Caring for your hair does not stop at nourishing the hair. It stretches beyond hair strands to involve a lot of different factors, including scalp condition, your diet, habits, or even your emotional condition. By reviewing these seven sneaky mistakes in hair care, you are on the right track to avoid unwanted bloopers that hinder your effort.
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1. PRIDE - Only The Hair, Bypass The Scalp
A common mistake that most people can easily fall for is not giving enough attention to their scalps. Healthy hair strands go way beyond hair-centric effort!
Let’s imagine our head as a garden, where the scalp is the soil, and all our hair strands are plants growing from it. Unless being tended properly, the soil becomes less fertile, making plants wither sooner or later. Likewise, a scalp that does not receive enough care becomes itching, irritating, and eventually ends up being wasted. Isn’t it a shame that all the effort you’ve been spending on your hair will just go unrewarding?
Ask yourself if you’re taking too much pride in your hair, thus abandoning your scalp. If the answer is yes, you know what to do now!
2. GREED - I Want Them All
Thanks to the development of hair science, hair care products now come in all shapes and sizes, serving every single need we can think of. Unluckily the temptation of these products can mesmerise you to stock up way more tubes and bottles than your hair asks. Hold on to your money! Both your wallet and your hair will thank you for that.
Overusing products on your hair can easily cause build-up. Instead of nurturing your scalp, you impede its ability to absorb the nutrients with excessive layers of residue. Your hair also looks dull, greasy from product build-up. In short, it’s not only a waste of your money but also a burden on your scalp and hair.
A basic regime may be all you need, as long as you do it right. Think cleansing, hydrating, and protecting with a decent amount of hair care products.
3. LUST - The Illusion Of Appearance
The lust for strong, healthy hair strands can make you fall for the mistake of thinking that hair care is all external. Instant solutions to solve symptoms of your hair condition from outside might not deliver satisfactory and sustainable results.
The best solutions are the ones that solve the underlying issues of your hair status. Have you got too much stress recently? Is your diet not sufficient for your hair growth? Is there any illness affecting your overall health? There are ways too many reasons that provoke hair shedding. Failing to recognise the root cause of your hair problems hinders your chance to solve them.
Carefully evaluating your hair condition thoroughly inside out will be the best way possible to improve its wellness!
Tip: Find out how lack of sleep affect your hair health HERE.
4. ENVY - Tell Me What’s That You Are Using
If you’re anything like me, you are the type of person who wants to try everything your friends are using. If they work for our friends, they should be good for us too. Right? No, sadly, it’s not!
You are unique, and so is your hair! Pay attention to your scalp and learn your hair type, you can become the expert for yourself. Running after hair products that you don’t know about might result in using inappropriate products. That means they won’t help as much as you expect, or these products can even be “too harsh” for your scalp and hair, leading to a worse condition.
All I want to say is keep asking for suggestions. It’s good to have inputs from people who have been there, done that. But stay skeptical because not all you hear about are desirable for your hair!
5. GLUTTONY - The More The Better
You are so eager to try the new shampoo that you want to grab that bottle almost every day? Do you believe squeaky clean hair is healthy hair? Washing your hair is a daily routine you can’t miss? For the love of your hair, please rethink!
How often you wash your hair depends on its type and texture. Washing too frequently (in other words, more than needed!) can lead to an itchy scalp and dry, frizzy hair. Your head should be clean, but not to the extent of intensely clean that strips off the much-needed oils (aka sebum) your scalp produces to protect and moisturise your hair. The frequency of hair washing is based on individual preferences. It is also suggested by research that regular and frequent cleaning with well-formulated shampoo will not damage the hair. So, daily washing can be done only with a complete understanding of its benefits and necessity for your hair health.
Take it easy, one wash at a time! Trust me, your scalp and hair can take care of themselves for some time until your next wash. Listen to your hair and its own rhythm, you’ll find out the best routine for yourself!
6. WRATH - All The Force I Have
Being too harsh with your hair is a mistake you should avoid by all means. Brushing hair too roughly, detangling it with too much force, putting it to styles that require excessive hair pulling will cause your hair to be more vulnerable to breakage, split ends, and shedding.
Be gentle whenever it comes to combing or brushing, and tame your hair tangles with love, not with force! As wet hair is much more susceptible to breakage, you may want to be extra tender with it. It’s best to detangle your hair before washing. Also, try to rub wet hair with a soft towel gently, and don’t comb more than needed.
7. SLOTH - It’s Still Good Enough
It is often a nightmare to see lots of hair falling during and after each wash. Therefore, some people are determined to postpone it as long as they can, thinking it’s a helpful way to save their hair strands. It’s not, and don’t be like them!
By shampooing too little, you allow dead skin cells, bacteria, and nasty stuff to remain on your scalp. Moreover, you risk your scalp being damaged by these excessive buildups, your hair feeling greasy and unhealthy.
Above all, washing your hair less than it needs can hinder hair growth. Yes, who knows that fearing to lose hair strands during lathering and rinsing turns out to induce more hair fall! By the time you feel itchiness, notice dandruff and an unpleasant scent, do yourself a favour: Wash it!
By now, you must be confident knowing how to focus on optimising your hair's potential without wasting effort on any bloopers. As promised, here's the HAIR CARE CHEAT SHEET to make your confidence more solid. We hope you'd love it!
