Hair Care
14 Everyday Habits That Are Secretly Ruining Your Hair
Nov
Wondering why, despite your best efforts, you always seem to experience various problems with your hair? The answer could be as simple as making a few tweaks to your everyday habits. Read on as Nubi talks through 14 commonly made hair mistakes that could be secretly ruining your mane.
1) Shampooing the Ends of Your Hair
Regularly shampooing your hair is essential when it comes to keeping your scalp and roots clean. The ends of your hair, however? They don’t need to be shampooed. If you run your shampoo all the way down your lengths when you’re washing your hair, then this is the first hair mistake you need to quit making.
What’s wrong with shampooing the ends of your hair? They’re already the driest part of your hair. It takes a while for the oil produced by your scalp to make its way down to those ends. If you want to keep the ends of your hair healthy, those oils need to be preserved as much as possible, and shampooing isn’t going to help with that.
2) Being Rough When Towel-Drying Wet Hair
Although your hair may feel more elastic when it’s wet, this is actually when it’s at its weakest. When wet, hair is extremely prone to breaking, which is why it’s important to be as gentle as possible with it.
However, for many, vigorously rubbing a towel against their wet locks is a habitual way to towel-dry. This causes a number of issues, from roughened-up hair cuticles to split ends to frizz.
What should you do instead? Squeeze out excess moisture and then gently blot your hair dry with an absorbent microfiber towel.
3) Using a Blow Dryer on Soaking Wet Hair
Wondering if you can skip the towel-drying process and simply blow-dry your hair instead? If your hair is still soaking wet, the answer is no.
Blow drying, although an efficient way to dry hair, exposes your hair to heat. You’re probably already aware that any sort of heat exposure causes damage, making it wise to keep this to a minimum. If your hair is soaking wet when you blow-dry it, you’ll end up subjecting it to heat for longer. Ideally, wait until your hair is 75-80% dry before reaching for your blow dryer. Picking a high-quality model, like the Nubi Blow Me Away dryer, will also help to prevent the appearance of heat damage.
4) Not Protecting Your Hair Before Heat Styling
Whether you plan on blow-drying, curling, or straightening your hair, it’s always a good idea to give your hair some extra protection before you apply any form of heat. As we mentioned above, heat can really damage your locks. Heat styling without using a heat protectant first is one of those hair mistakes that you’ll end up really regretting a few years down the line.
Heat protectants come in many forms, so pick one that works with your hair type. Apply it to your hair while your hair is damp, as wet hair is more permeable than dry hair.
5) Only Using the Hottest Setting When Heat Styling
Back in the day, heated styling tools only offered one temperature. These days, however, things are very different. Most heated styling tools, including the Nubi Soft N’ Straight 1.25” Ceramic Purple Styler, give you a range of temperatures to choose from. If you always automatically crank the dial up to the hottest temperature, this is another habit that you’ll need to change.
Why? You need to keep heat exposure to a minimum if you want to maintain healthy-looking locks. Unless your hair is extremely thick and coarse, chances are that you won’t need the highest level of heat to successfully style your hair.
Instead, figure out how much heat you actually need. Start by styling your hair with the lowest temperature. If this doesn’t work out, gradually turn the heat up until you’ve found a temperature that’s able to style your hair without exposing it to unnecessary levels of heat.
6) Wearing Your Hair in the Same Tight Hairstyle Every Day
Is a tight ponytail or bun one of your go-to hairstyles? Many people turn to these classics day after day, not realizing that this is one of those hair mistakes that they could be paying for in the future.
What’s the issue? Tight hairstyles place excessive tension on the scalp. In the short term, this can cause irritation, itching, and redness. In the long run, it can lead to hair follicle damage and hair loss.
There’s nothing wrong with wearing your hair in tight styles every once in a while. However, mix it up each day, alternating those tighter styles with looser options.
7) Showering With Hot Water
While a hot shower may feel luxuriously satisfying, it’s not doing your hair any favors. Instead, hot water melts sebum – the same oil that your hair needs to keep itself naturally protected and conditioned.
