Let’s face it; hair loss is bad. Not only does our hair complete our appearance, but it also helps protect our scalp from the harmful rays of the sun. It only makes sense that the market offers more and more options to allow DIY hair care.
While it’s natural that we shed about a hundred hair strands every single day, many people lose more than this healthy number. About 3 million men and 21 million women in the U.S. suffer from a type of hair loss, according to a 2014 study by Statistic Brain Research Institute. Typically, hair loss is inherited from parents’ genes that shrink hair follicles and inhibit any more hair from growing as early as during one’s teenage years.
Balding on top of one’s head usually occurs among men and a widening hair part among women in the later years of life. Without procedures that promote hair regrowth such as laser hair restoration treatments, there is nothing you can do to prevent hair loss. Moreover, your hair care habits may make or break the falling spell.
Here are some ways you could be causing your hair to fall instead of keeping them on your head:
Pulling It More than Necessary
You want to treat your hair with the utmost tenderness regardless if yours is lush or is already thinning. Often, we forget this tip when detangling strands after showering or when freshening up. We seek satisfaction from undoing knots that have formed on our hair using thin-bristle combs.
You could also be fond of styling your hair with the tightest braids, pig, or ponytails. While these are okay in keeping hair from getting onto your face especially during busy days, these do more bad than good to your hair follicles. It can also lead to premature receding or even scarring of the hairline.
Shampooing More than Necessary
Shampooing rids your hair and scalp of excess oil that could harbor bacteria. Depending on how sweaty one gets in a day, it is recommended to shampoo one’s hair as often as every other day or every three days. Shampoo more often than that and you are practically casting a dry spell on your scalp. This, in turn, will cause it to become less elastic and less able to hold onto your hair strands.
Showering with Hot Water
Having warm baths is soothing and all, but you should exempt your hair from the sauna-like experience. Unknown to many, hot water dehydrates the hair. Dehydrated hair is more prone to breakage. Dehydration also inhibits the hair from absorbing nutrients from the scalp.
Applying Too Much Heat
Heat-emitting gadgets like blow driers, flat, and curling irons continue to be commonplace in hair styling. Still, that does not mean using them does not have negative effects on your hair. Heat, as mentioned earlier, weakens the hair causing it to break, and that is why moderation is key when applying it to your hair.
Sometimes, though, you get too engrossed with styling your hair that you crank the heat too high. Also, you forego applying heat-protecting products on your hair before it gets on the rod or not wearing protective gear just before you go out to the sun. All these habits cause your hair to look frizzy when unstyled and cuticle damage which does not necessarily present itself immediately.
Not Trimming Frequently
We are all taught how having too-long hair makes it difficult to maintain or keep healthy because there’s a greater length your body has to nourish. This is true and that is why not trimming your hair at least twice a year causes split ends and breakage.
Bad Diet
Skipping your veggies, fruits, protein-rich nuts, and lean meat for fast food brings you to the fast lane of hair loss. The trans-fat and ridiculous amounts of salt and sugar contained in this mass-produced food just wouldn’t suffice for your body’s daily nutritional needs, more so your hair.
You are also doing a disservice to your hair by regularly skipping breakfast. Your vital organs are only ever to optimally function once they are fueled by energy-giving food. By doing this, you are also inhibiting nutrient absorption into your body parts including your hair.
Smoking
Exposing your hair to heat is established to cause its damage. This makes smoking a bad habit for your hair too. Not only that, but smoking also produces free radicals in the form of tar and gas in your body. These cause stunted growth for your hair.
Your hair habits are an investment. Constantly go the wrong route and you are signing up for unhealthy hair sooner or later in life. Be nice to your hair and you don’t have to say goodbye to them so soon.
