Don't Be Fooled by These Hair-Care Myths

[Cheeks1206]

Don't be Fooled by These Hair-Care Myths (http://shine.yahoo.com/event/hairguide/dont-be-fooled-by-these-hair-care-myths-2088813)

Here's a short article I just found on the main page of Yahoo. There are a couple things I disagree with, but overall, they seem to be pretty on track!

I have to say, I'm glad they're mentioning the cut-your-hair-so-it'll-grow myth. I still don't understand where people got that idea. :confused:

[May]

Except that hair dye, especially permanent home hair dye, DOES damage hair. If you continually use them I guarantee your hair *will* start to resemble straw.

[MissManda]

I laughed when they described as products and dyes as being "gentle" and "non-damaging." I agree with most of the other ones, however.

[Juneii]

"Myth: Rinsing with ice-cold water after a shampoo will give you shinier hair.
Truth: It might wake you up, but a dousing of cold water will have no effect on the shininess of your tresses."

I thought cold water closes the cuticles of your hair and therefore making it shiner?

[teela1978]

Except that hair dye, especially permanent home hair dye, DOES damage hair. If you continually use them I guarantee your hair *will* start to resemble straw.
I disagree with that a bit. My hair was past BSL and dyed repeatedly. It was shiny and soft... I mainly stopped dying because I hated the roots. My hair is healthier undyed, a bit heavier... but its not that big of a change. I would say that my hair never resembled straw.

ETA: wow. I didn't realize I went quite that red!!!!
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e117/lchamber78/Hair%20Length%20Shots/2003hairred.jpg

[hairg33k]

I read that too and thought of LHC, minute I read it. :p

[Cheeks1206]

Except that hair dye, especially permanent home hair dye, DOES damage hair. If you continually use them I guarantee your hair *will* start to resemble straw.

Yeah, that is my main nit-pick with this article. I'm not really sure where they got that info from. Sure, chemical dyes probably are a lot gentler now than they used to be, but I wouldn't say they aren't damaging. I thought the rest of the article was fairly accurate, though.


I disagree with that a bit. My hair was past BSL and dyed repeatedly. It was shiny and soft... I mainly stopped dying because I hated the roots. My hair is healthier undyed, a bit heavier... but its not that big of a change. I would say that my hair never resembled straw.


I guess I don't really know, as I've never dyed my hair, but from what I understand, that is an effect from the conditioners that does eventually wear off. I think to get the straw-like felling you'd have to do some serious dying or bleaching. IDK. Like I said, I've never done it so I have nothing to compare to.

[Igor]

"Myth: Rinsing with ice-cold water after a shampoo will give you shinier hair.
Truth: It might wake you up, but a dousing of cold water will have no effect on the shininess of your tresses."

I thought cold water closes the cuticles of your hair and therefore making it shiner?

Well yea, but I have always wondered if the hair strand doesn’t just slowly return to its non-closed, normal room temperature state when it starts drying (or warming up again) :confused:

[Phexlyn]

Wow, that is surprisingly accurate. I disagree with the dyes and the cold water rinse, though. (But I'm biased on the cold water, I always do this and I feel better with it so there's no way I'm going to try and see if my hair is still as shiny without it).

Concerning the dyes: I believe dyes nowadays are far less damaging than they used to be. But they still are damaging (especially the ones that have lightening included) and depending on your hair quality and how often you use them may cause severe damage.

[marzipanthecat]

I found that a cold rinse does make my hair quite nice and shiny (I think this may just be yet another one of those things where it will work on one person butnot on another). One place where we were camping once had showers that were fed by ICE COLD fresh glacier melt water, and my hair looked fabulous every time I washed it there! Mind you, that could also be because it was incredibly pure water, or, well, I don't know what other things might be different there. It was, however, a genuinely horrible cold shower, and no one enjoyed using it.

[Medievalmaniac]

I think it does depend so much on what dye(s), how often, what else you are doing to your hair, etc. etc.

I can assure you, that dying my hair four-five times a year with the Perfect 10, 10-minute auburn dye has not significantly impacted my hair at all. If you look at my anniversary thread, you can see that it is SO much better than it has ever been. BUT, that said, I'm not dying every 4-6 weeks, and I'm not using dye with lighteners or the kind you leave on for 30 minutes or more - it's a 10-minute deposit of color, once each season of the year. If I were doing more, it might cause a great deal of damage. :shrug:

[mellie]

I agree with most folks here, commercial hair dye always damaged my hair and burned my scalp, even at really expensive salons. Henna was safe to use though.

