.
There are some specific causes of hair damage that you should tackle. These issues may cause minor damage, make your hair look generally dull and unhealthy, cause breakages, or even cause you to lose your hair.
Heat Damage and Overprocessing
The most common causes of hair damage include heat damage and overprocessing. People want to look good, which often means styling your hair. Unfortunately, styling tools like curling irons and straighteners can be a double-edged sword. Yes, they make your hair look good at the time, but they can cause damage that adds up over time.
The good news is that you don’t have to relinquish your hair processing tools entirely. You just have to invest in safe heat styling, rather than blasting your hair with extreme temperatures. Safe heat-styling tools are designed to let you curl and straighten your hair to your heart’s desire without risking unnecessary damage.
As well as the right equipment, you can use heat protection sprays and treatments to help your hair to better handle the heat. There is also always the option of giving your hair a break from heat-intensive styling now and then, so it can recover and replenish its natural moisture.
Intensive heat isn’t the only way that you can over-process your hair. Chemical styling aids stress your hair and some can be incredibly damaging. Repeated bleaching is one of the largest culprits of hair breakages. If you don’t give your hair a break, then it might snap off.
Some services can make your hair temporarily feel healthier, especially if you get them done at the salon. These include perms, relaxers, and professional straightening or coloring. Your hair may feel glossy, but if you do this too often, your hair will accumulate damage. Eventually, it will become brittle and may break.
General Health
Your general health has an effect on your whole body, including your hair. Your diet, for example, directly impacts the quality of your hair. Your hair needs certain nutrients to stay healthy, as well as enough protein and antioxidents. Someone who is malnourished won’t have the nutrients that they need to build new hair, so their hair will go thin and new hairs may break.
After all, your hair is part of your body and the same principles apply. Healthy body, healthy hair. Part of hair care involves understanding how your hair works. Your hair goes through a cycle of three different stages. These include the anagen (growth) phase, the catagen (resting) phase, and the telogen (shedding) phase.
Certain health conditions can cause damage to your hair, as can treatments. Some of these health conditions can be treated, which means that your hair can rejuvinate itself. Other conditions, such as alopecia, are permanent, so people with this condition have to find other ways to manage their hair loss.
Common conditions that damage your hair include hypothyroidism, where your thyroid gland doesn’t produce enough thyroid hormones. This impacts your metabolism, heart rate, and the growth of your hair. Your hair will suffer excessive damage. However, treating the condition will help, as well as vastly improving your general wellbeing.
If your hair is suffering from damage despite proper care, and your general health is poor or you have other symptoms, then you should visit a doctor. Your hair damage may be yet another symptom of an underlying condition.
As well as physical health, your mental wellbeing can have an effect on the health of your hair. Excessive stress can lead to hair loss and air breakage, especially after a sudden or traumatic event. It can cause your hair follicles to go dormant, interrupting your hair’s growth cycle and causing hair to snap off, while older hairs fall out. If you can effectively manage your stress, then you may find that your hair is healthier and fuller.
Photo by Rana Sawalha on Unsplash
Caring For Your Hair
Proper hair care is the key to keeping it as healthy and as lush as possible. It’s also one of the tricks to make your hair grow faster, so you can finally achieve that princess look that you’ve been after. After all, long hair needs to be as healthy as possible. If your hair is unhelathy and breaks off at the same rate, or even faster, than it grows, then your hair will never get any longer.
As well as avoiding practices that can damage your hair, such as excessive heat styling and over-processing, general good hair practices can prevent damage and help your hair be as healthy as possible.
Washing Your Hair
Your hair washing routine should be as gentle as it can be, while still doing its job. Your scalp produces oil, which eventually results in greasy hair. However, this oil is also good for your hair, keeping it hydrated and glossy. You need to find a balance between keeping your hair clean and avoiding stripping it of all of those oils.
Different people have different needs when it comes to their hair washing routine. If you have a dry scalp and hair, then your hair may need washing less often so it has more of a chance to replenish those oils. But, if you have oily skin, then your scalp may produce a lot of oil. While it’s tempting to wash your hair as often as possible, you should wash it a maximum of once a day, and only if you have particularly oily hair. Most people don’t need to wash their hair this often.
Pay attention to the shampoo that you’re using on your hair as well. Some shampoo can irritate your scalp or damage your hair. While it does the job of cleaning your hair and scalp, it also makes it look and feel worse over time. Find a gentle, natural shampoo that does what you need it to.
As well as the dryness or oiliness of your hair, you also need to consider what type of hair you have. This will heavily influence your hair care routine and how you wash it. For example, people with textured hair will usually need to wash their hair less often and should steer clear of harsh sulfates.
As well as taking care when washing your hair, you should also condition it regularly. If your hair is heavily damaged, then you may need to undergo an intensive conditioning session. But even if your hair is healthy, conditioner will keep it that way.
Finally, when drying your hair, avoid the urge to blast it with high heat or to use a rough towel to rub away moisture. Your hair is at its most vulnerable when wet, so treating it harshly now will damage it. Instead, blot your hair with a towel or blow dry it at a low temperature.
Good Hair Practices
As well as the everyday washing and drying of your hair, along with keeping yourself healthy, there are some good hair practices that will keep it healthy. One of these is regular haircuts.
While it seems that taking scissors to anything is a sure way to damage it, regular hair cuts is one way to keep your hair looking as healthy as possible. As your hair gets longer, the ends will split and break. This damage is inevitable and irreversible.
The only way to handle split ends is to get them cut off. Otherwise, the split ends will move up your hair, damaging inches of it rather than just the very ends. Book regular haircuts or keep a close eye on the ends of your hair to watch out for split ends.
You should also brush and comb your hair correctly. Overbrushing can pull and break your hair, as can using something too harsh. Use natural bristles where possible and use wide-tooth combs to avoid breakages. On a similar note, wearing ponytails all the time can stress and strain your hair, especially if you use elastic hair ties or, even worse, rubber bands. Give your hair a break and wear it down now and then.