You have a head full of hair except for some “thinning” towards the ends. Does this sound like you? Split ends could be to blame. Besides genetics, there are things you do to your hair that cause split ends from happening.
1. You style your hair with heat.
Every time you blow dry, flat iron, or use hot rollers, you are contributing to breakage and split ends. It is important to use a heat protectant each time. Never let your heat styling tool sit on one part of your hair longer than 2 seconds at a time, either.
2. You manipulate your hair when it’s thirsty.
Your hair strands are weaker when they are soaking wet, which can lead to more shed hairs while detangling with a comb or brush. If your fingers alone don’t get the job done, apply a generous amount of leave-in that contains a ton of slip so that it glides through your curls with no tug. Start from about one inch away from your scalp, gradually working your way down gently.
When installing extensions or creating a protective style, do so only on curls that are thoroughly conditioned and moisturized. Otherwise, you could be encouraging more split ends and breakage by roughly tearing through your hair or heavily manipulating it with harsh styling products.
3. You chemically treat your hair.
The frequency of your bleach and permanent hair color usage doesn’t really matter–one time is all it takes to cause irreversible damage. If you can’t live without the color, next time, try a semi-permanent treatment instead. Deep condition every two weeks to add moisture to your hair and ends; only do root touch-ups when you have a noticeable amount of new growth.
Whether it be from keratin treatments, relaxers, or hair color (bleach”>, over-processing can lead to a number of problems that will make your hair health suffer from broken ends. Seal your ends with a nourishing all-natural oil blend after each cowash.
4. You don’t protect your hair.
In the sun, wear a wide-brimmed hat or a breathable headwrap. Like your skin, your hair strands are prone to UV and free radical damage and aging. Use a protective shampoo before going outside for a long period of time. If a hat cramps your style, tuck your ends away with a braid or mini twists that have been oiled first.
At night, wear a satin scarf around your head or sleep on a pillowcase.
The only real solution
The only real solution is to get a trim.
Cut your split ends out of your head. Your natural growth cycle depends on a number of factors including genetics, whether you color or chemically treat and how often you heat style, to name a few. If a professional trim isn’t in the budget, try the “seek and destroy method” for curly hair. Getting in the habit of doing maintenance will help prevent further damage up your hair shaft that all starts at the ends. If you have a pair of chopsticks around the kitchen, try this technique to easily find and eliminate your split ends.
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What do you use? Let us know.
