Top 5 Mistakes People Make in Caring for their Hair

1. Handling it roughly.

When you take off your scrunchy after wearing a ponytail all day, do you just grab the scrunchy and pull until it comes off? When detangling your hair in the evening, do you just pull a skinny-tooth comb through your hair?

What about when you wash your hair? Do you scrub your hair and scratch your scalp? When you create your ponytail do you grab two pieces and pull it apart to make the ponytail tighter?

Those are just some of the examples of how women can be rough with their hair. If you are doing any of these things, stop doing them right now. I promise you that they are interfering with the health of your hair and scalp.

Treating your hair roughly causes unnecessary hair to be pulled out in addition to the daily shedding. You can also contribute to split end formation by manipulating your ponytails in the wrong way.

2. Not keeping hair and scalp clean

Do you wait over 2 weeks to wash your hair? By washing, I don’t necessarily mean shampoo. I just mean that you are getting your hair wet and gently massaging it to get rid of grime, dirt, and styling product build-up.

I know some women can be guilty of going a whole month without washing their hair. This can lead to dryness. Why? Because your hair is not getting wet and having its cuticles opened to receive more moisture.

It is ideal to wash your hair at least once per week but the longest you should go is 2 weeks. If you are wearing your hair curly, then you may even be wetting your hair on a daily basis which is great because it is getting much needed moisture on a daily basis!

3. Not trimming ends

A huge mistake women make when trying to go their hair longer is hanging on to dead ends. Sure, your hair may appear a little bit longer but it also may just get shorter and shorter due to breakage and split end.

Additionally, what’s the point of long hair if it’s not healthy? I really hate to see someone who has beautiful thick hair up to their shoulders and then everything after that is nothing but strings. It is not an attractive look and I can guarantee that you will not enjoy your hair this way.

Do it the right way, keep your ends trimmed and healthy and you’ll achieve long hair that you can enjoy and wear in a variety of styles.

4. Too Frequent Relaxing

Are you relaxing your hair more often than is necessary for your hair type? I know that some women absolutely hate to deal with any amount of new growth and so they relax their hair way too frequently. This will lead to the relaxer overlapping with hair that has already been relaxed.

Then what happens? You guessed it, weakened hair that can lead to breakage. My recommendation is to wait at least 8 weeks in between relaxer treatments. This will give your hair enough time to grow and allow the stylist to easily see where you have new growth versus processed hair.

5. Too Much Heat

I shouldn’t even have to mention this one! You know who you are. You get up in the morning and your hair isn’t so nice because you didn’t take the time to put it up before bed.

So, now you resort to your curling iron or flat iron. You say to yourself “Well, I’ll use it on a low setting and it will be ok.” Sure, it will be ok that one time but continually doing this over and over again will surely lead to damage and breakage.

Why? For one, you should never use the heat of a flat iron or curling iron on hair that is not freshly washed. The heated appliance will stick to styling products and dirt causing a sticky residue on your hair that will then burn.

If you’re serious about healthy hair care, make sure to avoid these 5 mistakes.