Have you got a favourite hair product that you’ve been slathering on to your hair? Stop it! Too much of a good thing is not good.
If you’ve got dreams of long, waist-length hair that’s full and healthy, you’re probably already screwing it up. Sorry to break it to you. Here are four top mistakes that are sabotaging your hair.
Source: Elvira Gibadullina / Pexels
1. Using too many cream-based products
Source: Bennie Lukas / Pexels
One of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to grow out their hair is assuming that you can “repair” split ends with miracle creams. But here’s the thing: there’s no repairing split ends once they’re split. The only way to heal split ends is to cut your losses (ha! pun!) and snip off the splitting hair. Otherwise, the split end will continue breaking off further up your hair shaft, leading to flyaways and the permanent humidity hair look.
With that said, if you’re going heavy on cream or silicone heavy products to “heal” your split ends, you’re actually weighing your hair down and contributing to more breakage.
Just cut off your split ends more frequently (you won’t even miss that quarter of an inch, we promise) and if you must use an anti-frizz product, opt for oils over silicone-heavy cream.
2. Using too much protein
Source: cottonbro / Pexels
Your hair is made of keratin and protein — it’s what makes it strong and healthy. So adding in more protein is just a way for your hair to build up reinforcements, right? The logic is there, but unfortunately, at-home protein treatments might secretly be sabotaging your hair.
Unless your hair is severely damaged due to bleaching and over-processing, you’re better off steering clear of any type of protein treatments, whether that’s Aphogee at-home protein kits or Brazilian keratin treatments you get at salons.
Protein adds weight to your hair, ergo, too much weight will cause your hair to snap off. (No joke, Aphogee even puts this warning on its labels.)
If you’re concerned about damage due to bleaching and processing, use a bond repair treatment like Olaplex Step 3 and skip the heavy proteins.
3. Not getting regular trims at the salon
Source: cottonbro / Pexels
Cutting off an inch of hair at home every month to stave off split ends is probably something you’re doing with the best of intentions, but you need to stop. Stop it right now.
Your blunt kitchen scissors aren’t going to give you as clean a cut as you’d get from professional-grade barber shop scissors, so cutting off your split ends DIY-style is just going to create even more split ends. It’s a vicious circle.
Also, unless you’re getting someone — a partner, a sibling, a *sober* friend — to help you out with the back, chances are you’ve probably got a bit of an uneven cut. When you head to the salon, your hairdresser will end up having to snip off even more to get the cut even, which defeats the purpose entirely.
4. Using hair ties
Source: cottonbro / Pexels
We’re former members of club “always have a hair tie around our wrist,” but it’s time to evolve beyond the dollar store ponytail holders. You know, the little snappy ones that always disappear after three business days.
Let them be lost on their wayward journey. We wish them well. Those little suckers were bad for us anyway, and were causing unnecessary friction on our hair and pulling hairs out at the root.
No ma’am. No more. Switch to satin scrunchies, which are less hard on your hair. And never pull your ponytail too tight, or else you risk traction alopecia.
Final Thoughts:
Growing out your hair takes time and patience. A lot of patience. Don’t expect results for at least two years from the beginning of your hair-care journey. Always remember that most “Instagram-worthy” hair is achieved with extensions.
Mostly, just forget about it. The less you focus on it, the more it will grow. At least, that’s what has worked for me, anyway.