5 Hair Mistakes You Didn’t Know You Were Making

IMAGE: INSTAGRAM @COCOROCHA

1. Not prepping your hair with the right product before heat styling

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This can cause some serious damage and the higher the heat setting, the more damage that can occur. “It’s a fact that anything thermal applied to the hair causes damage as it sucks out moisture making hair drier and more fragile,” explains Paloma. Too much heat applied can result in breakage so prep your hair with the right product and where possible, aim to use a lower heat setting when using styling tools.

Tip: Protect your hair with Bumble & Bumble Straight Blow Dry Styling Balm.  When applied to damp hair, the lightweight, heat activated formula acts as a thermal protectant while giving a silky smooth finish to a blow-dried or straightened style.

2.  Washing your hair too often

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Washing your hair too frequently is one of the most common hair blunders. “It’s very easy to get into a vicious cycle doing this,” says Paloma. “By washing your hair daily, you may be over-activating your sebaceous (oil) glands resulting in hair that becomes oilier more quickly”.  The solution? Try gradually building up to washing you’re hair a couple of times a week.

Tip: Kerastase Bain Divalent Balancing Shampoo is fantastic for oil prone hair.  Not only is it super cleansing, but it also helps to balance out oil production between washes.

3. Brushing your hair when it’s still wet

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According to Paloma, hair is 60% weaker when wet. Therefore, brushing it with too much tension post-shower can cause the hair to snap easily, which is especially damaging if your hair is already fragile.

Tip: The answer? Look no further than the aptly named Tangle Teezer for detangling wet, unruly hair.  The fact that it comes in an array of pretty pop colours makes us love it even more!

4. Wearing your pony tail too tight

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This is a big no-no, not to mention a look best confined to the runway. “An unnecessarily tight ponytail creates too much tension and stress on the hair follicle. If done on a ongoing basis, you can severely damage the hair follicle resulting in breakage and hair loss”.

Product: For fragile follicles that need some serious TLC, we can’t go past Original Mineral Seven Day Moisture Masque, a vanilla bean-infused, deeply nourishing treatment specifically designed for unhappy hair.

5. Washing your hair incorrectly

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“Not knowing how to wash your hair one of the biggest mistakes I hear about”.  The trick, according to Paloma, is to apply shampoo to the scalp area and scrub with your fingertips until it lathers (which usually takes approximately 2 minutes). If it doesn’t lather because it’s dirty, rinse it out and shampoo again. Conditioner should only applied to the mid lengths and ends but never around the scalp.

Product: Shu Uemura Full Shimmer Illuminating Conditioner guarantees to give luscious locks that even Rapunzel would envy.

Story by Madeleine Boyd.