Common Mistakes That Can Damage Your Scalp and Hair
Hair care goes beyond just picking the right shampoo and occasionally putting some conditioner on your strands.
Your scalp actually plays a big role in how gorgeous and healthy-looking your mane of hair turns out everyday.
That being said, most of us tend to indulge in activities that could negatively affect the health and appearance of both our scalp and hair.
These include over-washing our head, using too much shampoo and conditioner, brushing our wet hair aggressively, using extremely hot water, applying too much heat, and skipping on using conditioner.
Most damage-related activities come hand-in-hand with being unable to understand or analyze what our hair and scald needs to maintain its health.
The beauty of it all? We can avoid majority of them with little bit of self-exploration.
How to Build a Simple Scalp and Haircare Routine
Here's a simplified list of everything one usually does to take care of their hair, in hopes of building an easily maintainable routine.
Scalp and hair routines tend to include the following steps.
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Shampoo your scalps and hair
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Condition your hair strands
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Specially dry your hair
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Care for your scald and hair regularly
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Learn how to protect your hair and keep it away from unnecessary damage
As you familiarize yourself with the characteristics of your hair and understanding the problems you have to work to solve, you can build or modify your routine however you wish, as long as it's simple enough to actually stick to.
Now, let's dive into details of these five steps and discover some common mistakes you should probably be careful with.
1. Overwashing Your Hair - Don't Do It
Washing your scalp and hair can help you keep your scalp healthy and maintain a good level of cleanliness.
But, doing it too often might hurt. So what's considered as 'doing it too often"?
There is quite a large margin between people who have an oily or greasy scalp type and those who have a dry scalps.
It is important that you follow the pattern your scalp establishes for you for the frequency of washing.
As a rule, wash your hair when you feel that your scalp is oily, and you're uncomfortable wearing your hair or any accessory that keeps touching your scalp for prolonged periods of time.
Avoid using a very harsh shampoo as well.
A good shampoo is supposed to remove the oil and dirt, without overstripping your hair of its natural oils.
When the natural scalp oils are completely stripped from one's hair, they tend to become damaged and dry over time, even if you frequently apply oils or conditioning agents to them because they're actually unhealthy.
As for people whose scalp's are on the oilier side of the spectrum, it is perfectly fine to wash them very often.
The key is to analyze your scalp health before establishing an appropriate washing schedule for your hair.
2. Using Too Much Shampoo - Don't Do It
Using lots of them doesn't necessarily clean your hair better.
In fact, it could do quite the opposite of making your hair unhealthy.
A sufficient amount of a good quality shampoo can work wonders for you. So go easy with the amount and use only as much as necessary for removing the dirt, oil, and sweat off your scald and hairs.
The shampoo is primarily supposed to target your scalp so make sure that your focus is directed there as opposed to vigorously massaging your entire strand of hair while applying it.
The hair strands themselves should be washed as the shampoo flows down your entire scalp with some good rinsing.
3. Avoid Scrubbing Hard
As much as having a clean scald is satisfying, massaging it with your nails or applying too much pressure is not recommended.
If anything, you should gently massage the shampoo into your scalp using just the top of your fingertips.
Scalping is usually not necessary unless you're dealing with some form of serious damage that needs deep cleaning.
4. Skipping on Applying Conditioner
Skips conditioning your hair after shampooing, using conditioners is a great mistake most of us are guilty of. Shampoos are meant to clean, and conditioners help leave your strands looking visibly healthier.
Skipping on using them will ultimately result in having very unhealthy, dry, and hard-to-tame strands of hair.
Apply the conditioner over your mid-length hair and ends avoiding placing heavy amounts on your scalp.
Let it set for the amount of time mentioned on the package. Then, rinse it out.
5. Applying Your Conditioner on the Scalp
Although they can help visibly improve the quality of your hair, sometimes applying them directly on the scalp could leave it feeling oily.
Which is, especially, why individuals with oily scald find them quite unfit for their needs.
Conditioner products are supposed to primarily target the strands of one's hair. But, if you have a scalps that's on the drier side of the spectrum, go for product specially formulated for your type.
6. Using Very Hot Water To Wash Your Hair
Although it might be satisfying to take extremely hot showers especially during the cold seasons,
the water used for washing your hair may be too drying for your scalp and strands.
Hot water removes natural oils from one's scalp and hair thus leading to damage dryness and split-ends.
So, avoid it whenever possible. If you can use warm water for washing your hair, it's much better than using incredibly hot water.
7. Brush Your Wet Hair Too Hard
Wet or damaged hairs tend to break very easily during the brushing process. So, you should always be considerate while brushing with both types especially when it's wet.
After washing your hair and rinsing out the excess fluids, avoid yanking and forcing a brush through your tangles with much force. Gently shake out the extra fluid and consider using a wide-tooth comb, starting with the ends and finishing at the roots.
8. Avoid Towel Rubbing
Rubbing your hair when towel drying it could damage it leaving it feeling frizzy during the entire process.
Instead, you should gently press your hair to extract the extra fluid.
And, avoid towel drying it completely as doing so could lead to the strand breaking.
Give it time and let it air dry as much as possible. This reduces the amount of artificial drying your strand has to go through which is unhealthy in the long run.
9. Applying Too Much Heat
Products like hairdryers, flat irons, and curling irons could make your hair appear healthier than it naturally looks.
But, the excessive use of them could lead to significant damage to your hair over time.
