September 3, 2019

Bad Hair Habits

Almost everyone wishes for luscious locks of hair. While genetics do play an important role in the health and volume of hair, there are changes you can make to achieve the healthiest hair for you. Cutting out bad hair habits is the best place to start and we’ll list just a few of the most damaging things for your hair.

Poor Diet

eating greasy pizza is one of our bad hair habits

A poor diet is something most people don’t want to hear about but is one of the worst bad hair habits. Unfortunately, having a poor diet affects our entire body, including our hair. Some foods to avoid if you’re concerned about hair loss or maintaining healthy hair are greasy food, sugary foods, alcohol, and fish high in mercury. Greasy foods clog our pores and can even clog the pores on our heads. Things like pizza, burgers, and fries (all our favorites) can lead to hair loss.
Sugary foods are said to cause premature aging, which results in hair follicles shrinking sooner in life.

Alcohol is known to cause dehydration. Dehydration is terrible for our bodies all around. This results in both dry and brittle hair, so try to avoid so much alcohol and drink more water instead to keep your hair hydrated and healthy.

Luckily, most fish are not high in mercury. Swordfish is the most popular that is high in mercury. Other fish like salmon, tuna, halibut are all safe for our hair.
Eating a well-balanced diet is the best solution for healthy hair. All things in moderation!

Washing Your Hair

While it is important to shower and wash your hair, washing your hair too often can do more damage than good and is a bad hair habit you should break. Washing your hair every day will dry it out and make it brittle. If possible, try washing it only four times or less each week.

Lemon Juice

Lemon juice has been used for years to lighten the hair. Girls in high school would douse their hair in the stuff and sit out in the sun in hopes of blonde highlights. While lemon juice can be beneficial, once it dries the acidic juice is terrible for your locks.

According to healthline.com, sitting in the sun with dried lemon juice will destroy the cuticles in your hair. This results in dull, dry hair with no shine. The suggested time to stay in the sun if you do use lemon juice on your hair is less than an hour. After that, you run the risk of seriously damaging your hair.

Chemicals

Many people put things in their hair each day like gel, hair spray, or other products. It’s not a secret that dying your hair is going to damage it. The most damaging chemicals, which are found in hair dye, are hydrogen peroxide and ammonia. Some shampoo even contains a harmful chemical called DHT.

Another harmful chemical to your hair is chlorine, which is found in swimming pools. Chlorine is known to cause hair discoloration, especially in recently bleached hair. Because of this, It’s important to wash your hair after swimming in a chlorinated pool.

Overall, breaking bad hair habits can be hard, but once you do, you’ll be sure to notice how much healthier your hair is. Check out our article, How Biotin Affects the Body, to read about an important vitamin for hair and pick up a bottle of our Skin Rescue + Renew for radiant skin, hair, and nails.