Hair Care Facts and Myths
When it comes to hair care, many people rely on advice that’s not at all rooted in fact. The world of hair care is shrouded in myths, trends, and old wives’ tales, and yet there are some clear facts out there, too. How can you tell what’s fact and what’s myth?
Here are some hair care facts and myths to help you tell what’s true and what’s not.
1. Should I brush my hair for 100 strokes before going to bed every night?
If you’ve ever seen a Victorian-era brush and mirror set (and that’s the era from which this advice hails), then you can easily picture a lady with long hair brushing it out carefully with the wide, densely-bristled brush. But those were natural, soft bristles, and her hair was likely down to her knees. In addition, women in those days didn’t wash their hair very often, and brushing appeared to “smooth” the hair by working the oil through it and down to the roots.
Today, this advice is considered outdated at best and damaging at worst. Brushing too often in this day and age of super-clean, product-covered, blow-dried hair and plastic hair brushes can lead to hair breakage.
2. Lather, rinse, repeat (until you hear the “squeak”)
Were you told to wash your hair, rinse it, and then wash again? Some shampoo bottles still tout this advice, but it’s a myth (and a good ploy to sell more shampoo). You only need to wash your hair once and rinse. And as for that “squeak” that your hair is supposed to make that says it’s clean…well, experts warn that this is the equivalent of your hair screaming! Hair that’s squeaky-clean is devoid of all natural oils, which makes it prone to be dry with brittle ends.
3. Should I pluck out my gray hairs? Or will that make more grow back?
There’s advice floating around that says if you pluck out gray hairs, you’ll get more than one gray hair in its place. This isn’t true. If you pluck hair of any color all you end up with is less hair!
4. If you smoke, your hair will turn gray and fall out
This is partly true. Smokers are statistically more likely to have gray hair than those who don’t smoke, and smokers are also more prone to hair loss.
5. Lemon juice will bleach your hair
False…somewhat. Lemon juice won’t bleach your hair, but it can exaggerate highlights. But you need to expose lemon-juice-spritzed hair to the sun repeatedly for it to work.
6. Natural hair products don’t have any chemicals in them, right?
Some do and some don’t. You just have to read the ingredient lists and do your research. Unfortunately, you really can’t trust labels. “Natural” is a pretty general term with lenient guidelines.
Learning fact from fiction can help you have a healthier head of hair. It might save you money, too!