Have you ever cared for your hair meticulously? Do you think that your hair is kept as carefully as your face and skin? These questions may make you think it over the importance of hair care. In fact, hair is a good indication to see if your body is receiving and processing enough vitamins and nutrients or not. So, what if your strands show negative signs and how to tell if hair is damaged ?
We have thousands of articles related to hair care, from shampooing to conditioning. However, the thing is that you cannot tightly follow the tips due to the hustle and bustle of life. In other words, it is impossible for us to fully conduct ‘prevention is better than cure’.
That is the reason why we provide you with signs of damaged hair and you can determine the damaged stage on your own. Let’s browse through to protect your strands from being worse and worse!
Causes of hair damage
To know the roots of the problem could help you answer the question ‘how to tell if hair is damaged’. Just remember one thing – things happen for a reason. Currently, ladies are head over heels in love with unique styles in that they will make them as outstanding and glorious as celebs. This tendency is embedded with potential risks to damage their hair forever if they become addicted to chemical process.
(Source: Internet)
There is nothing more heartbreaking than the chaos of shearing your hair off once every morning, you see the strands become drier, more lifeless and more brittle. If you go through the step ‘how to tell if hair is damaged’, things will become easier as there are options you can do to revive the tresses. Just do not be panic.
- Bleaching
Bleaching refers to your forcing your cuticle to be open, thus removing the pigment from your hair. During the process, the affected cuticles become weak and breakage-prone, which results in breaking and split ends. Meanwhile, moisture is no longer kept; as a result, hair gets dry and lifeless.
- Hair coloring
Color is never a harmless thing to do because in the end, it is still a chemical-related process. Even you are exposed to sunlight and your hair color changes. This does not mean your hair are safe and fine. Coloring makes the hair shaft porous to your hair’s cortex.
- Perms
When your friend asks why your hair becomes that bad, do not say as if you did not do anything. In fact, perms are harmless-like practice but again, perms require using chemical to rejoin the bonds. So, just stay alert post-perming based on factors in how to tell if hair is damaged.
- Over brushing, over shampooing and abuse heat tools
While brushing too often causes more friction, shampooing is likely to strip away the natural oils, known as sebum from your scalp. We all know that brushing and shampooing are to remove oil and dirt but if you do not control the frequency, you will easily snag at knots, causing breakage and split ends.
Additionally, your heat use is not recommended in every article of us, let alone ‘how to tell if hair is damaged’. Therefore, to see how you can save your strands from breakage and damage due to heat, please click here (dẫn link bài best heat protectant for natural hair).
- Wrong products
If your hair is damaged due to using products with alcohol and sulfates, it is easier to restore its originality. You should change to sulfate-free items so that your hair gets the chance to regrow in good conditions. Remember that a product with alcohol will make it dry and brittle.
How to tell if hair is damaged
After delving into the roots of the problem, we will provide you with signs of damaged hair. A sign is born to help you stay aware of your overall hair health. Before applying new treatments, dyes or a new do, at least, you need to learn how to tell if hair is damaged.
Only by taking stock of your hair current state and evaluate if it is healthy enough to put up with processes you have proposed could you achieve glorious locks like celebs.
- Rough texture
In this part, we will present signs of damaged hair in the order of difficulty in that the easiest to recognize comes first. To see if your hair gets rough texture or not, you ought to hold it upside down and run the ends through your fingers. Should you find the ends to be rough and stick out, your hair is bound to be damaged.
- Extreme breakage and shedding
The two first signs will make you feel as if there is nothing new about how to tell if hair is damaged. We have to say it is true but the other ones would be harder to recognize. Therefore, do not underestimate them; to be a good hair care taker, you should pay attention to the smallest things.
Breakage is easy to be found but shedding is a bit messing around. An indicator of shedding is large amounts of hair falling out when you comb, brush or style your locks. However, this also means that you are infected with a certain disease or lack of nutrients. In the end, it is still a negative sign which requires your attention.
- Dulled shine
Normally, damaged hair is short of luster and shine. Sometimes, it is a consequence of product buildup or a deep conditioning treatment. No matter which reason it is, when hair shafts stop shinning, that means the cuticles are damaged.
