You want to have beautiful, soft and shiny hair because it gives you self-confidence and adds to your overall image. However, with some harmful habits, you may get the opposite results of what you desire.

Bad habits and what to do instead

You may use shampoo that contains harsh ingredients that will eventually dehydrate your hair. In your effort to eliminate the styling products, you strip your hair of all its natural oils.Hair becomes dry, brittle and rough. You should better use a gentle shampoo to protect your scalp and hair from strong chemicals. Even better, use a shampoo without sulfates (surfactants) or without silicones. If you want to learn more about the silicones in hair care products, here is my related post. https://www.christiannak.com/?p=923

Sulfates have cleansing properties, but they dry hair out. Their role is to remove oils and dirt but at the same time strip your scalp and hair of its oils. As a result, the scalp produces more oil to bring back balance and your hair may be oilier on the top and dry on the bottom. Your scalp is itchy. If the hair is dyed, the color fades more easily.

You don’t use conditioner. Hair conditioner by definition contains moisturizing ingredients. Makes the hair soft, smooth and the detangling easier.

You probably wash your hair with hot water. You should better wash  with lukewarm water. It helps open the follicles so that they can receive the nutrients of the shampoo, cleanse but at the same time do not dehydrate the hair. At the end, you can rinse with cold water to close the follicles again and give shine to your hair.

You shampoo frequently. During the summer months, it is normal to do that, especially when you are on vacation and go to the beach every day. Also, the heat and sweat make us to wash our hair more often. Ηowever, the rest of the year, you can limit the frequency.

You rub your hair with the towel. This will lead to breakage. Wrap your hair in a towel to absorb moisture, instead.

You comb or brush your hair while it’s wet. Yes, I know there are detangling brushes. I have one as well but it may lead to breakage. Preferably use a wide tooth comb.

You use styling tools frequently even the next day after a good night’s sleep to refresh your hairstyle. You may use heat protection again but this will dehydrate your hair. Moreover, the silicones in the heat protectant, will make your hair greasy. Leave it to be more natural. You don’t need always to be like you just got out of the hair salon.

You skip the use of protection against heat. Your hair absolutely needs it before styling but in moderation. Heat protectants have silicones and the build up will eventually make your hair heavy, rough and dull.

You use a lot of styling products, often those with a strong hold. Many of them contain alcohol which will damage your hair. If you can’t style your hair without them (like my curly hair), wash it more often (yes, I know I talked about washing it too often being bad for your hair). Make sure to use some shampoo with at least some nourishing ingredients, e.g. with vegetable oils and butters. Nevertheless, the best solution is not to use any styling product.

You often tie your hair up tightly. I do it too, especially in the summer during the very hot days. This leads to hair breakage. Do it but more loosely, instead.

You don’t decide to have a haircut or trim. You should do it in order to get rid of the split ends.

In all likelihood, you don’t protect your hair from the sun. Wear a straw hat especially when you go to the beach. You may also use a hair sunscreen. I prefer the hat solution.

You do a lot of chemical treatments. It is normal that you like making changes to your color (I have done it too), but they can damage your hair. Decide which shade suits you best, which one brightens your face and flatters you most and stick with it.

You often do keratin treatments. It may give a beautiful result at first but ends up damaging the hair and causing breakage due to the protein build up.

To sum up, common daily habits are detrimental to hair. Try as much as you can do them in moderation or preferably avoid them. This will significantly improve your hair’s health and appearance.