How healthy is your hair?- Tips for healthy hair

This blog post a contains a quiz on how healthy your hair is and tips to help maintain healthy hair

If your hair was healthy then kudos to you! Keep up the great work. But if it wasn’t, that’s okay you can take some steps to ensure that you have the healthy hair you’ve always wanted!

There are a lot of factors that interact to determine how healthy our hair. Not having healthy hair might not be a result of not taking care of your hair it might just be that your genetics are against you.

Even with that, there are still a lot of things you can do to help you grow and maintain healthy hair!

If you want to know more about how hair grows, check out this blog post ‘the truth about the hair growth‘

Habits of people with healthy hair that you can try

I did some research to find out tips that have helped others maintain healthy hair and I know they could very beneficial for you too.

Here are 10 habits of people with healthy hair;

1. Regular trimming for healthy hair

People with long hair trim their hair every 2-3 months regularly. This helps to avoid split ends, breakage and encourages hair growth.

2. Protected hair while sleeping

Long-haired people use a satin pillow cover or wrap their hair in a silk scarf, this prevents hair breakage and tangling.

3. Hair masks and treatments

People with long hair take extra care for their hair through hair masks and treatments to maintain the moisture level and nourishment.

4. Air-dry for healthy hair

People with long hair prefer air-drying to avoid heat damage, hair dryer usage, and enhance hair’s natural texture.

5. Gentle brushing

Brushing your hair regularly is essential to keeping it healthy. People with long hair use a wide-tooth comb or paddle brush to detangle their hair gently, starting from the ends and working their way up to the roots.

6. Avoiding harsh chemicals

People with long hair choose shampoos and conditioners, which are mild and free from harsh chemicals like sulfates, parabens, and Silicones.

7. Protective hairstyles

Long hair is prone to tangles, breakage, and split ends. People with long hair often wear protective hairstyles like braids or buns to minimize damage from daily wear.

8. Scalp care

Healthy hair starts with a healthy scalp. People with long hair maintain a clean and healthy scalp with regular washing, conditioning and using scalp massages.

9. Balanced diet

A balanced diet with sufficient nutrients plays a vital role in promoting hair growth and preventing hair fall. People with long hair maintain a balanced diet rich in vitamins and minerals, including iron, biotin, zinc, and vitamin C, which are essential for healthy hair growth.

10. Regular trims

Although people with long hair tend to avoid trimming their hair, regular trims are crucial to maintaining healthy and split-end-free ends. Trimming the ends every 3-4 months keeps the hair healthy and promotes growth.

Unconscious habits that cause hair damage

It’s not enough to start taking up healthy habits to grow your hair. You need to quit the bad habits that damaged your hair in the first place.

Here are 10 unconscious habits that you’re probably doing that can cause hair damage;

1. Tight protective hairstyles

For a very long time there has been this myth that protective hairstyles have to be tight to look neat and pretty. So anytime you want to get your hair done you have to mentally prepare yourself for at least two days of constant headaches after. 

Not only is this uncomfortable to experience, it also causes hair loss due to the increased tension on your hair root. So if you notice that once you take down your protective hairstyle and you loss an unreasonable amount of hair you know the culprit.

2. Keeping your protective hairstyles in for too long

Trust me it can be very tempting to want to keep in your braids for a little longer even though the hairstyle is getting a little old, it’s just to do you edges and tight a scarf right? But I highly recommend not giving into those urges because it is one of those habits that cause hair damage.

Putting your hair in a protective hairstyle can promote growth but if it is in that form for too long it can put a lot of tension on your hair follicles.That’s what makes them break, now you don’t want that. I’m talking to you! Take down those 4 month old braids right now!

3. Using the wrong comb

Each hair texture a different and you need to understand your hair texture in order to pick the best comb or hair tools that would work for you. I would recommend always starting with a wide tooth comb or a brush it puts less tension on the hair than using a smaller comb.

4. Brushing your hair too frequently

Don’t brush your hair too frequently, just don’t! If possible just detangle with your fingers, it’s better than combing because you put even less tension and you want as little tension as possible so that you can give your hair the room it needs to grow.

5. Using hot water to wash your hair

I know a nice hot bath or shower sounds amazing but honestly it’s not the best for your skin or your hair. Avoid really hot water, it just weakens your hair follicles and makes them easy to break and fall off.

6. Using harsh hair products

I can’t stress the importance of not using harsh hair products like shampoos and conditioners with high concentration of sulfates and other strong chemicals enough. They strip away the nature oils produced by your hair and make your hair dry and brittle and easy to break and damage.

7. Using styling tools that require heat often

It’s no secret that heat causes alot of damage especially if you’re not using heat protectant and you tend to use heat very often on your hair. I get why you would want to use heat though, maybe you want to straighten or curl your hair but there are alot of heatless options that will still give you gorgeous results I suggest you give heatless styles a chance.

8. Washing hair too frequently

People like to wash their hair every time they have a bath, I wouldn’t recommend this because by washing your hair you remove sweat and accumulated dirt but you also remove the natural oils in you hair that help your grow. It king of seems like you’re shooting yourself in the leg when you do this, don’t you think?

9. Being lazy with your hair

This is probably the reason why people keep their protective hairstyles for too long, it’s tempting to think that as far as you’re not disturbing your hair it’s not going to get damaged but don’t be deceived. Your hair needs care and attention. Think Of your hair as a plant, you have to water it and give nutrients if you want it to thrive.

10. Not eating healthy

When you don’t eat healthy food you don’t provide your hair with the necessary nutritions it needs to thrive (remember the whole plant hair analogy). So if you want the best results you’re going to have to eat right.

Conclusion 

Here are just a few tips to help you maintain healthy hair!

Not having healthy hair might not always be your fault, but that doesn’t there’s nothing you can do to prevent it.

What bad hair habit are you stopping today? And what good habit are you picking up?

Let me know all about it in the comments below!