The Health and Growth of Your Hair: Fact and Fiction
When it comes to hair growth and health, old wives’ tales abound. Some of these may have some truth to them; others are simply persistent falsehoods. Let’s take a look at the fact and fiction of your hair’s health and growth.
1. Fact or Fiction: Hair Grows Faster If You Trim It Regularly
This one’s fiction. Your hair is dead on the ends, so you can’t “stimulate” growth by trimming. But this myth certainly is persistent! One probable reason why this myth has stuck around is that trimming your hair can make it look thicker immediately, and keeping it trimmed can give the appearance of health and thickness. And when the ends are even and splitting is under control with regular trimming, hair can appear to grow faster. But it’s all about looks; your hair isn’t doing anything different at the roots if you trim it often.
2. Fact or Fiction: Straight Hair Grows Faster
Fiction. Once again, this is all about appearances. Straight hair appears to grow faster because it’s taking a straight route downwards! Wavy and curly hair curve around before heading down. Think of a spiral staircase – it takes a lot more steps in a spiral staircase than it does a straight one to cover the same vertical space. If you straighten out the spiral stairs, they’ll cover a lot more length; if you coil up straight stairs, you’ll come up short.
3. Fact or Fiction: Taking Vitamins Helps Your Hair
This is fact. Good nutrition promotes healthy hair. And to get those nutrients into your hair, you need to consume them. This leads to the next fact or fiction question…
4. Fact or Fiction: Vitamins in Shampoo and Conditioner Make Your Hair Healthier
While the vitamin-infused shampoo or conditioner you’re using may make your hair appear healthier, your hair does not get vitamins from shampoo or conditioner. Hair is not living tissue once it comes out of the follicle, so nutrients in your hair need to be delivered via your bloodstream while the hair is being formed in the follicle.
5. Fact or Fiction: Brushing Your Hair More Often Will Make It Grow More
This is largely fiction, but there’s a little fact here. While it’s not true that brushing more frequently will make your hair grow more or grow faster, using a natural bristle brush can help massage and stimulate your scalp and promote healthy hair. A good balance here is to brush your hair only when necessary, and when you do, use a natural bristle brush.
6. Fact or Fiction: The Right Product Can Repair Split Ends
Despite all the ads that promise to “repair” your split ends, this one’s fiction. Once your hair is split, it’s split. Certain products can hide the appearance of split ends temporarily by sealing the splits together. But there’s no way to mend a split hair like a broken bone.
Hopefully, knowing a little more about what does and doesn’t promote healthy hair can give you an edge on hair care. And it can relieve some stress to know that there may be some hair care habits you don’t have to bother with anymore!