Also, there might be just a small bit of more shine when I do a cold water rinse. Not worth it in the wintertime though!

Trimming does me no good at all, I never do them. But I don't have split ends (knock on wood). I think the main thing is to just keep the hair healthy and free from split ends in the first place, then trims aren't necessary.

And I HAVE to change shampoos about every 6 months, they stop working for me. And I HAVE to wash every day or I get very greasy roots and my scalp gets itchy.

[steamboat28]

I have to say, I'm glad they're mentioning the cut-your-hair-so-it'll-grow myth. I still don't understand where people got that idea. :confused:

I always assumed that it, like the shave-your-beard-so-it-gets-darker myth, come from the fact that humans perceive change differently dependent on the scales. It's easier to notice an inch or two of growth when that inch or two makes up a larger proportion of the whole (say, if you have ear-length hair) than it is if the new growth makes up a smaller portion (if you've got tailbone or classic, for example).

Since people notice the change more, they assume the change is greater than it actually is.

[slythwolf]

If commercial hair dyes were not damaging, they wouldn't advise you to wait two weeks between processes.

ETA:

Myth: You can't make flat, fine hair look full of body.
Truth: Five minutes with a set of large hot rollers will add life to straight hair.I'm confused; do they think all flat, fine hair is straight, or do they think all straight hair is flat and fine?

[spidermom]

I can't argue with any of it.

[Angeletti]

Except that hair dye, especially permanent home hair dye, DOES damage hair. If you continually use them I guarantee your hair *will* start to resemble straw.
no straw hair here : ) I've been coloring my hair for 12 years. All hair coloring is damaging true, but it just depends on the dye and how you take care of your hair, for me I use darker dyes so that means lower volume developers meaning less damage then lighter colors which use higher volume developers that lighten the hair. My hair feels like silk still and I have never had any significant breakage. I would prefer not to have to use hair coloring because I hate to put any kind of chemical on but don't want to deal with my natural mousy brown color

[triumphator!]

I used to dye my hair quite a bit. I think the reason why the article says that it is not/less damaging is because of the quality of the conditioners they package with the dyes now. They've definitely come a long way! My hair used to feel so silky after rinsing out the conditioner just after a dye. But you only get a tiny packet...

[ericthegreat]

I agree with most of the tips, except of course this one about color that everyone else here is also talking about. Chemically coloring your hair is in no way healthy for your hair, plain and simple and I say that speaking as a hairstylist. All chemical colors have be able to lift up the cuticle layer of your hair in order to penetrate into the inner part of your hair. That is always in some way damaging to your hair.

However, I do agree that there are now newer, less damaging coloring products today than the products we had 20 years ago. Also, the conditioners we have now are also a lot more effective and they help to hide a lot of the damage that the coloring does cause to the hair.

[Loviatar]

I would argue that cutting in a certain way can make your hair seem like it's growing faster, which is why Nightshade has had such good results with microtrimming. Taking off 1/2 your growth per month will get rid of damage and improve the quality of your ends far easier and quicker than leaving the damaged ends on and just breaking them off in the sink whenever you brush.

However, a full cut of an inch or more every 6-8 weeks "making your hair grow faster" is baloney.

[Sammich]

I agree with most, not sure about cold water rinse and hair dye though... they are less damaging than 10+ years ago. :p

[GlennaGirl]

no straw hair here : ) I've been coloring my hair for 12 years.

You are so lucky. Even just going a shade lighter than my natural color and doing roots-only (NEVER pulling through to the ends), COing, no wet brushing, and constant bunning, I had straw hair from even the best colorants. :( I think it really depends upon the person.

I currently use henna and indigo and don't get any damage from those though I've heard from people who have had dryness and other problems.

Definitely is an individual thing, whether chemical or natural colors.

[kimki]

I have always found hair dye damages and dries my hair out.

[jivete]

I think how damaging dye is for your hair depends on your starting hair type. It absolutely wrecks mine, but I have baby fine hair. I can get away with it until about shoulder length and that's it.

[CaityBear]

I think for *some people* frequent trims do help because their hair maybe splits and breaks off extremely easy. I know somebody who's hair starts splitting almost immediately after trims.

