A Complete Guide to Preventing Hair Damage

Jess
Haircare and hair growth
2 min readJul 8, 2024

Healthy hair is a sign of beauty and good health, but there are various factors that can lead to hair damage such as dryness, breakage, and split ends. Here is a comprehensive guide to preventing you from common hair care mistakes and hair damage.

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Avoid Over-washing

Natural oils play an important role in maintaining a healthy scalp and hair. Our scalp creates natural oils for our hair and itself to avoid external damage and lock internal moisture. Nevertheless, washing your hair too often is able to strip it of natural oils. This could make your hair become drier and more brittle. To keep your hair and scalp at a balanced state, it is recommended to wash your hair 2–3 times a week.

Use the right hair care products

Choosing the right shampoo and conditioner can save your hair from unnecessary damages. For instance, if you have a dry scalp and use a shampoo that is aimed to help oily hair, this can contribute to dryness. If you have fine hair but you use a heavy moisturising conditioner to keep your hair hydrated, your hair will be weighed down. Thus, you should always pick hair care products that are able to satisfy your specific hair needs and conditions. If you are not sure about your hair type or its issue, it is strongly suggested that you should seek advice from hair care experts such as professional stylists.

Apply Conditioning Treatment

As a second step to hair washing, conditioner maintains hair moisture and prevents tangles. Skipping this crucial step may make your hair dry and unmanageable, and more likely to lead to breakage. In order to achieve healthy hair, when you wash your hair, make sure to condition it and focus the treatment area on the mid-lengths and ends where hair tends to be the driest.

Limit Heat Styling

Despite the fact that our hair requires sufficient heat to be styled, frequent use of heat stylist tools such as straighteners and curling irons might cause significant damage to our hair. To minimise heat damage, you can apply a heat protectant before styling and utilising the tools. Moreover, you can try to limit the frequency of using heat styling tools to a few times a week.

Be Gentle with Wet Hair

Brushing your hair when it is still wet is a popular mistake that is often mentioned by stylists. When your hair is wet, it is in its most fragile state that brushing it with a regular brush will make it more prone to breakage and cause significant damage. Instead, you can use a wide-tooth comb to detangle your wet hair and avoid vigorous towel drying.

Trim Your Hair Regularly

Regularly cutting your hair can remove damaged parts and help you maintain healthy hair. Skipping regular trims can lead to split ends that are unremoved. This might make your hair look unhealthy and fizzy. It is recommended to trim your hair every 6–8 weeks to maintain its health and appearance.

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