Your Split Ends Are Worse Than You Think – Here’s How to Fix Them

Although a few split ends are nothing to worry about, it usually doesn’t take long for things to get worse. This can make your entire mane look frizzy and dull, with those split ends soon affecting the health of every hair on your head. 

What can you do about this? Read on as Nubi explains how to fix and prevent the appearance of split ends.

How to Tell If You Have Split Ends

First things first – do you even have split ends? Sometimes, dryness and other forms of damage can be mistaken for split ends. It’s important to know exactly what you’re dealing with, so here are a few tell-tale signs that split ends are the problem:

• The ends of your hair look frayed. They’ll often form a Y-shape or will look forked, with the end of each strand splitting into two sections. With that said, not every hair on your head may be split, so examine your strands thoroughly!
• Hair that looks thin and sparse at the ends.
• The ends of your hair look duller and more translucent than the rest of your hair.
• Uneven lengths. Some strands may be longer than others due to split ends breaking off.
• A small white dot at the end of your split ends. This is the point at which the split end has broken off, with the white dot being a sign of damage.
• Hair that breaks easily when being brushed.

Interestingly, studies show that some hair types, particularly coily Afro hair, are more susceptible to damage and split ends than others. Women going through menopause also tend to notice an increase in split ends. This is down to how oil production in the scalp slows down, causing the hair to become drier and more prone to breakages.

What to Do About Your Split Ends

Now that you’ve confirmed that you have split ends, here’s what you can do about them:

Chop Them Off

The only way to really get rid of split ends is to trim them away. If your split ends aren’t too severe, a subtle trim is all that you’ll need. Meanwhile, if your split ends have traveled up your hair shaft, meaning that it’s more than just your ends that have split, you may need to opt for a more dramatic cut. 

Either way, once you start to notice more than a couple of split ends, booking yourself in for a trim is essential. You’ll be able to prevent the problem from worsening while immediately giving your hair a fresher and healthier finish. Think of it as an opportunity to give that amazing new haircut you’ve been eyeing up a try! 

Moisturize to Conceal

While there are plenty of hair care products out there that promise to repair split ends, they won’t actually do so. There’s no way to fuse broken hairs back together. However, that’s not to say that those products don’t have merit. Most of them work by hydrating and moisturizing the hair, which can go a long way in concealing split ends and making them look less noticeable.

What sort of products should you be opting for? Hair masks and leave-in conditioners tend to be very beneficial. They’re known for being intensely moisturizing. Hair masks are usually applied in the shower, either after or instead of a conditioner, while leave-in conditioners are slathered onto the ends of towel-dried hair. This allows for fast absorption since wet hair is more permeable than dry hair.

Of course, the products that you use will only be as good as their ingredients. Some of the best ingredients to moisturize with if you’re dealing with split ends are:

• Argan oil 
• Sweet almond oil
• Panthenol
• Jojoba oil
• Shea butter
• Moringa oil
• Coconut oil
• Olive oil

Minimize Your Use of Heat

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The drier and more damaged your hair is, the more prone it will be to split ends. If you’re a regular user of heated styling tools, this could be why your split ends are worsening faster than you’re able to deal with them. As useful as heated styling tools may be, the high level of heat that they emit can quickly fry your strands.

To prevent this, cut back on your use of heated styling tools. When you do really need to use one, pick a model that’s designed to minimize the appearance of heat damage as much as possible. Take the Nubi Soft N’ Straight 1.25” Ceramic Purple Styler, for example. Ceramic plates are known for being gentler on the hair, especially when combined with the infrared heat and negative ion technology offered by this model. The fact that it has an adjustable temperature is a big bonus too. This means that you can straighten your hair with a lower heat instead of exposing your strands to a single high temperature that’s likely to burn and damage your hair.

Of course, a heat protectant is a must too, even if you’re using a gentle heated styling tool. They give your hair a coating that then takes the brunt force of the heat that you apply. Any burning that occurs affects that heat protectant coating, rather than your strands themselves.

Don’t Wash Your Hair Too Often

While keeping your hair clean is a vital part of maintaining its health, over-washing can be disastrous, especially if you have or are prone to split ends. Why? Because washing your hair too often means that you’re taking away the moisturizing oils that your scalp produces faster than it’s able to replace them. This then leaves strands dry and brittle. As you know, not only does this make split ends more likely but it will also increase the chances of those split ends snapping off.

How often should you wash your hair? This all depends on your hair type, lifestyle habits, and more. Ideally, avoid washing your hair unless it actually needs to be washed, meaning that it’s starting to feel greasy. 

Another way to wash your hair without drying it out is by co-washing. This is when you wash your locks with a conditioner instead of a shampoo. It’s a great method to try if your hair is already dry and you don’t use many hair styling products. It will remove dirt without stripping away your hair’s natural oils. This will help to preserve the integrity of each strand.

Be Gentle When Detangling

If you often find yourself brushing through tangled hair, yanking through those knots will only cause new split ends while making existing splits worse. Ideally, you should be brushing your hair as gently, and as little, as possible – something that can be hard to do when you have a head full of tangles to work through!

One way to get around this is by de-tangling your hair while you’re in the shower, after you’ve applied a conditioner. Although your hair is more fragile when it’s wet, your conditioner will provide some extra lubrication that makes it easier for strands to slip out of those knots. 

Rather than using a brush, work your way through with your fingers first before following up with a fine-toothed comb. Start at the bottom, detangling the ends of your hair completely, before moving up your head. This method will enable you to avoid tugging at your roots, which will only cause unnecessary tension and damage to the tops of your hair too! 

Cut Back on Chemical Treatments

It’s easy to start relying on chemical hair treatments. Be it perming, bleaching, relaxing, or anything else, subjecting your locks to these procedures may help you to achieve the overall look that you’re going for, but it will also make your split ends so much worse. 

How? It all comes down to how those chemicals weaken the hair shaft in a way that exacerbates damage. This becomes even more severe if you’re opting for more than one chemical treatment at a time, such as perming and dyeing. 

If you want to put a stop to your split ends, you’ll need to put a stop to the chemical treatments too, or at least give your hair some extra time to recuperate in between each one. Try to leave two to three months between each treatment and avoid having multiple treatments carried out in one go. Increasing your usage of hair masks and leave-in conditioners after having a chemical treatment carried out can also help your hair recover faster.

Consider Hair Supplements

Your dietary intake has a huge impact on the health and strength of your hair. Give your locks the correct nutrients from within and they’ll start to feel more elastic and resilient – exactly what needs to happen if you want your strands to stop splitting.

There are certain nutrients that are particularly beneficial for the hair. If you’re not able to obtain enough of these through your diet, it may be worth considering a hair supplement. Look for one that contains a few of the following ingredients:

• Biotin or vitamin B7 – it’s an important building block of healthy strands
• Vitamins B6 and B12 – these leave hair follicles feeling stronger
• Zinc – supports the scalp’s oil glands
• Iron – a key part of your red blood cells, which carry oxygen to your hair
• Omega-3s – balance oil production while also giving strands a shinier and more flexible finish
• Vitamin C – helps with the production of protein

The downside to hair supplements is that they aren’t fully regulated. If you’re thinking of buying one, make sure that the product in question has plenty of high-quality clinical trials that support its use. You should also check that the ingredients within them haven’t been used in an overly high dosage, as this would only do more harm than good to your hair.

Summary

Although split ends can be frustrating to deal with, just about everybody experiences them! Having those frayed ends trimmed away is the best way forward. Once you’ve done that, follow the other tips that we’ve shared so that you can prevent your newly trimmed ends from splitting yet again!

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