- Dry overload
Scientifically said, dry hair is always damaged but damaged hair is always dry. If you have done all the treatments to provide strands with moisture but this seems not to work, it is a sure sign of damaged hair.
At that time, do not ask how to tell if hair is damaged as you can reassure that it is. You should immediately stop your frequent hair color and give your hair time to recover. Just go on gels, pomades, conditioners and sprays.
- Split ends
Similar to breakage, split ends are a quite familiar term to ordinary people. To check if your split ends are excessive or not, just wrap small sections of your hair around your finger or a pen.
- High porosity
The meaning of porosity varies in numerous contexts but according to Oxford, porosity is the quality of being porous. This can be illustrated as it follows: once the cuticle is lifted, it allows water to pass through slowly, enhancing the hair moisture. Nonetheless, external moisture collected in hair shafts starts to swell, which leads to frizzy strands.
- Lack of elasticity
We must say that testing elasticity is a funny practice that people do unconsciously. It is just out of habit but it helps to determine that hair is damaged. The elasticity of a damaged strand is much less than that of a healthy one. Just stretch it to a certain point before it snaps and breaks, then you will say exactly how to tell if hair is damaged.
- Too many tangles
The last sign of damaged hair is tangles. Once you see tangles, let’s get started with hair rehabilitation as healthy hair where the shafts are smooth does not show tangled and rough cuticles. Knots develop in the dryness and it often cause to breakage
How to repair damaged hair
When you know how to tell if hair is damaged, you cannot let the problem there. Depending on the stage you identify damaged hair, treatments varies. However, we must say that to go from dry, brittle hair to smooth and shiny locks is not possible just in one night. The only real cure is time, a pair of shears and a plan to prevent new damage.
For the most part, hair damage is permanent as dead cells make them beyond repair. However, do not despair as permanence does not mean your hair could not get better. With proper care, well-targeted treatment and understanding of why your strands get damaged, you can restore the outer cuticle and improve the look.
- Trim the damaged part
If you identify hair damage early, getting a cut is sufficient to get rid of damage and revive the look; so, an extreme chop is not necessary. For the haircut, you cannot do it on your own because it may do more harm than good. As long as the cut is clean, you could choose whoever hairstylists.
- No dye and heating tools
It would be ideal if you can say a complete no to hair dye and heating tools at the very beginning of rehabilitation. If possible, please wait at least 8 to 10 weeks between dye jobs.
Heat is anything but good; therefore, let’s keep them in a secret box which you no longer access to. Remember to leave the hair dry naturally and try out styles without the help of heat.
It is your lack of knowledge or your preference to quick tools that leads to hair damage. If you are still using heat and try hair dye, do not ask how to tell if hair is damaged or how to repair.
- Natural remedies
To restore the hair, sulfate-free products should be utilized. However, it is perfect if you can use natural remedies such as lemon juice and apple cider vinegar. Additionally, eggs, mayonnaise, honey, oils, avocado, bananas and so forth can be processed to make hair masks.
- Consume protein-rich food
If the other causes of hair damage do not apply to your case, your diet may lack nutrients to nourish your hair. If so, you had better consume food like fish, eggs, yogurt, and soy – protein-rich staples. Moreover, you should balance your intake of protein with the quantity of moisture for hair.
- A healthy lifestyle
Maintaining a good health is more important than anything as it reflects your overall well-being. Healthy lifestyle refreshes your mood and indirectly encourages hair to last longer and stronger.
With all the information related to how to tell if hair is damaged and how to repair it, we hope that you should pay more attention to hair care and renew your look. You cannot leave hair damage there without any attempt to recovery. Remember that treating damaged strands takes time, a little care and effort.
Incorporate the tips mentioned above in your hair care and good luck for you! Thanks for your reading and see you next time!
Stephanie is a hair specialist at Belady Hair Factory, a high-end hair distributor located in downtown Toronto. She is a trained cosmetologist and has been with the company for over five years. Stephanie has vast knowledge in hair care and styling and can provide clients with everything from classic to trendy looks. She is also knowledgeable about the different products in the market and can help clients choose the right one for their hair type. Full her bio.