uHollywood

As an owner of very long hair, which is how it has been for many years, I have taught myself via trials and tribulations what actually promotes fresh, shiny, healthy locks and what causes untold damage to hair, leaving it lacking lustre and looking and feeling unhealthy.

LONG HAIR ENEMIES

There are certain ways of treating long hair which you should avoid if you want your hair to be at its very best.

1, HEAT

Heat in the form of man-made appliances and that which comes from strong sunshine has the power to cause your hair to become dry and brittle. We may go to great lengths to avoid skin cancer by applying sunscreen before venturing out into the summer heat. We may also be careful to avoid touching hot appliances on our skin as we know that it can burn us.

Like-wise, we need to be aware that even thoughour hair is dead, other than at the follicles, it can still be badly damaged by avoidable heat exposure.

Appliances which plug in, or heat using gas, tend to directly frazzle hair if not used with caution.

2, CHEMICALS

Long hair hates chemicals. Chemicals strip away natural oils which usually protect the hair, leaving it weak and vulnerable to further damage.

Chemicals can be found in hair dye, both from the chemist and at the hairdressers. They can also be found in swimming pools.

Any product which contains bleach is best used for cleaning your bathroom, rather than putting onto your head. The old fashioned hair highlighter called ‘Sun in’ used to contain bleach and when I was younger I tried it and ended up with a head of hair which was lovely and blond, but which resembled straw.

3, ROUGH TREATMENT

We only get the message from our nervous system that we are treating our hair badly if it is pulled, as pain receptors in the scalp respond by letting us know. There are other ways though, in which we may treat our hair badly on a day to day basis without realising it.

Brushing our hair when it is wet, or even combing it when wet with a small toothed comb can stretch the hair, pull it out and contribute to split ends.

Using elastic bands in hair is very bad as the bands don’t have a protective soft binding like bands which are especially designed to use in the hair.

Constantly pulling hair tightly into a bun or a very close pony tail can cause split ends, and if you’re prone to loosing hair, can contribute to you loosing more than you need to.

4, INADEQUATE HAIR MAINTENANCE

Even if you are growing your hair it still needs to have a Littletrim