Taking care of your hair is a daily part of your life. You wash it, style it, twirl it around your finger, and use it to hide blemishes. It boosts self-confidence and adds to your identity, but are you taking care of it as best as possible?
You might notice that the ends of your hair don’t cooperate the same way as the rest of your hair, that they’re fragile, or they break off easily when you’re heat styling your hair. These are sure signs that your hair has split ends. Once you have them, can they be repaired? And, how can you prevent split ends in the first place?
What Causes Split Ends?
On a day-to-day basis, your tresses go through a lot – even if you don’t heat-style your hair. It can begin with your showering regimen and continue with the type of environment in which you live. That’s because split ends can be caused by:
- Washing your hair using super-hot showers
- Using too much shampoo
- Overwashing your hair – more than once or twice a week
- Brushing or combing your hair when it’s wet
- Using a thin-tooth comb to brush your hair while it’s wet
- Drying your hair using a blow dryer pointed directly on the ends of your hair
- Styling your hair using heating products like straighteners
- Using your styling products at a temperature that’s too high
- Using hair accessories that contain metal
- Experiencing harsh environmental elements – like too much sun, wind, or cold
5 Ways to Treat Split Ends
With so many ways to get split ends, it’s just not reasonable to expect you’ll never get them. Even though they never go away once you get them, there are five things you can do to treat your split ends and keep additional ones from cropping up.
1. Get Regular Trimmings
Doing so not only gets rid of unwanted split ends, it also helps your hair grow faster. If you’re growing out your hair, it may seem counterintuitive to cut some off, but by removing dead ends, your hair stays healthy enough to grow longer and stronger.
2. Use Argan Oil
Since washing and shampooing your hair can cause damage, try using argan oil products before showering to add a protective layer to your hair. Unlike other oils, argan oils have molecules small enough to penetrate your hair and provide a deeply moisturizing experience.
3. Invest in Leave-In Conditioners
If you often style, color, or brush your hair and are prone to split ends, leave-in conditioners are your friend. They protect your hair from the damaging effects of your environment, combing, and styling. Apply to damp or dry hair and go about your day. Leave-in conditioner will also tame frizz and flyaways.
4. Use a Wide-Tooth Comb
Whether you’re in a rush or just don’t have the patience, brushing or combing your hair when it’s wet damages your ends. By using a wide-tooth comb and gently combing your hair from the ends up, you can minimize damage. In some cases, you might also invest in a detangling spray.
5. Reduce Heat-Styling Tools
It can be difficult to tame all types of hair, but using heating products like blow dryers, straighteners, or curlers — especially if the heating product is set too high — can cause serious damage to your ends. Try using heat-less products, or if you like straightening or curling your hair, try letting it air dry instead of using a blow dryer. If air drying is out of the question, use your blow dryer on the lowest temperature and make sure to stay away from blow-drying the ends of your hair directly.
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