Healthy hair is hair that grows long with minimal split ends… Right?
Yes and no. You can have shorter hair that doesn’t reach your tail bone and it can be by definition healthier because you don’t have as many dead ends lingering on your hair.
Hair damage is inevitable and at some point, or another our hair is going to get a bit damaged. Especially if you have longer hair, the hair at the bottom is some of the oldest strands therefore most prone to snapping off.
What causes hair to degrade or eventually become unhealthy is bleaching, coloring, heat styling, genetics, lifestyle, and diet. (Some people can completely neglect their hair and have the healthiest hair! This is unfortunately genetics; some people are blessed while others like me have to try much harder to maintain healthy hair).
The most important thing you can do to take care of your hair is to not always having it hanging loose around your shoulders.
When your hair is in a protective style such as a loose bun that does not pull on your scalp or braids, it puts the hair back and away, so it is less likely to get tangled, break off from tangles, rubbing against clothes, and UV damage from the sun.
UV damage is actually a very common cause for people having damaged hair. Just like our skin, our hair is very likely and suspectable to becoming damaged from the harsh rays that the sun emits.
When we are around chlorine in our pools in the summer it is a very likely to dry out your hair as well as causing the hair to become very tangled! (Click here to learn how to protect your hair from chlorine and salt water)
P.s. Salt water is just as drying as chlorine also causes lots of tangles!
Water in general if you didn’t know, is a common denominator when it comes to hair damage. This is because each time we shower our hair follicle expands/stretches when we soak it under water. This causes it to stretch and if you’re not gentle with your hair when you get out of the shower, it will break/snap off and cause more damage.
Each time we shower or bathe and our hair gets wet, this puts our hair in a very fragile state.
Hard water also plays a major role in hair damage because of all of the pollutants, heavy metals, as well as chemicals that go into our water, end up on our scalp and absorbed into our skin. Hard water is also a main cause or buildup on the scalp because after we clean it with shampoo, these nasties cling to your strands after leaving the shower.
This can cause itchiness, flaking, as well inflamed boils after showering. I invested in a shower filter years ago and no longer feel the urge to itch my skin off showering.
Heat styling isn’t the devil, but if you are touching up your hair every day, it can make your strands feel like they’re in hell! Our hair is not made to be under 350′-450′ degree heat every single day even with a heat protectant, you are damaging your strands beyond repair! (Pro tip: hair oil does not protect you from heat damage, you are essentially cooking your hair when you put on hair oil/hair serum and then heat style your hair, refer to how you cook your food. That is what’s happening to your hair).
I have fine hair, but medium in thickness. All this means is that my hair strands are teeny tiny, but I have quite a lot of them. Fine hair is more prone to breakage because the strands are thinner in diameter compared to coarse hair strands that are wider.
Another habit you can incorporate into your routine is sleeping with a silk/satin pillowcase. This is because with this kind of slippery material it can make your hair as well as your skin glide against the material vs. with cotton it can rub as well as cause kinks/cowlicks on your hair. (p.s. cotton can dry out already dry skin and hair)!
I would also like to mention that extending your wash days even if it is 1 or 2 days longer can greatly benefit the overall health of your hair. If you read along earlier, water is damaging to the hair because of the swelling it causes.
The less stress your hair has to go through frequently the healthier it can be!
Lastly the most important of all is your diet. What you eat and consume in a day will affect your hair, hair growth, as well as hair density.
You cannot eat fast food or fried food with no nutrient value and expect your hair to be like Rapunzel’s! Having a balanced diet with fruits, veggies, good fats, and quality meats can and will give you healthier hair. Even your doctor will tell you to have a balanced diet for your overall health and well-being of your mind and body!
To summarize healthy hair can and will become damaged to some degree, it is inevitable, but it will not be able to grow unless it is in a good enough condition to do so.