You’ve probably heard at least one hair myth in your life. Hair myths have been around for so long that we accepted them as true, without asking ourselves what lies behind them.
The time has come for us to debunk some of the most common hair myths.
Hair myth #1 Fast hair growth myth – you can speed up hair growth
Hair growth is something that has a strong emotional component in every discussion. A lot of people, both men and women are desperately searching for ways to speed up hair growth, so they are more prone to believe in hair growth myths. The cause of believing in hair growth myths can be as benign as the hairdresser cut too much last time, or the hair is damaged to a point of no return. But in some other cases, it is because of a serious trauma like losing hair due to some serious health problems or, as you might imagine, chemotherapy.
This is why the most common myth people believe is that something can speed up hair growth and have your hair grow as fast as 2 or 3 whole inches per month.
Unfortunately, this is not possible, since hair growth is biologically determined and no product can affect this. Castor oil will not make your hair grow faster. It has some antifungal properties, but as far as hair growth goes, it has never been proven that it has any effect on it.
Think about it, if it were true, wouldn’t all dermatologists prescribe it to all people? There will be no people with hair loss problems, and the cosmetics industry would not keep trying to discover something to solve this problem that is present since the beginning of time.
Hair myth #2 You should cut your hair every 6 weeks!
This is a common hair myth. It comes as a surprise that this piece of advice hairdressers usually give to their customers. They benefit financially from your visits but what hides behind this piece of advice?
Hair grows 1-2 cm on average per month. How often you cut it, doesn’t affect the growth speed. Therefore, hair grows at its own speed, and how often you cut it doesn’t have anything to do with its growth.
Hair doesn’t have nerve endings or blood vessels. It’s dead tissue, and your hair roots don’t know if ends are being cut or not. Besides, if you cut 1cm of your hair a month, it will take forever for you to grow your hair long.
Cutting your hair every six weeks means taking one step forward, and two steps backward. Although you will be reducing hair breakage, your hair won’t grow any faster.
What about cutting split ends?
Split ends look bad and it’s impossible to grow healthy hair if you have split ends. But do split ends appear every six weeks? Yes and no. Namely, if you don’t maintain your hair properly, split ends will appear faster than usual but this also means you won’t be able to grow healthy long hair.
But, there are things you can do to avoid split ends and hair breakage. To grow long hair, you have to keep your hair care on the highest level. At the same time, you have to keep your hairstyling at the lowest possible minimum. As a result, you won’t be needing any trimming every six weeks. You can’t mend split ends, but you can delay their appearance.
Hair myth #3 Silicones are bad for your hair
Are silicones bad for hair is one of the most frequent questions customers ask hairdressers. Today, you can find them in almost every cosmetic product. Some believe silicones create a layer around the hair strand that can’t be washed away easily. That layer then starts damaging your hair from within while the hair remains beautiful on the outside. This is a myth!
It takes a regular shampoo to wash away silicones. In fact, you can wash them away using only water.
How can you benefit from silicones for hair?
Silicones do create a layer around your hair – a layer that can be washed away. This layer has several purposes.
Firstly, it protects your hair from damage. Secondly, it protects the hair from temperatures as high as 230 degrees celsius – this means it will protect your hair from the sun, but also curling and straightening irons as well.
The layer also retains moisture inside the hair and prevents it from drying out. And why do we love silicones for hair the most? Because they reflect light giving your hair shine and smoothness.
For this reason, your main hair care products such as conditioners and treatments, as well as leave-in products should definitely have silicones. Never avoid silicones, especially if you tend to style your hair using a curling iron, flat iron, or regular blow dryer.
However, certain products are way better off without silicones, such as shampoo. Silicones tend to clog pores on the scalp, so using them regularly could lead to excessively greasy hair, hair loss, dry and itchy scalp, irritation, dandruff, and slower hair growth. Also, if you are a fan of co-wash – avoid conditioners that contain silicones.
Hair myth #4 Coloring and bleaching your hair will cause serious damage
Ok, let’s be straight here. This is only partially a hair myth. The best advice we can give you – if you are not ready to dedicate time and money to hair care, maybe you should skip bleaching and dyeing. If you still want to bleach or dye your hair or get highlights, you should follow some steps to make sure your hair stays healthy and hydrated after such harsh processes.
