BN Beauty: 5 Common Hair Mistakes You Probably Don’t know You’re Making

Did you know that washing your hair and raising one leg can lead to a stomach upset? Okay, that’s a lie – but there are a lot of common hair mistakes you don’t know about.

A show of hands, for everyone who has ever tied their hair with a rubber band or used a heat styling tool on wet hair. Hair mistakes are more common than you may think and if not handled properly, could cost you your beauty as you go along.

So, let’s say goodbye to split ends, dry scalps, bald spots and weak strands…and get rid of these unhealthy hair habits.

1. Applying heat styling tools to wet hair

Just in case this is you, don’t worry we have all been there. You wash your hair, you think you really don’t have the time to blow dry and style, so you just go ahead and style. After all, “heat na heat“, right? Wrong.

Using heat styling tools on wet hair can dry it out and scorch the follicles of the hair. Your hair should always be completely dry and protected before heat styling tools like hot combs, straighteners, curling wands etc are used.

Don’t believe us? Just ask Tori. She is a Youtube Vlogger, who burned off her hair while shooting a tutorial on heat styling. Watch her share her “hilarious” ordeal on the Ellen Show.

2. Aggressively de-tangling tangled hair

We have all had those moments where you just loosen your braids, or take out your weave and you just want to brush the hair back and put it in a bun. Well it turns out you have to be a little more careful when doing that. When you have frizzy hair, it is better to eliminate knots and frustration by adding a little conditioner to your hair and finger combing – this way you get rid of bulk knots.

After that, sit with the conditioner in your hair for a while before using a wide toothed comb to brush out the hair, from your ends to the base.

3. Roughly towel-drying wet hair

This is not a movie role, so washing your hair and roughly drying it with a towel is not the right way to treat your hair. Towels can be quite harsh on the hair follicles. They dry them out and the the towel can create harsh friction that strips the hair of its natural oil and whatever oil you may have applied prior to the bath.

Instead dab your hair damp with the towel, to get rid of the excess water, then let it drip dry for a few minutes, apply your preferred products and then blow-dry (optional). This way your hair maintains its natural oils and you have a full head of healthy hair.

4. Using a rubber band to hold hair

Now this is one of the more common ones – using rubber bands to hold your hair. We know all about the hair struggle; you can get rubber bands from a number of places – you withdraw a large sum of money, they hold it together with a  rubber band; you buy artificial attachment, there is a rubber band in the pack, you buy a pack of food from Mr Biggs, you get a rubber band..there are bands everywhere. It is very easy to use them for hair instead of spending the extra effort and money to buy the fabric covered band. So, why then should you stay away from rubber bands? For your hair’s sake.

These rubber bands, are very harsh on your hair. They tangle, and rip their hair because of their flexible nature. The fabric bands have a higher tendency to slide off your hair with less damage.

5. Cutting your own hair

Today, Doing It Yourself is the new order of things. With Youtube videos (from both professionals and non-professionals) everyone is trying to take their beauty into their own hands. We are all for tutorials, but when it comes to a matter as delicate as hair, sometimes it is best to leave it to the professionals.

When most women cut their hair they most times make it too short or too wide, the key missing ingredient is cutting it vertically and not horizontally. Also, please avoid using a blade, scissors have much less damage potential to you and your hair.

There’s no judgement here, so you can share your hair stories and let us know which mistakes you have made. Toodles!

Photo Credit: huffingtonpost.com | sheknows.com