👉 (Part I) How to solve the 10 most common hair problems 📝
👩⚕️ Hair issues
Although you grow an average of 11km of hair on your head every year, it cannot heal itself once damaged. So it’s important to know what to look out for when caring for your hair type.
For example, those with coarse, long hair may have different problems to those with short, fine hair. Not only this, but age, gender, hormonal changes, genetics and cultural heritage all play a part in our individual hair type.
However, simple lifestyle changes, using the right technology and following scientific advice, can help reduce damage and maintain a healthy head of hair.
👉 1. Heat damage
When styling hair, a lot of people commonly reach for heat-based styling tools. However, extreme heat changes the shape of keratin within the strands of the hair.
When using heat over 150°C (302°F), hair can become weaker and less elastic. At over 230°C (446°F), hair begins to burn or melt. The strong disulfide bonds deteriorate, and hair can quickly break.
👉 2. Cuticle damage
Hair cuticles do not absorb water evenly, meaning they distort when wet. This swelling can make the hair’s surface rough and increase strand friction.
Water on the surface of hair also causes strands to stick together, leading to increased tangling, plus cuticle damage when harshly combed, brushed, or styled. A tip to avoid knots is to brush from the bottom and slowly move higher with your strokes. Too much heat can also cause cuticle damage.
👉 3. Split ends
One of the most well-known hair problems is split ends. These occur when the cuticle layer is stripped away by continuous damage. Without this sleeve holding it together, the cortex can split.
When the cortex is severely damaged, the hair strand becomes brittle. Cracks can then form if the strand is bent, or impact-loading actions are placed on it.
If you continue to brush frequently, these cracks can propagate down the length of the hair strand until it finally splits.
👉 4. How to prevent frizz and flyaways
Another common hair problem is frizz, which can manifest in four main ways:
1️⃣ Uneven density
📑 Visible and uneven gaps in the body of the hair.
2️⃣ Low fiber-to-fiber alignment
📑 Fibers aren’t evenly aligned down the hair strand body. This is prevalent in curly hair where the fibers don’t align with each other to form controlled curls.
3️⃣ Low edge definition
📑 Fibers aren’t aligned to the edges of the hairstyle structure.
4️⃣ Uneven surface area distribution
📑 Frizz can also be caused by a change in weather conditions or by physical interactions with the hair disrupting the style.
⚠ Damage to hair strands can cause a hairstyle to drop out quicker, increasing the rate at which hair frizzes.
Thanks for the share - you had great input!