After bleaching, blowing, styling, manipulating, pulling, tugging,
and teasing, it’s actually pretty impressive our hair still finds ways
to grow. The way we handle our hair
(most times not with love) combined with the external factors
weathering our locks, we definitely need to take precautionary measures
when and where we can. We’ve turned to our friends at
Refinery 29 to get the deets on how we can stop ruining our hair for good.
Are we accidentally sabotaging our locks? The answer, most likely, is
yes. According to Elizabeth Cunnane Phillips, a trichologist at the
New York Philip Kingsley Trichological Clinic,
women are trained to think about our hair externally. “We’re not
conditioned to think about it as being a barometer of our health,” she
says. But, as experience has taught her, that’s
exactly what it
is. Turns out, it’s not just our flat irons and platinum that’s causing
our tress distress (though that’s definitely not helping).
So, what
is making our locks thin and lose their luster? We
talked to a handful of experts to figure it out. From our breakfast
routines to our ponytails, our worst hair habits are things we didn’t
even realize were destructive. Click through to check out the surprising
things we’re doing to destroy our hair — from inside to outside.
Illustrated by Ammiel Mendoza
According to Phillips, skipping breakfast means serious bad news for
hair. “The body considers hair to be a nonessential tissue,” she says.
“So, when you avoid putting nutrients in your body in the morning,
you’re starting the day in a deficit.” Meaning: Your body uses nutrients
for more important things first and if there’s nothing left for your
hair? Well, too bad. This kind of damage will reveal itself by causing
hair to shed and grow more slowly — more so if you’re a chronic
breakfast skipper. The easy fix, Phillips says, is to start the day with
protein and a complex carbohydrate to make sure that the nonessential
tissue can get what it needs to thrive.
>> We’ve got tons of great, nutrient-dense breakfast recipes to
keep your hair strong, belly satisfied, and waist line in check. Check
them out here!
Illustrated by Ammiel Mendoz
Being a vegetarian is a wonderful, admirable thing. However, it’s
important to remember to still have a well-balanced diet — one that
includes all the right amino acids. “People think that vegetarianism is
automatically healthier,” says Phillips. “It’s not that simple, though.”
If you’ve recently gone veg and have also noticed that you’re losing
more hair in the shower, it might be time to take a look at your diet
and make sure you’re not leaving anything out. Like, you know, protein.
>> Check out 10 protein rich foods to add to your diet.
“Women often come to me and say, ‘I’ve never been this healthy in my
life — but my hair is shedding,’” says Phillips. “I’ll ask them what
their journey to healthiness was, and they will very frequently say that
they did a juice cleanse.” Much like skipping breakfast, a juice
cleanse deprives the body of nutrients. Phillips says that because your
body doesn’t know where it’s going to get its next nutrient from, it
holds off on supplying nutrients to the hair. “And, the hair is
traumatized by that,” Phillips says. A great alternative to a juice
cleanse? A consistently healthy diet.
>> Find out what Dr. Oz has to say about cleanses, detoxes, and fasting.
Sure, we all know that overusing heat-styling tools leads to unhappy
hair, but we weren’t sure why. According to Phillips, it’s not taking it
from wet to dry that’s the problem — it’s taking it from dry to
over-dry. You know those last few minutes of blowdrying, when you put
the finishing touch on your already perfect look? Phillips says it’s
within those extra, typically unnecessary minutes that we’re doing the
most damage and dehydrating our hair. “Hair is a very strong fiber and
can take this sort of drying about once a week,” she says. “But, if
you’re over-drying all the time, you’re cumulatively damaging it and
creating a vulnerability that will lead to breakage.” If you’re
unwilling to give up those final styling moments, Phillips suggests
turning the temperature down on your tools.
If you’re growing your hair out, obviously one’s first instinct is
to, well, grow it out — without trimming it. Of course, not trimming it
means getting stuck with stringy, damaged strands, all in the name of
longer locks. On average, Phillips says, hair grows about half an inch
per month, which is six inches a year. “All it takes is a quarter-inch
trim every eight weeks to improve the integrity of your hair,” she says.
Sure, it’ll be a difference of two inches in length after a year, but
we’d rather have fuller, healthier hair, anyway.
