Hair is a cherished, essential part of the human body, but people often do things that damage it.
Damaged hair becomes fragile with breakage, frizziness, and unhealthy-looking strands.
Bald spots and thin hair can result from environmental issues, underlying health, grooming habits, and daily care.
Extensive problems like hair loss (16%-96%) and breakage can worsen without proper care.
This can affect your confidence and deliver a big blow to your self-esteem.
Over-processing through chemical treatments, heat, and environmental factors makes it challenging to maintain a healthy state.
Different Types of Hair Damage and How to Avoid It
The following are the types of hair damage.
Heat Styling Damage
Hair styling at high temperatures like 200°C causes significant damage to keratin fiber—frequent use of permanent curling, straightening and waving puts stress on the hair. Straight styling is an everyday routine for many people, and it leads to external harm.
How to Avoid Heat Styling Hair Damage
- Apply a heat protectant before using styling rods.
- Don’t subject your hair to heat for long periods.
- Try a no-heat hairstyle instead.
- Set your heat styling tools to the right temperature when in use.
Chemical Damage
Chemical treatments like peroxide can damage your hair by reaching the cortex and causing melanin reduction. This leads to unintended oxidative damage. Hair fibers weaken as peroxide enters, significantly damaging the protective layer on the outer surface. Exposure to cosmetics such as bleaching, perming, straightening, and dyeing, along with unhealthy grooming habits, are the primary causes of hair damage.
How to Avoid Chemical Hair Damage
- Steer clear of hair bleaching and use sulfate-free, low-pH shampoo.
- Go for deep-conditioning treatments like hot oil to condition your hair and avoid dryness and dullness.
- Drink plenty of fluids to keep your hair hydrated.
- If you’re wondering, is wavy hair curly? It’s essential to treat them similarly to prevent damage.
Mechanical Damage
Handling hair improperly and roughly can cause mechanical damage. Excessive brushing, wearing tight ponytails, and braids, aggressive detangling, and using weaves all lead to damage. Factors include bleaching, straightening, mid-shaft splits, shrinkage, and excessive breakage in hair.
How to Avoid Mechanical Hair Damage
- Practice hair oiling with coconut oil for a gentle massage.
- Indian women often do this to prevent damage.
- Use a wide-toothed comb with rounded tips to slowly comb and avoid unwanted tension and breakage.
- Avoid towel rubbing as it causes friction and excessively damages your hair.
- Apply a mask to repair, nourish, hydrate, and keep your hair soft, healthy, and strong.
Hard Water Damage
Hard water exposure increases breakage by decreasing the strength of hair. The presence of magnesium sulfate and calcium carbonate causes both temporary and permanent hardness. Recent research studies show that washed hair with hard water decreased strength compared to deionized water. Hard water is considered a primary cause of weakening and breakage, not hair loss. If you’re wondering how to soften coarse hair, addressing hard water issues can make a difference.
How to Avoid Hard Water Hair Damage
- Wash your hair with vinegar to remove mineral buildup.
- This smoothens the cuticles and balances pH, leaving your hair soft and fresh.
- For the final wash, use bottled water.
Sun Damage
Excessive sun exposure leads to structural damage of the hair shaft. Photochemical impairment results in protein loss and pigment degradation. UVA radiation changes hair color, while UVB damages it and causes protein loss.
How to Avoid Sun Hair Damage
- Minimize sun exposure by shielding your hair with a scarf, hat, or umbrella.
- If sun exposure has altered proteins and damaged your hair, get it cut to allow for new growth.
- Understanding how is human hair made can help you protect it better from damage.
Overstressed Hair Damage
Mast cells regulate the hair follicle’s response to damage and stress. Stress is a key factor that causes hair loss and pushes follicles into the resting phase. Continuous stress periods can affect your body, changing your hair texture and color.
How to Avoid Overstressed Hair Damage
- Gently wash, dry, and brush your hair.
- Don’t skip meals when stressed as it affects your hair’s health.
- A healthy diet provides nutrients during stressful periods.
What Are the Causes of Hair Damage?
Chemical causes include hair dyeing, bleaching, and perming. Frequent usage of cosmetic products can change texture and damage shafts.
Physical factors like friction from washing and towel drying wet hair lead to rough texture and brittleness.
UV exposure and nutritional deficiencies in vitamins and minerals like zinc, selenium, and iron also cause dullness and loss.
Signs of Hair Damage
Rough texture:
Signs indicate hair damage when rough texture is identified. Observe closely by holding and running your fingers through hair. If it feels rough and sticks, your hair is likely damaged.
Dull hair:
Dull hair with missing shine and luster shows shaft cuticle damage. Even after deep conditioning treatments, lack of shine indicates further damage.
Split ends:
Split ends are a common type of damage, where protective cuticles at the distal cortex are lost, leading to split ends.
Dry hair:
Dry hair may not always mean damage, but damaged hair is always dry, even after moisturizing and conditioning. Temporary segment breaks can be seen in dry, damaged hair.
