10 Hair-Care Daily Habits that Damage Your Hair

Is your hair looking weak and lifeless? Feeling dry, unmanageable and excessive shedding? You may be surprised to hear that daily habits could be the cause your hair to be out of shape. Here are some simple tips to finding the best hair care routine.  

Gently comb? Rubbing shampoo? Blow dryer? Hair strands? Excessive hair straightening? These could be the causes of your problems. How do you change your habits?

There is no better feeling as when you leave your hairdresser's and can't resist touching your hair? This is called the "hairdresser effect" is not only due to the skill of the stylist. Any professional knows that the trick is not to "do" your hair to make it look good, but to care for it properly.

Don't forget that extensions need extra special care to stay looking and feeling amazing! Nano Hair Extensions, Tape In Hair Extensions and Hair Weave Extensions need the right cosmetics and the right protection.

Colouring too often

Changing your hair colour should be done no more than once every three months, especially if you lighten and bleaching it. Bleaching gives you immediate results, however, it does cause damage due to it stripping away the colour. For many, our roots need dying regularly, if so try and just apply the dye and or bleach to the roots to avoid any additional damage don’t to the ends.

If you dye your hair at home, then ammonia-free dyes are less invasive than products containing ammonia.

Heat styling

Of course, applying high heat to your hair can be damaging especially when using to style every day. Where possible limit the use of styling tools, such as hair driers, straighteners and curlers. Heat dries out your hair making it weaker, ultimately making it more vulnerable to damage.

Washing

Is it best to wash your hair every day? The simple answer is no you don’t need to. Hair receives nutrients from the scalp, if you wash hair every day can end up removing vital oils.

Of course, everyone is different, and if you cannot give up shampooing your hair every day, you should do so gently. Be sure to check your cosmetics - choose those that are gentle and free of harmful substances (SLS, SLES, parabens, etc.). Such products will put extra weight on your hair.

A good cosmetic can do three things:

- Thoroughly cleanse your hair of all types of impurities

- Maintain the natural protective barrier, not disturbing its structure and not overloading the hair with artificial coating

- Provide the hair with all the necessary ingredients for its own regeneration

When washing your hair, the products used are extremely important but the temperature can also play a role in the condition of the hair. Studies have shown that it is best to use warm water when shampooing, as it opens the cuticles and helps to remove build-up and oils. When conditioning you should use cool water as it helps to close the cuticles as well as reducing fizz.

Drying hair

After washing, be gentle with your hair, do not rub and squeeze all the hair out. A towel can actually remove too much moisture from the hair, proven that using a cotton t-shirt is best as it will not dry out the hair as well as reducing tangles. If you have extensions you want to gently squeeze out as much water as possible then pat the hair, do not rub bonds or wrap a towel around your head as this can cause tangling and matting.

Frequent and forceful brushing

This is one of the most common mistakes. Brushing your hair too often can damage the hair's structure, weakens strands, contributes to hair loss and static electricity, especially if you brush in a hurry. Best to not brush more than twice a day, morning and night.

Using the wrong brush can also cause unnecessary damage, the best brushes gently remove tangles, whilst rubbing the scalp to stimulate hair growth. At Viola, we recommend a bristle brush especially with hair extensions as it when used correctly will not pull on the bonds and fittings.

Tight up dos

Do you like your hair in a tight bun or ponytail, pull back close to the scalp? Beware, your hair could be suffering. Regular and long tension can put pressure on the hairs follicles which affects the amount of nutrition and in-tern can become brittle and thin. Also, pay attention to the elastics and other hair accessories you use; metal clips can pull and tear your hair and cause breakage.

Avoiding the hairdresser

Do you have long hair and can't remember the last time you visited your hairdresser? A good hairstylist is like a doctor for your hair. A regular trim will make a huge difference for your hair, as it will stop any split ends raising up the strands, which can affect hair growth.

Frequent Teasing

Teasing the hair is an effective way of adding volume to the roots, usually by backcombing, this adds volume by creating tangles that can become unruly, tight and even pulling out from the root. It can also damage the hair structure, after some time the hair becomes unsightly and unmanageable. Occasional backcombing, especially when done by a professional, will not wreak havoc on your head. Before washing backcombed hair, it can be best to leave it and gently brush when the conditioner is applied.

Going to bed with a wet head

It's true that heat is bad for your hair, however, most hair driers have multiple heat settings, although it can take longer your hairs health will thank you for it.

If you have hair extensions, it is a cardinal sin to go to bed with wet hair, the rubbing of the hair on the pillow when wet can cause matting and tangling of the bonds and in some extreme cases can even encourage mould growth.

Maintenance

To keep extensions and natural hair healthy and in top condition, it is so important to have regular maintenance, otherwise can result in matting and dreadlocks. Each method has a slightly different time period between maintenance as the hair grows the extensions grow down, this is when hair gets wrapped up and becomes tangled, if left this can cause excessive matting and hair can be pulled out from the root. 

If you want to have beautiful, healthy and shiny hair, pay attention to these issues. Maybe you can make a complete change in your hair care routine? Go for it!