3 definitively simple things you can do that will cause permanent damage to your hair |
Hair damaged from applying permanent color AND relaxer |
I remember being in college and not shampooing my hair for sometimes a month or more! I would tell myself that my hair was already healthy, thick, and that nothing bad would ever happen to it. I look back on that now and wonder what I was thinking! No wonder my hair never moved, never had any bounce to it, and was pretty much stuck in the position in which I combed it. It was an oily, dirty, messy disaster. Don't get me wrong, I still styled it cute, but it could have looked sooooo much better if I had better hair habits back then. I was also constantly letting other people do things to my head that only a professional should have been doing. My hair has been burnt out from using the marcel irons WITH spritz, fallen out from color (self applied before cosmetology school) (bleaching), had split ends from here to kingdom come, and lots more. And let's not forget all of the scalp burns I received from wanting to get it bone straight despite the fact that my head literally felt like it was on fire. It is a wonder that I still any hair left on my head at all! Thank God that my hair was so thick that I could easily mask my damage but everyone is not as fortunate.
Damaged edges |
- Not treating the problem immediately- Whenever you notice damage to your hair, it is very important that you immediately treat it. Even if the damage doesn't seem that bad, don't give it an opportunity to get any worse. The more damage you have, the longer it will take for your hair to become healthy again.
- Continuing to do what is causing the damage-This may seem like common sense but you want to immediately stop doing what is causing damage to your hair in the first place if you want any chance of your hair getting back healthy. For example, when relaxing your own hair or allowing a non-professional to do it, you probably won't notice much damage other than scalp burn right away. However, continuous overlapping, over-processing, and repeat scalp damage will eventually make the damage worse and worse. The damage can be so gradual that by the time you visually notice changes in your hair, it may or may not be too late for your hair. If you continuously get scalp burns in the same place, like around the hairline, you will notice that hair becoming thinner and thinner. Sometimes the root of the follicle has been damaged so badly that the hair will not grow back. The same goes for hair color and braids. If you know something is not healthy for your hair, don't do it! Eventually your bad habits will catch up with you and why let experience be your teacher when you have someone warning you now?
- Not finding the actual cause of the damage- When your hair becomes damaged for whatever reason, make sure you are treating what is actually causing the damage instead of just treating the symptoms. Take the relaxer again, over-processing and overlapping can cause breakage. Instead of getting treatments done to stop the breakage, you need to stop what is the root of the problem, the overlapping, which in turn, will eliminate the breakage.
Remember, it is very possible for your hair to recover from damage as long as you immediately take the necessary steps to treat it and get it back to health. Don't be that person that waited too late. Be good to your hair and it will be good to you. Until next time..
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I've been bleaching and dying on top of the bleach since June and been just dying my hair for 3 years. My hair was sooooo damaged and it was very long but about 5 inches of it were split ends. I cut it all off and I have short bleached blonde hair now, but my natural hair color is almost black and my roots are so dark growing in. Should I dye it my natural color or just let my hair grow through? Is it too late for my hair to be healthy again?
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