What bleaching does to your hair
Bleaching means removing the color of hair by the process of oxidation. This makes hair strands thinner, prone to breakage, and sensitive. It makes hair brittle and inelastic; more porous and swollen. You get the color you want, but at what price? Your hair will look dull, damaged, dry, and in the end, you will be forced to cut it off. Without adequate hair care, coloring will be just a waste of money.
Without adequate hair care, you maybe will get the color you want, but at what price? Your hair will look lifeless, damaged, dry, and eventually, you will have to shorten it. In this scenario, coloring is just a waste of money. BUT this definitely doesn’t mean you must skip coloring and can’t have healthy, beautiful long hair in any color you like.
How to bleach and treat your hair?
Bleaching should ideally always be done professionally since it is the most damaging process for your hair.
The key to perfectly bleached hair is extremely good hair care as well as the right products for coloring. Also, you should use a deep conditioning treatment regularly. Don’t forget to use an extra moisturizing product, to flatten the cuticle, seal in moisture, reduce knots and add shine. Co-wash is also a good thing not only for bleached but also for colored hair.
Furthermore, you should include protein-based products in your hair care routine as well. Hair that has been bleached or dyed loses keratin, the basic substance hair is made of. Anyone who wants to have great hair should afford good protein treatments once a week along with proper hydration.
Hair myth #5 Plucking gray hair will cause more gray hair
You all probably heard that if you pluck one gray hair, two new will appear in its place. No scientific explanation confirms this statement, so it is another hair myth. However, that doesn’t mean you should go around plucking gray hair all the time. There is absolutely no need to do this. Ever.
Your hair can become weaker if you pluck it often, and maybe even stop growing out. It is completely understandable if you have an urge to pluck gray hair when you see one strand. But if you do, you will only get rid of that strand temporarily. The new strand that grows out will also be gray. Maybe, if you are lucky, it will have a slightly darker color, but plucking hair definitely isn’t a good way to treat gray hair.
In conclusion, what you do to one follicle doesn’t affect others. If it did, people with hair loss problems would start plucking their hair like crazy and grow voluminous hair. New gray hairs (or new hairs generally) won’t magically appear while plucking out (gray) hair is a really bad habit.
Hair myth #6 You should brush your hair 100 times a day
Some of us heard this statement from our grandmothers. Others saw divas in movies brushing their beautiful hair before sleep. The idea behind this myth is – the more you brush your hair, the healthier it will be. The real truth is that brushing hair 100 times can cause more damage than you can imagine.
Aggressive and exaggerated brushing will create friction, cause split ends, and flyaways. It can damage your hair cuticle (the protective layer of hair) as well. You will end up with brittle and dull hair. It’s enough to pull comb or brush through hair several times in the morning – to distribute natural oils from the scalp through hair evenly. Instead of brushing hair 100 times, brush your hair as rarely as possible – only to detangle or style. Also, if possible, try to avoid brushing hair while it is still wet.
Another important thing when it comes to brushing is – choose the right brush or comb. Do not hesitate to invest money in a good one. Chose a wide-toothed comb or paddle brush with plastic bristles.
Hair myth #7 You don’t need a lot of hair products
They say “less is more”. In haircare, more means more. One of the most common misconceptions is that too many products make your hair weak or used to treatments over time. This is another hair myth.
It may be true that when you stop using products, your hair looks worse than before. However, this doesn’t mean you should stop using those products because they have a bad effect on your hair. It simply means they are actually working.
If you want to have beautiful, healthy, long hair – don’t skip any hair care product. You should, of course, choose them and use them following your hair’s needs.
Using just a shampoo will never be enough for healthy hair. Don’t compare your hair with baby hair, because first– you aren’t a baby, and secondly, your skin and hair differ greatly. Therefore, you need completely different care.
What products to use for healthy hair
Washing, shampooing, rinsing, and conditioning, followed by leave-in products is a normal hair care routine that everyone with medium or long hair must stick to. If you really want to get fabulously looking hair, you shouldn’t skip any step in hair care.
Meanwhile, this doesn’t mean you should wash your hair every day. Also, you shouldn’t over shampoo your hair or use excessive amounts of different products during one hair was for better results.
Too much shampooing could rinse your hair color or make your hair dry. Too much conditioner can make your hair greasy and lifeless. Hence, learn what your hair needs and how to meet those needs the right way.