Ideally, you should be aiming for more of a lukewarm temperature when it comes to your showers. Not only will this help to preserve the sebum on your scalp and hair, but it will also keep the sebum that comprises your skin’s natural protective barrier intact.
8) Shampooing Your Hair Every Day
Do you shampoo your hair every day? If so, it’s time to stop. It’s very unlikely that your hair actually needs to be shampooed each day. The only exception would be someone with very thin/fine hair who lives in an extremely polluted, humid environment. However, even then, daily hair-washing can be excessive.
Why? It strips away the natural protective oils from your hair and scalp. In the short run, this leads to dryness. In the long term, it could trigger an overproduction of oil, resulting in a greasy scalp.
So, how often should you be washing your hair? This depends on many factors, from your hair type to your lifestyle. Whatever the answer may be for you, try to leave it for as long as possible in between shampoos.
9) Using Hair Care Products That Aren’t Suitable for Your Hair
You’re probably aware of how important it is to only use skincare products that are suitable for your skin type. Well, the same applies to your hair too.
If you have thin, oily hair, you’ll need to keep your hair care products as light as possible. Stay away from heavy ingredients that could mix with that excess oil and clog your hair follicles. On the other hand, people with dry hair or a dry scalp would benefit from rich ingredients in their hair care products. Taking the time to perfectly match your hair care products to your hair type will bring you the best results from your hair care routine.
10) Sleeping With Wet Hair
Earlier, we talked about how fragile your hair is when it’s wet, meaning that you need to be gentle with it. Going to bed with wet hair is the opposite of this. Each time your hair rubs against your pillow, it will be susceptible to snapping. You could end up with so much damage by morning.
Fortunately, this is one of the easier hair mistakes to rectify. Simply stop going to bed with wet hair, even if this means that you have to slightly alter your evening routine on hair-washing days.
11) Overusing Styling Products
Does your hair often feel limp and heavy? If your answer is yes and you also happen to be a fan of styling products, this habit could be the problem.
Overusing styling products is so easy to do. However, not only will it affect your mane’s volume and vibrancy in the short run, but it can also cause thinning and breakage over time.
To prevent this, try to limit your use of styling products. Don’t be quite so generous with how much you apply, and give your hair plenty of rest days.
12) Over-Brushing Your Hair
Many people grew up believing the myth that their hair needed to be brushed 100 times a day. This, however, isn’t true. Over-brushing, which is what 100 strokes per day amounts to, causes excessive friction. As time goes on, it will severely weaken your strands.
Instead, brush your hair as much as needed to remove any knots and tangles, and then leave it at that. Chances are that this won’t require anywhere near 100 strokes!
13) Using Dirty Brushes and Hair Tools
When’s the last time you cleaned your hairbrush and hair styling tools? If you’ve had to pause to think about it, that’s a sign that you’ve waited too long.
Brushes, curling wands, flat irons, and all of the other tools that touch your hair quickly pick up bacteria, oil, and other impurities. Not only will reapplying these to your hair lead to dullness and an irritated scalp, but it will also interfere with how your hair care and styling products penetrate your strands.
If you want to keep your hair healthy, make sure that you keep your hair care and styling tools clean!
14) Eating the Wrong Foods
Last but not least, let’s talk about the foods that you eat each day. If you’ve been leaning toward an unhealthy diet lately, this is going to have an impact on your strands. Breakage and thinning are common side effects when hair doesn’t receive the nutrients that it needs, which is why your diet should be included in your overall hair care plan.
What should you be eating? Fresh and balanced meals. Fill your plate with plenty of nutrient-rich foods in a variety of colors to ensure that you’re covering all bases.
It’s Time to Fix Your Hair Mistakes
If you can relate to any of the hair mistakes we’ve shared above, it’s time to put things right. While each one may not seem like a big deal on its own, they’ll take a long-term toll on your strands. It’s much more beneficial to build good habits instead – you’ll soon notice improvements in your hair as a result!
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