Debunking 4 Of The Most Common Hair Myths
From putting egg yolks, honey, caviar and oats (who would even think of oats?!) to ridiculously expensive in-salon treatments, we are ready to try virtually anything just to get the hair we dream of - healthy, long, sleek and shiny.
I know there are many hair-care junkies out there (I am one of them, myself) and I know that we are willing to experiment with every recipe/mask/DIY treatment the internet offers to make our locks stronger, shinier and longer. Are all these experiments worth investing time and money into? Is your hair going to grow faster if you trim it every two weeks? Can you really reverse the damage you’ve done with heat styling? Let’s debunk together 4 of the most common myths related to hair!
You Can Make Your Hair Grow Faster
While it is true that you can strengthen your hair, by taking good care of your scalp and eating healthy, none of these will affect much the speed your hair grows at. How fast our hair grows is, to a great extent, predetermined by the genes we carry. The average hair growth rate per month is approximately 1.25 cm, depending on your race, gender, age and even the season (your locks grow faster in the summer).
Still, because having long hair is the dream of almost every woman, we constantly experiment (and secretly hope it would work), trying to achieve our goal – Barbie’s hair.
I know that we all dream of long, luscious locks, but we have to be realistic. Neither investing in expensive treatments at the hair salon, nor applying egg yolk (or any other “growth boosting” home remedy) will do the magic trick of turning you into a mermaid in a month.
Frequent trims, are another popular “method” for speeding up hair growth, but sadly it is yet another myth. Your hair grows from the root and cutting the ends will not affect in any way how fast your hair cells divide i.e. how fast they build up to form a longer hair strand.
Damaged Hair Can Be Restored Fully With Hair Care Products
If you abuse thermal styling and/or bleach/dye your hair on regular basis don’t expect from any conditioner/mask/miraculous hair treatment, to revert the damage you have done - at least, not completely.
The proteins that build up our body are very interesting molecules. They can change the way they look, behave and function, by breaking bonds that predetermine their conformation in space - the so called process of “denaturation”. Denaturation can be reversible and irreversible, depending on the how strong the external factors are and how long they were acting over the protein molecule.
If the hair fibers (which are made of protein, as you probably know) get damaged, there is not much you can do to restore their structure. Just like when you’re frying egg whites – once cooked i.e. once denaturated, they cannot go back to their initial state. Pretty much the same happens with your hair.
What hair care products are supposed to do in cases when denaturation is irreversible, is to maintain your hair as healthy as possible and protect it from further damage. Even if your hair feels softer and looks shinier, after applying hair serum or mask, this effect is temporary i.e. these products simply mask the bad condition you hair is in, while the new, healthy hair is growing.
Bottom line: Unfortunately, the only solution for severely damaged hair is… a pair of scissors.
PS: Please don’t get me wrong – I am not saying throw away all of your hair care products. If formulated well, hair care products hydrate, protect and strengthen your hair. Just don’t expect them to do miracles. And put the straightening iron aside – your curls are prettier than you think! Besides that – messy hair is the hottest trend now!
Shampoos That Lather A Lot Are Better For Your Hair
Huge No-No! If your shampoo lathers a lot, this usually means it’s full of SLS/SLES.
SLS and SLES are components that dissolve lipids i.e. literally strip your skin and your hair off their natural oils. Not only they dehydrate your scalp (unhealthy scalp = unhealthy hair), but also disrupt the normal production of sebum, making your sebaceous glands go crazy. Wondering why you end up with greasy roots 2 days after you’ve washed your hair? Look at the ingredient list of your shampoo! The explanation behind this phenomenon is simple - when our scalp is dehydrated it tries to compensate the lack of moisture by increasing the production of sebum, which ultimately leads to more and more oil building up in the roots of our hair.
Another problem with SLS and SLES is that they also dehydrate the hair strand itself, making your locks look brittle and unhealthy. ( here are some tips for shiny hair you can try)
Note: If you are already struggling with hair that gets greasy on the second day after you’ve washed it, try natural plant oils – they work wonders for restoring the balance of your scalp. As controversial as it may sound (applying oils on already oily hair), vegetable oils moisturize and nourish the skin in depth, which makes your sebaceous glands produce less oil.
Looking for 100% pure, organic plant oils? You came to the right place!
La Mav's Pure Oil Therapy Range offers a variety of carefully selected, 100% pure, organic plant oils, potent enough to transform the appearance of your skin and your hair!
You Can Make Your Hair Thicker
More voluminous, yes, but thicker - well, you can’t. How thick your hair strands are is another genetically pre-determined characteristic of your hair that you simply cannot change.
If your diet is poor in protein (the building blocks of hair) it’s highly likely that your hair will become weaker and thinner. However, just by munching on eggs and nuts, don’t expect to turn into Cher in a few weeks.
The thickness of your hair depends also on your race, gender and age. With the years passing our hair tends to get thinner and weaker and this, even with the healthiest diet, is almost impossible to avoid. The reason is simple – as we grow older, all processes in our body slowdown, which includes the protein synthesis. The less protein your body makes, the thinner your hair is and the slower it grows.
If your hair dresser is trying to sell you treatments promising to plump up your hair strands, with some new-age, high-tech molecular inventions don’t trust him – your hair is as thick as it is, and there is no miraculous serum/mask potent enough to change that.
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