What about greasy hair?
Another myth is that you should never moisture greasy hair. Let’s make one thing clear. Conditioners and hair treatments don’t cause greasy hair. It’s caused by natural oil sebum, hormonal fluctuations, and shampoo residue. You can treat the condition by treating your scalp, not hair.
However, conditioners, hair treatments, leave-in products are something you should put only on the ends of your hair, and you should always avoid the scalp. Since you are not going to put oils and leave-in products anywhere near the scalp, you are good to go. Just be extra careful when applying conditioner. When applying conditioning products start at the ends where the hair is oldest, and therefore dry and brittle.
Hair myth #8 The sunkissed hair is healthy hair
Yes, sea salt will give you seductive waves. Yes, UV rays will lighten your hair. This is called hair photobleaching and as it is a natural process, it is not at all healthy for your hair.
Saltwater washes out natural oils from the scalp and leaves your hair dry, damaged, and parched. The hair is then more prone to loss of moisture and keratin when it is constantly exposed to the sun, salty water, and even some chemicals from pools like chlorine.
At the end of the summer, your hair will be lighter but completely damaged to a point of no return. Instead of trying to get a hairstyle and a new hair color on the beach, please consider protecting your hair to keep your hair healthy and shiny.
How to moisturize hair on the beach
The best advice for moisturizing hair on the beach is to put on a hair treatment or a nutrient conditioner several times a day – every time you get out of the water. Just rinse your hair (to wash away salt or chlorine), and apply the nutritious product.
Leave-in silicone serums (those that do not rinse off), milk serums, spray, or oil serums will help you protect the ends from bursting. Silicones for hair, as we already mentioned, protect the hair from temperatures as high as 230 degrees celsius, so they are certainly welcome in protecting hair from the sun and heat.
Also, wearing a hat is always a good idea. The hat not only protects you from sunstroke but protects your hair from external influences.
Don’t use the sun to lighten your hair. Nothing good can come out of it. If you want balayage, find a hair salon that will give you that hairstyle without burning your hair unnecessarily.
Hair myth #9 Shampoo can’t damage your hair
We easily associate foam with clean hair. But what creates foam? Many shampoos contain sulfates, foaming agents. But the trick is – sulfates aren’t good for your hair. If you want to preserve color and keep it healthy – sulfate-free shampoos are the right choice. Those shampoos won’t create a foam that you are used to, but don’t worry – that can only be a good sign.
As for cold water – it may wake you up in the morning, but it won’t have any special effect on your hair. Hot water isn’t good for hair, but washing hair with ice-cold water will more likely bring you a headache than fabulous hair. Be moderate in everything, keep your water mildly hot with a colder rinse for shinier hair.
Hair myth #10 Air drying is always better than blow-drying
Blow-drying can be bad for your hair. Sometimes, you don’t have enough time to dry your hair naturally. But guess what? The truth is, air-drying isn’t as good as we thought it was for a long time. Experts say that blow-drying damages hair surface while air-drying damages strands from the inside. The hair swells when it’s exposed to water for a long time. So the best way to dry your hair, after all, is actually a blow dryer.
What is the best way to dry hair?
When your hair is completely wet, don’t dry it. Wet hair is extremely prone to damage because it’s full of water and its ‘tensile’ strength is depleted until it’s dry. So, be more than gentle to your hair when it’s wet. Set lowest heat setting, put silicone oils and other heat-protecting products on your hair, and you will be all set.
Also, don’t aggressively rub wet hair with a towel. This kind of friction can cause serious damage. It is much better to gently squeeze the moisture out of your hair with a towel. Use another towel to pick up moisture that is left. It is important to move as much water as you can using a towel because you should avoid drying excessively wet hair. So, firstly blot wet hair with towels. Afterward, put some heat protecting product, and start drying your hair with a blow dryer on the low-temperature setting.
After a while, you can turn hot air but remember – when you turn on hot air – be sure you hold the blowdryer around 15 centimeters away from head and hair.
Listen carefully, question everything
We hope that we helped you understand some things better. Next time you get some advice, think about the logic behind it. Debunking hair myths and discovering the truth will help you concentrate on things that will actually help your hair grow healthier, longer, and better.