Avoiding Hair Damage
Stressing
and Damaging the Hair
The
hair is under continuous assault from the natural elements
as well as the owners. Fortunately damaged hair gets
replaced. At the rate of 0.5 inch a month, this may
not be fast enough for those do things that cause hair
loss. One of the main causes of hair loss is improper
and continuous use of permanent dyes and hair setting
agents. Do that often enough and the hair loss could
be premature and permanent.
Heads
with thinning hair are especiall vulnerable. The first
stage is as your hair thin, it grows more slowly. Then
it miniaturize, before disappearing in pattern baldness.
What you want to do is to protect the hair and if possible
follow the tips on this website to reverse the thinning;
not torture it by putting the hair in some process of
permant dyeing, perming, reseting and straightening.
Unfortunately
as people experience thinning hair, they do the reverse
by dyeing and perming.
Some
of the worst offenses that damage the hair are:
- Rubbing
the hair too hard to dry it. The strong rubbing
can pull out hair and create friction that mechanically
damage the hair.
- Using
a hot blow-dryer. There are air pockets deep
in the cortex of the hair that contain moisture. Blowing
hot air to the hair can boil the shaft, causing the
hair to explode.
- Using
hot rollers. These create curls by applying
heat directly to the hair. That also means that the
hair is directly and effectively damaged.
- Exposing
the hair to direct sunlight. The effect is
similar to blow drying. Often this has a greater effect
because on spend more time under the sun. Untraviolet
light from direct sunlight can cause significant damage
to the disulphide bonds in the keratin. You can notice
that many people who spend considerable time on the
beach have thin and discolored hair.
- Using
blunt scissors. Blunt scissors split the
hair. The split can eventually peel the shaft.
- Perming.
The perming process separates the scales on the cuticle
so that water can be absorbed and the hair reshaped.
Perming the hair often and leaving the perming agents
on the hair too long can permanently damage the hair
shaft. Read
more about the perming process.
- Coloring
and Bleaching. Applying permanent coloring/dyeing
and bleaching to your hair and do permanent damage.
It makes the hair shaft porous and allowing it to
absorb too much moisture. Read
more about the damage of coloring and bleaching the
hair.
- Using
hair sprays. Spraying the hair coats the
cuticle and makes the shafts bind to each other, tugging
at each other at the points of contact. This can break
the cuticle and the spindle below, exposing the cuticle
to more external damage. Hair sprays are water-soluble.
Daily washing of the hair will remove the hair spray
and reduce damage.
- Back
brushing. When you back brush the hair, you
create traction against the grian of the cuticle scales.
This can do permanent damage to the hair and break
it. The visible evidence is the loss of shine to the
hair.
- Brushing
and combing too hard. The friction caused
by combing or brushing the hair too hard can damage
the hair, especially when going against the hair direction.
Conditioners help to ease this process and reduce
the damage.
Cutting
away damaged hair will help stop extending the damage
further. It also gives a chance for your hair to look
good again as new hair grows.
Important read on better hair care below:
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