Is Your Morning Routine Damaging Your Hair?

If you notice your hair seems to be brittle or damaged leading to signs of hair loss, this can partly be attributed to your morning routine. It’s common for people to speed through their grooming routine in the morning so they can quickly get to work. However, many may not know the simple steps they take to get ready in the morning can actually harm their hair over time. This post outlines the daily morning routines that may be harming your hair and lead to issues with hair loss. 

Taking Hot Showers

The days are only getting colder, which only makes taking a hot shower more appealing. Unfortunately, however, the hot water is actually harming and slowly damaging your hair. Hot showers lead to dryness of the scalp also causing issues such as dandruff and damaged hair. This happens because the hot water strips the essential oils from the hair and scalp that keeps your strong and healthy. To keep your hair moisturized and healthy, consider taking warm showers rather than indulging in a piping hot water. 

Using Harmful Products 

You may not even know that you are using products that are damaging your hair. You wash your hair with shampoo and conditioner on a daily basis so it is important to ensure the products are making your hair healthy rather than damaging it. Just because a product claims to be organic and healthy doesn’t always mean it is. The following are ingredients to avoid when purchasing shampoo:

• Sulfates strip moisture and oils from the hair causing rashes, dry scalp and hair loss. 
• Parabens, even at very low doses, have been linked to reproductive damage and organ toxicity. 
• Phthalates are plasticizers that have been regarded in many countries to be potential carcinogens, are used in part to make the fragrance in shampoos and other cosmetic products linger.
• Fragrances used in shampoo and other personal care products comes from the more than 3100 chemicals in the arsenal of the fragrance industry. These are highly toxic and can result in liver toxicity, damage to the central nervous system, allergies, brain fog, obesity, asthma, headache, contact dermatitis, organ toxicity, and cancer (Source). 

Towel Drying Your Hair 

Surprisingly, towel drying your hair can be damaging as your hair is more susceptible to breakage when wet. When rubbing the wet hair with a towel, some of the hairs easily become tangled in the threads, which stretches them to the breaking point. This causes damage to the cuticle, frizziness and split ends. Rather than towel drying your hair try blotting with a towel instead to remove the excess moisture. Drying your hair this way takes a little more time but you’ll notice after some time that your hair is stronger and healthier. 

Using Heat To Dry Or Style

It’s a well known fact that consistently using heat for drying or styling can severely damage the hair over time. This doesn’t mean you have to stop using the heating products altogether but it’s good to not use these styling products on a daily basis. Blow drying not only removes the surface moisture but also removes water that is bound to the hair, which can dry out and damage the hair. The effect of this flash drying is that the cuticles become dry, rigid and brittle. When the hair flexes, the pressure causes the cuticles to crack. Combing hair with this degree of cuticle cracking causes significant breakage (Source). 

Brushing Hair When Wet 

As said before, your hair is sensitive when wet. Therefore, it can also be damaging to brush your hair immediately after getting out of the shower. For this reason, it’s important to use the right utensils when styling your hair. It’s best to use a wide tooth comb instead of a brush when the hair is wet. Hair brushes will stretch the hair until it breaks rather than just simply working out the tangles. This may not seem detrimental to do every so often, especially when you are in a rush but the effects over time can actually lead to weaker hair resulting in hair thinning and hair loss. 

How You Style Your Hair 

This type of hair loss typically applies more to women but hair styling can also affect men. Applying heat on a regular basis such as blow dryers, straighteners and curling irons can severely damage the hair. In addition to heat, hair styling such as tight braids or having hair tightly pulled back can lead to hair loss. Even wearing a tight hat or putting you hair in a ponytail can cause “traction alopecia,” a condition in which hair is pulled out of the scalp causing damage to the cuticle and breakage. Most of the effects of hair loss are temporary but if worn long enough, the damage can become permanent.

InVisions | CT Hair Loss Solutions

At InVisions of Connecticut we are very proud to provide each of our clients with the latest advances in technology for clinically proven hair loss, prevention and restoration solutions.

InVisions of Connecticut is a recognized leader in multi-therapeutic hair loss treatments, hair restoration and hair replacement for men and women suffering from Alopecia, balding and thinning hair.

Do you suffer from hair loss or thinning hair? Hair loss can be caused by a variety of factors, both genetic and medical. Our quick and easy online hair restoration test only takes a few moments and gives our specialists enough information to begin to assess whether non-surgical hair replacement or hair loss treatments may be right for you.