Tress Trauma: Oiliness
When your scalp produces too much sebum (the oil naturally generated by your skin), your hair gets greasy. While washing your hair more might seem like a good solution, it actually strips your scalp of oil and causes it to produce extra.
Quick Fix: Shampoo Smarter
Since oil and water don’t mix, the typical shampoo technique––wet hair, apply shampoo, suds up and rinse––doesn’t always work for oily hair. Instead, apply shampoo to dry hair, massaging it into roots (where oil is produced) and then adding water. This will ensure all that slick stuff is lifted from your strands. But be sure to pick the right product: choose an oil-free formula that nourishes and hydrates without giving you the greasies.
Tress Trauma: Split Ends
To understand how to prevent frayed hair, you need a quick biology primer: Each hair is made of layers. The cuticle (or outer layer) is composed of dead cells stacked one on top of the other, like shingles. Beneath that is the cortex, which contains long, coiled proteins. Heat-styling, coloring, or even vigorous brushing can damage the cuticle, allowing the cortex to unravel and push against these “shingles,” which makes them flip upward and appear fuzzy. Generally this occurs at the ends because they’re the oldest, most worn part of your hair (the section right at your scalp tends to be the healthiest).
Quick Fix: Keep Your Cool
Since hot tools are the worst offenders when it comes to roughing up your cuticle, before you use them, prep your locks with thermal spray or plant-bases gel, which will provide a shield from the heat. Also, use a dryer and iron that can be set to a low or medium temperature.
Tress Trauma: Thinning Hair
If you’re shedding more than 100 strands per day, you could be suffering from either telogen effluvium or female-pattern baldness. Telogen effluvium causes the hair follicles all over your head to shut down production, resulting in diffuse shedding. Female-pattern baldness (triggered by genes, age, or hormones) leads to loss mainly at the top of the scalp and along your part.
Quick Fix: Get to the Root of the Issue
See a dermatologist, who can identify the cause of your hair loss and suggest a treatment. In the meantime, you can mask sparseness with style that’s between chin- and shoulder-length, which creates the illusion of fullness. Tinting your tresses a shade or two darker than your natural color also camouflages a visible scalp. And be sure to lather up daily with a body-boosting shampoo, which gives your mane extra oomph.
2 more tips for taming unruly hair can be found at Shape.com!
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