Can wearing your hair up alot...

[ALenee]

Cause any damage? I once heard that if you wear buns, pony tails, updo's, ect.. that it can damage the hair up front. Is there any truth to this? :confused:

Thanks as always! :p

[NightDaemon]

From what I've seen, that's only if you pull it way too tight and it starts pulling hairs out and hurting your scalp.

[Heidi_234]

Hair bands cause alot of damage to the hair, they break it very harshly. So if you're using those for ponytails, you should consider less harming ways to tie your hair.

[spidermom]

It really depends on how careful you are. I've jammed a fork into my hair in a hurry, and even though the fork itself is buttery smooth, I broke a few hairs by not being careful. Just about anything you do can damage your hair; you'll never be able to avoid all damage, but with gentle, careful handling, you can avoid a lot of it.

[jojo]

I think the secret is to not tie hair back too tight and to change the position of the band when tying it up, to stop friction on one part.

[Angelica]

Yes I am pretty sure that wearing my hair up all the time does cause damage to it, since I treat it like a sheet of silk. I wear mine up not because it prevents damage, but because it is too pathetic to leave loose. Wearing it up disguises the lack of thickness.

I have never believed that wearing it up protects it really.

I am trying different ways to wear it now to ease the stress it is suffering from.

[Gumball]

It really is a matter of how you wear it up and how it's treated. If hair is pulled too tight then likely that's causing damage. If a tie is tied too tight then it can cause damage. The same can be said for other hairstyling things, too. If you like to use ties then maybe don't tie it as tight as it can go, use a scrunchie or maybe a hair friendly elastic (without the metal clasp on it). The same for pulling your hair back/up when it comes to tightness. Lots of people use styles as protection for their hair (i.e. buns and the like) and if wearing hair up caused lots of damage I doubt that bunning for protection would be as popular as it is. :)

[Wavelength]

I don't use regular hair elastics. They definitely cause damage.

I do use soft scrunchies, smooth hairsticks, hair scroos and my Ficcare clip. I wear my hair up every day but change the styles around fairly frequently. After three years of this, my hair is in great shape. And since using catnip as a rinse I don't even have many splits anymore! Thanks ktani! :D

I sure had way more damage wearing it down all the time. When it's down, it's more likely to tangle, split, get sun and wind damage, get caught on stuff, etc... When it's up and secured firmly (but not too tightly) with something hair-friendly, the hair doesn't move until you take it down so there's little chance of damage. And you can even put some oil or leave-in conditioner on it, bun it and leave it up all day for an easy deep treatment.

[Angelica]

Delete this!

[Darkhorse1]

*raises hand* I get my hair stuck in my car door all the time. You'd think I'd have learned by now to do my hair before driving, but the car head rest is too high and I can't put it back while driving.

I just read somewhere that any tight style--like braiding way too tight, can damage/cause breakage. So, I'd figure a tight updo might do the same thing...but those styles would be uncomfortable, so I doubt anyone would really do a tight updo/style.

[Kirin]

Can someone explain how can the wind damage the hair? I mean the wind is natural? The only thing it will do is make the hair tangled or it might make you trip up on the pavement if you can't see where you are going. I can understand the sun drying out the hair, but then again here right now we are seldom seeing the sun so there's little chance of that.

Hair has to be quite long to get trapped in doors or something.

I don't pull any style too tightly. I mean with hair like mine it can not take any sort of abuse.

It is up for the reason I mentioned previously.

Perhaps it is safer for people with thicker and longer hair.

But for hair like mine. I have my doubts.

Wind:

Set out a brand new towel on a clothesline and leave it there. You'll note in a shorter time than you think, probably 3 days (if its constantly breezy) the towel will start looking odd. That is because the wind is drying, and it has a "battering" effect on the hair. The hair is forced to "slap around" itself, against itself, you, your clothes.

A towel on consistently breezy/windy days for a month will be "wethered", tattered, and will have fraying loose strands everywhere. That could be your hair.

[MandaMom2Three]

Catnip rinse eh? Tea? Rinse with water after or no? I get split ends bad so if that helps I'd like to try it!

[Anje]

I suspect that wearing hair up, particularly in the exact same tight style, and secured by an elastic, can definitely cause damage, especially if you have finer hair. By the same token, though, I've found that I get way more knots (tangles lead to breakage when they're removed, and they have to come out eventually) when I leave my hair down than when I secure it in a bun. Therefore, I secure it -- it results in less damage than if I don't, and would even if I didn't work near Bunsen burners.

To have long hair and actually move around is to risk damage to it. The goal, therefore, is to minimize damage while still enjoying having long hair.

[Tressie]

Catnip rinse eh? Tea? Rinse with water after or no? I get split ends bad so if that helps I'd like to try it!
Do a search for "catnip" and you should find the thread and info by ktani, I believe. She also has a LOT of honey info! I do believe someone put the catnip link in a post on the split ends thread too! Look around and you should be able to find it. Sorry I don't know how to do the link thingy! )o: Good luck!

[NotOfThisWorld]

*raises hand* I get my hair stuck in my car door all the time. You'd think I'd have learned by now to do my hair before driving, but the car head rest is too high and I can't put it back while driving.

lol I get mine stuck in the car door too! Among other things... I used to joke that my parents had a "hair eating lamp" seriously when I would walk by it my hair would get caught on it's knob and it was right by the kitchen door - it annoyed me so much!

On the topic - when I worked in a commercial kitchen I HAD to wear my hair up all the time, found a great do (actually the one in my avatar right now with the bun pinned up in a braid), and it kept wonderfully. Braiding my hair seems to make it less knotted, but I don't like to wear it up all the time. ENJOY having long hair, and the length that it is. I never was in a "it's gotta be this length" and ignoring the beauty of the length I have right now. This means wearing it down when I feel like it and loving having it loose, or pulling it back, or doing fun things up and down with it, various buns, braids... The wonderful thing about long hair is it's versatility. I would go crazy doing the same style, blow drying it and having the same hairdo every.single.day (not that I would want to blow dry it, but many short hair styles require blow drying to achieve the right look).

If you don't just love and enjoy your hair even while it's growing out... I don't know, I would get discouraged and bored with it. Cherish it at each length and as it grows the more you can do with it. Neither up or down all the time is good... or the same style. So just love what you have and enjoy it, and take care of it, but don't obsess over what is best to grow it out... what is the point if you don't just enjoy it along the way?

Like... okay if a simple bun was the absolute best way to have the healthiest hair - I wouldn't care. I would still do whatever I wanted in styling it, what I felt like each day, or hour, or activity. Because this is why I have long hair, because I love what I can do with it. I don't have it long to wear it up in a bun every day, or a braid... or only down. But because I love it long, I love it up, I love it down, i love it pulled back - I just love it and to play with it. Now I might wear a bun more often if it was the *best* thing for my hair... but it wouldn't dictate much at all.

[NotOfThisWorld]

^ correction above I meant braid pinned up in a bun. :P