Hair is fairly strong and can generally withstand normal grooming techniques. However, there can be thinning or breakage of hair due to poor grooming habits, and following several tips can prevent these bouts of thinning and breakage.

  1. Avoid combing hair with fine-toothed combs when wet, as this is a common cause of breakage. Although this is a tempting practice because hair straightens and detangles much better if combed when wet, the stress on the hair shaft is immense when the hair is wet because it is weakened.
  2. Avoid brushing the hair when wet also. Brushing the hair in general can be stimulating to the scalp, encouraging blood flow to the hair follicles and maintaining their health. Brushing the hair before washing it can loosen up flakes of sebum and dead skin buildup and make it easier to thoroughly clean the scalp during shampooing.
  3. Avoid excessive shampooing when washing your hair. Although clean hair is desirable and even necessary for the maintenance of healthy hair, excessive shampooing can strip vital minerals like calcium, phosphorus, nitrogen and iron from the hair. This is particularly true when using commercial shampoos. Most commercial shampoos contain formaldehyde as a preservative. This substance can be carcinogenic (cancer-causing) and poisonous to the entire system.
  4. Use natural shampoos to wash your hair. Natural shampoos normally found in health food stores are a much better choice. Even with natural shampoos, be careful of the ingredient Sodium Lauryl Sulfate can strip away too much oil from the hair, causing shampoo residue to be left behind. Ingredients that have proven useful in shampoos are cocamides, Panthenol Pro-B, vitamins, aloe vera, sage, nettle, burdock, chamomile, chaparral, horsetail and rosemary. Also look for shampoos that contain keratin, the protein substance that hair is made of, or amino acids. This will help seal breakages in the cuticle.
  5. Choose a shampoo with a proper pH balance; a level of 5.5 is ideal.
  6. Avoid using shampoos with conditioners included. Shampooing and conditioning serve two different functions and the effectiveness of both are diminished by combining the process.
  7. When shampooing, pour the shampoo into the hands and rub the shampoo in with your hands rather than pouring it on your head. By pouring shampoo directly into the hair you may promote buildup in one particular spot.
  8. When shampooing, massage gently with your fingertips to loosen flakes and buildup and to stimulate circulation, but avoid using the fingernails as this may scratch the scalp and cause scarring over time.
  9. When shampooing, shampoo with warm water to open the pores and rinse with cool water to promote shrinking the pores back to their normal size. After washing hair, dry it by blotting the hair with a towel. Avoid rubbing, especially with terrycloth towels, as this will pull hair when it is in a weakened state due to the wetness.
  10. When styling your hair, be cautious do not overuse of hairstyles that pull the hair too tight, such as ponytails and braids, which will cause hair loss especially along the sides of the scalp. This syndrome is called traction alopecia. Keep in mind when styling hair that hair is living and growing, and is susceptible to the stress of constant pulling continuous abuse causes scarring, which will lead to permanent hair loss in the areas affected.
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