I don't get the fine and flat hair one either. Where does straight hair come into it??

I also disagree with the cold water. I always found cold water made my hair a bit shinier and more managable.

And the lather, rinse, repeat. I've gotten my hair squeaky clean without doing that. I NEVER repeat when washing hair (unless washing out heavy oils or henna, but I am using conditioner when I do that).

[RoseRed27]

I think damage is relative. :p Will everyone's hair look like a dry broom? No. Will it be the healthiest silkiest it could possibly be? Probably not. If you take very good care of your dyed hair and can hardly tell the difference between how your dyed hair feels and how your virgin hair feels, I don't know if I'd call that "damaged". Maybe "altered". Combing can snap and tug at your hair "damaging" it. But it's not so "damaging" that everyone who's concerned with hair health/length stops combing.

I know for me, when I used black dyes, my fine hair felt thicker and more resistant to breakage. It's certainly not the case for everyone though. I now stick to natural dyes, because I find the color lasts longer and I'm trying to limit my use of synthetic chemicals. And as for cold water rinsing, I can't do without it. I do notice a difference. That is one of the first "healthy hair practices/tips" that I learned and it really helped me to detangle my 3c/4a curls. There's less "roughness" and snagging.

Some people really benefit from light trimming. I know if I don't keep my ends smooth by trimming off splits ends, my hair tangles at the ends and I end up losing that inch or inch and a half. It makes more sense for me to snip off a cm. every so often. But, once again, not everyone's hair works the same.

[ravenreed]

The only thing a cold rinse does is make me hate washing my hair. It does nothing to increase shine on my hair.

As for damage from dyes, if one is only going to shoulder or BSL, I am betting most people can have healthy looking hair at that length and still dye if they are careful to avoid other damaging hair care routines. I think what makes people end up with straw hair is dyes AND heat AND hairspray, etc.

[LouLaLa]

Myth: You can't make flat, fine hair look full of body.
Truth: Five minutes with a set of large hot rollers will add life to straight hair.


Well im sorry but I could leave them in all day with lots of hairspray and my hair still wouldnt hold a curl!

[Bluegrass Babe]

Did any one read the comments?

One hairdresser said people need a trim every 8 weeks (even long haired people) and a trim should take off 2-3 inches. "Trust me I know what I'm talking about."

REALLY?!!! 2 inches per 8 weeks is 13 inches a year, 3 inch trims equals 19 1/2 inches per year lost! She even said she knew hair grew 1/2 inch per month (6 inches per year)!!! At that rate a tailbone length hairstyle will be up to shoulders or ears in no time flat!!

With hairdressers like these no wonder a lot of people think they can't get hair to grow!!

[FlowFlow]

Ugh! I was a bit horrified by this article!

-I agree with most of the posters regarding dyes. Although, yes, there are many folks whose hair does not suffer from the effects of dyes, I think the article is down right misleading as it implies that dyes flat out are gentle enough to not cause damage at all. How can they make such a blanket statement straight across the board?!?! It seems obvious to me that there are too many factors going on between the product itself, the condition/type of hair being dyed, knowledge of person performing the task, etc.

-I also disagree that one's shampoo/conditioner will work the same infinitely. Again they fail to mention different scenarios related to S&C. Seems to me like it is not just "product" users that occasionally suffer from buildup and benefit from a periodic clarifying treatment.

-I was also not impressed with the way the article just debunks the cold water rinse myth without explaining the theory behind the myth. Do they think readers are too dense to absorb the concept of hair shafts, cuticle positions, etc?!?! Insulting!!

-Ugh! Same goes for the 100 brush stroke myth. Didn't even mention the history behind the myth, the fact that people did not have the same hair washing habits/products as today, the idea behind using boar bristles to clean hair and redistribute oils to end when washing and conditioning was not a regular option, etc. Not to mention the fact that there are so many people world wide getting back in touch with this hair care method!

Overall I felt that this article over simplified and dumbed down the information. They're professionals...give us the benefit of some good, solid, backed up information! Maybe they should have started by researching LHC first! ;)

Well thanks all for reading and letting me have a little soap box moment! :soapbox: It was fun, hope I didn't step on anyone's toes. Long live lovely hair nerds!!!

[Buddaphlyy]

I can't argue with any of it.

Me either. It was short, simple and to the point.