Avoid These 7 Hair Care Mistakes
Ever wonder what hair care mistakes you could be making that are keeping your hair from looking its best? Bad hair habits can happen to the best of us, and chances are one of these habits have snuck into your routine at some point. Here’s a list of some of the most common hair care mistakes, and the better alternative for your hair. Your hair will thank you!
Using The Wrong Water Temperature
A hot steaming shower or bath feels amazing, but hot water is hard on hair for a number of reasons. For coloured hair, it strips the colour faster leading to a faded look. Hot water also dehydrates the strands (just like it does to skin) giving you dry, brittle hair.
But don’t worry, you don’t have to completely swear off hot showers, just either pin-up your hair in the bath or wear a shower cap. When it does come time to wash and rinse your hair, adjust the water temperature to warm.
Not Keeping Up With Trims
If you’ve noticed your hair is looking frayed at the ends, or seems to snag more when you run your fingers through it, chances are you’re overdue for a trim. Trimming hair keeps split ends from travelling up the shaft or breaking your strands, and keeps your ends looking thick and healthy.
Incorrectly Using a Hair Dryer
Though applying intense streams of hot air is tempting to speed up the drying process, it comes at a price to your hair. If you overdry your hair, you can end up with more frizz, tangles, and dryer hair – not worth it! Some tips for blow drying hair correctly:
- Don’t start while your hair is still sopping wet
- Use your nozzle attachment for a precise stream of air
- Only blow dry to about 80% dry
- Concentrate your blower at your hairline first
Sleeping With Your Hair Down
When it comes to the best way of sleeping with long hair, don’t take your cues from all the Victorian-era movies that show women sleeping with their hair down. Having your hair loose overnight causes dryness after rubbing against cotton pillowcases all night, as well as frizz and tangles.
To help retain moisture and prevent tangles from friction at night, put your hair in a braid. You can also pin it up after braiding if that’s comfortable for you.
Using Dirty Combs and Brushes
If you haven’t examined your combs and brushes closely, you might be surprised at what you find. It doesn’t take long for combs or brushes to start collecting product residue, scalp oil, dandruff, and dust. Add those things together and you get a pretty grimy tool that you’d never want to brush or comb clean hair with.
To prevent yucky buildup on your combs and brushes, they should be cleaned once a week. Let them soak in warm soapy water for awhile, and then wipe away the grime.
Washing Hair Too Often (or Not Enough)
Hair really doesn’t need a shampooing every single day, and it’s more likely you’ll end up with a dried out scalp that tries to compensate by producing even more oil. Also, overwashing can fade coloured hair quicker, all that hard tap water can cause mineral build-up on your hair.
Try every two days to see how your hair feels, or go longer to see what personally works best for you.
Drying Hair With a Towel
Those with straight hair might be able to get away with light towel drying, but it’ll cause some tangles. However, if you have combination hair texture, wavy, or curly, then towel drying will set you up for a frizzy mess. To avoid friction against terrycloth towels, only wrap your hair in them very gently (though it’s been to use a cotton shirt). Never rub your hair vigorously through a towel unless you want to add a half hour (or more) to your hair routine just combing out tangles.
If any of these bad hair habits have been part of your routine, it’s not too late to change them! We love helping our clients achieve the hair of their dreams, so if you need any of our cut and colour services, give us a call or book an appointment with us online!