Some tips to avoid damaging your hair from using hot-iron products include limiting the amount of styling you use hot irons for, reducing time spent on using it when you do, and using products specially formulated to protect your hair.
Lastly, and most importantly, avoid applying it as much as possible.
The less artificial heat your strands get access to, the healthier they'll stay overall.
10. Ignoring an Oily or Dry Scalp
Your scalp could, in a certain way, dictate what a good or bad hair day you're going to have.
An oily scalp could be annoying if it's too oily very easily. Whereas, a dry scald could be uncomfortable throughout the process.
Either way, they're an inconvenience that could interfere with the process of enjoying a good strand of hair.
So, if you're constantly noticing a discomfort around your hair every now and the other, it's best that you take extra measures to help soothe your scalp.
This could range from changing your current scald or hair care routines if the irritation is due to a product.
But, if it's just an occasional discomfort on the other had, you can just avoid touching your strand excessively especially when you're alone at the house or out of your room.
Understanding your scald health would not only benefit the process of finding a suitable hair-strand-care routine but it also works in tandem with finding a great scald care routine.
11. Skipping on Too Much Haircare Product
Although they vary in function from brand to brand,
products such as shampoo's, conditioner's, masks and oil's, serums, treatment agents, etc., are used as different forms of support in maintaining a healthy strand and good scald.
But, going overboard with them might end up leaving your hair with unnecessary product build up which could be highly damaging.
So stick to simple steps while using them and never apply too much of one unless you absolutely have to.
It is also usually best especially for beginners to use the most basic routines unless there is a specific reason for applying any.
12. Skipping on Changing Your Shampoo
It's easy to go online or check any magazine shelf for a better hair option and impulse buy whatever hair-product that peaks ones attention.
But, in doing so, you ignore the process of finding a personal care product that perfectly fits your needs in particular.
The constant habit of changing products without understanding their exact implications on your hair makes finding a good hair day hard on the long run, especially if every one of your attempt didn't really turn out to be anything more than mediocre.
If your shampoo is doing an adequate cleansing process and leave you with comfortable hair after washing, there is probably is no need for it simply because a different product is selling better.
13. Skipping on Looking After Your Scalp While Concentrating On Your Hair
There is little to almost no one who would ever go out of their way to spend an extra hour taking care of their scalp. Which is understandable, but it's ultimately a mistake as it is important that you spend time for both your scalp and hair.
Scalp is what our hair grows on top of, so it should also be included within your haircare routine as taking it care of will ultimately help you attain visibly healthier and more manageable hair.
Be observant and pay attention to your scalp health. Especially to things including: oilyness, dryness, product build, and itchiness, as they could help identify potential issues with your scalp and, subsequently, your hair.
14. Skipping on Taking Care of Your Hair against the Impacts of Harsh Environment
Exposure to sun, wind, and pollution; excessive humidity, heat, and dryness; and many other environmental effects can not only do a number on your hair but damage its entire appearance and, eventually, its health with each exposure.
So, it is a good idea to avoid exposing your scalp and hair for long durations to anything that's harmful or harmful.
Keeping up with general cleanliness by taking regular baths and washing your hair frequently should suffice in helping avoid damage.
Make sure to cover your hair when exposed to long durations of hot summer or a humid season.
15. Trying To Have Quick Results
The biggest mistake in haircare, is attempting to attain immediate results whenever your hair goes bad.
If you have a strand of hair which always tends to look frizzy, dry, or hard to manage or feel frizzy, it might not necessarily improve overnight even if you're always putting products on it or completely changing your entire hair and scalp-care routine.
Instead of continuously chasing the best way and product to instantly improve your hair, give it some time as a good routine could be just what you or your scalp need to visibly visibly healthier hair.
Knowing How To Tell If Your Haircare Routine Is Working
Just like how your hair tells us that we have bad hair, it also informs us if we're onto the right track towards having a healthier hair or not.
You can tell your hair-care routine is getting off when your scald remains uncomfortable after a single wash, feeling that your strands of hair just got worse after a wash, or when your lengths feel too dried on a daily basis.
If something doesn't feel right to your scalp or hair, it's worth the time that you invest into figuring out what might be causing it to happen or which change you're supposed of making to your routine for fixing it.
However, everyone's hair is different, and what might be working great for someone is probably not going to necessarily work for the other person.
So when considering something good for you, make sure that it suits you in particular.
When to See A Professional
It is completely understandable that a dry scald or strand of hair can be annoying but we shouldn't just casually write-off an irritation or irritation affecting just our whole scald.
If you continuously have itchy scalds with serious flaking skin and irritation, it'd be a great idea to see a professional dermatology expert or qualified healthcare professional to get it examined.
They can advise us on suitable methods for dealing with them on a regular basis.
Final Thoughts
Knowing how to care for a scalp, and subsequently hair, is not that difficult.
Just a few little mistakes which many of us are guilty of often times go a long way into determining how healthy our hair eventually is in the long run.
Following these tips can help you build an easy but yet effective hair-routine for yourself.
The key idea is to first understand the characteristic your strand of hair hold before actually building a personal-hair care or scald care program.
With a good looking hair-care products such as Suzy Shiner's Silkévo Shampoo + Conditioner , you can have a two-step process for easily maintaining and caring for your strand while simultaneously applying proper amounts for conditioning.
Remember, healthy hairs are the direct results of a properly established hair-care programs. Instead of blindly chasing the latest hair-care programs and constantly skipping out on using appropriate products, do well to understand how you can effectively care for your hair-care and scald.