Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Welcome to Hair Care Rehab!




Is My Hair Damaged?

Our hair is super fragile, and much of the day-to-day styling stress we encounter from things like blowdryers, curling irons, straighteners, perms and hair colors can lead to unwanted damage. So how do you know if your hair is really damaged? Test your hair with the following questions:

Is your hair breaking? 
When our hair is healthy, breakage is minimized almost to the point of nonexistence. There may be occasional periods of breakage, especially when detangling is not handled gently, but for the most part, hair breakage is not a large concern for the healthiest heads of hair. 

      Does your hair have sheen or shine? 
The hair’s cuticle should lie flat so that light is easily reflected from the hair’s surface. The flatter the cuticle’s scales, the smoother the surface of the hair strand will be. If your hair is curly, coily, or highly textured, your shine will be there—but because of its natural bending and twisting, these types of hair just reflect light in a more scattered, matte kind of way. This type of shine is referred to as “sheen.” Shine and sheen should be present from roots to tips. If your hair is damaged, you’ll notice less sheen and shine, especially near the ends.

Is your hair progressively gaining length?
Unless the hair is intentionally cut, hair should be accumulating length (or volume) over time.

Does your hair look full from roots to ends?
Hair may be naturally thick or thin, but relative hair thickness should be somewhat consistent from roots to ends, even with layering.

   Does your hair have consistent color from roots to ends?
The consistency of the hair’s color and wave/curl pattern from roots to ends is also a strong indicator of the hair’s condition. Reddened or lightened hair (by this I mean hair that naturally grows in dark but lightens along the length) is a possible sign of damaged hair. Wavy or curly hair that becomes straighter or stringier near the ends is probably dealing with damage.

Learn many more key tips for identifying hair damage in our forthcoming book, Hair Care Rehab: The Hair Repair Manual which will be available soon!