High porosity:
High porosity causes swollen, frizzy hair due to moisture exposure. Porous structures in the cortex and medulla affect the light scattering and appearance of the hair.
Excessive hair breakage:
Excessive breakage occurs when slight tugs during combing lead to hair damage. This indicates long-term damage.
Lack of elasticity:
Hair with lost elasticity snaps easily when stretched, another sign of significant damage.
Where Does Damage Happen?
Hair has layers that protect it from damage. The outside fiber is covered in natural oils that shield it from damaging elements like sun exposure and chemical services.
Overwashing can strip these oils, leaving hair rough, dull, and susceptible.
The cuticle is the outer protective barrier, but damage can erode it, exposing the inner cortex.
This layer contains fibrous polypeptide chains that give hair its core strength and elasticity. When compromised, hair loses its bounce, shape, resilience, and shine.
pH Imbalance
pH plays a crucial role in overall hair health. It measures the positively charged hydrogen atoms in a solution on a scale from acidic to alkaline.
Hair is happiest in a slightly acidic range (4.5 to 5.5), where amino acid building blocks form optimum ionic bonds, making hair stronger. Shifts in pH can disrupt these bonds, weakening the hair’s structure and contributing to damage, frizz, and dryness.
Personal care products and chemical services like bleach and shampoo can raise pH levels, causing fibers to swell, and increasing friction and possible damage. PROs in the salon can manipulate pH to minimize and prevent pH-induced damage.
Product, Mineral, and Metal Buildup
Tap water contains trace metals and minerals like calcium and magnesium from hard water, which can damage hair by making it rough and dry, affecting its texture. Copper, lead, and cadmium can interact with salon chemicals, causing more damage to hair proteins.
Product buildup on the surface of hair traps dirt, pollutants, and oils, which can disrupt the scalp microbiome, compromising hair from the root.
These oils can be oxidized by UV sunlight, forming reactive compounds that damage skin and hair.
Cuticle Damage Causes Frizz
Damaged hair that is dull and dry becomes more susceptible to frizz. When the cuticle layer is compromised, the water-repelling barrier is disrupted, leaving hair vulnerable to swelling and water damage during washing.
In humid environments, water penetrates the inner layers, breaking hydrogen bonds between keratin chains, and altering the hair’s shape. In dry environments, excess negative charges cause hair to repel each other, leading to frizz and flyaways.
At-Home Remedies for Damaged Hair
For repairing damaged hair, try at-home remedies. Use simple DIY recipes to nourish and revitalize your hair. Start with a conditioning treatment weekly and follow with an intensive mask for severe or deep damage.
Conditioning Treatment
- Mix 1 cup of warm water with 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar, 1/4 cup of honey, 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil, and 1/2 teaspoon of prewarmed raw virgin coconut oil.
- Apply the ingredients to clean, damp hair.
- Cover with a shower cap and let it sit for 30 minutes.
- Rinse thoroughly with shampoo as usual.
Intensive Mask
- Mix 1/2 cup of mashed avocado with 1/4 cup of olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon of prewarmed raw virgin coconut oil, 1/4 cup of honey, and one egg yolk.
- Apply this mask to your hair and leave it on for deep conditioning.
When to See a Dermatologist or Trichologist
If your hair is severely damaged or patchy, consult hair experts like those at HairKnowHow or see a dermatologist or trichologist. They can assess the damage and determine the best treatment.
Aesthetic damage might be repaired with transplants, micro scalp pigmentation, or over-the-counter products. In some cases, the damage may be permanent, and you might need to accept and love your new hair.
Conclusion
Hair damage is a complex issue that can stem from various causes, including heat styling, chemical treatments, environmental factors, and improper care. Recognizing the signs early, such as dryness, frizz, and breakage, is essential for maintaining healthy hair. By following expert advice, using the right products, and adopting preventive measures, you can mitigate damage and keep your hair strong, shiny, and resilient. For severe cases, consulting a professional may be necessary to restore your hair’s health and vitality.
FAQ’s
What is damaging my hair?
Overwashing your hair too often can strip it of its natural oils, leading to dryness and damage. Over-processing with heat styling or chemical treatments like bleaching also causes harm. A lack of moisture leaves hair less hydrated from the inside, making it less healthy.
How to tell what kind of damage your hair has?
If your hair constantly feels dry and brittle, the cuticle layer might be to blame. Thick roots with thin ends, increased shedding, and tangled strands are signs of damage. If your hair appears dull, it’s another indicator.
Is my hair frizzy or damaged?
Frizz occurs when your hair is lacking moisture and becomes dry. Damage is the result of overuse of styling processes that disrupt the cuticle, the hair’s protective layer.
How many types of hair damage are there?
Hair can suffer from various types of damage like split ends and hair loss. Experts suggest ways to prevent and treat these common issues. Products are often selected independently by editors to address these problems.
