I’m sitting in my home after a soothing cold shower, wondering what showering mistakes that we do daily, can lead to hair loss.
Showering daily is considered as a good healthy habit of a healthy individual. However, during the past couple of years I learned that, if it is done wrong, showering can lead to hair loss.
So over the last couple of days I did a little research. From that I found out that, several insignificant showering mistakes that we do daily, can lead to hair loss. They are so insignificant, that we don’t even give enough attention to them.
So let’s find out what are those showering mistakes, and what you can do about it.
1. Showering water that is too hot
Hot water showers are quite soothing and relaxing. But it can also lead to hair loss. Water that is too hot will have a negative impact on your scalp.
The scalp of a human contains a fatty lipid layer called Epidermal lipids or stratum corneum lipids which protects the scalp from germs. [1] [2]
The dermatologists and hair experts states that, water that is too hot can damage this layer. Yes, it will be regenerated naturally, but until such times, the hair and the scalp becomes more vulnerable.
Further, water that is too hot will negatively affect the keratin protein, and other nutrition in your hair. Such nutrition will help to keep your hair moisturized and strong. Therefore, if such nutritions are not present in your hair, then it will be more dry and weak. Which makes the hair to fall or break prematurely.
So what can you do about it? The best and the most easiest answer would be to say, shift to cold water showers. But that might be irritating and uncomfortable due to various reasons. So the next best option would be to shift to mild warm water. This is relatively better than hot water.
Therefore always be mindful when adjusting the temperature of your shower. Do not use water that is too hot.
2. Water pressure is too hard for the hair
This is another one of the showering mistakes that we tend to ignore most of the time. The water pressure in your shower has a direct impact on hair loss.
Many old school bathroom shower heads have a water flow that, falls to a very small area of the head, with high pressure. This makes the hair more vulnerable and causes them to break prematurely.
Too much of pressure is not good for the hair. So what can you do about it? There are new shower heads which evenly distribute the water flow to your hair, especially with relatively less pressure. Therefore shifting to such shower heads would be much wiser, if you want to protect your hair.
3. Not cleaning the build up
Every single day, the dust, dirt, oil and chemicals from hair products get built up in our head. Your hair will look dull and dry when there are high level of built ups in your head. They have to be cleaned up often.
The build up content will make your hair dry and dull which makes it weak. Therefore it should be cleaned up. Showering is the best way to clean the build up in your hair.
The experts suggests that rinse your hair with clarifying shampoo every once in a while.
4. Using too much shampoo
Shampoo is not needed to be applied every day. You can apply shampoo every once in a while to remove the dirt and dust from the hair. But many people use shampoo on every day of the week to shower, which could damage their hair.
It is not wise to use shampoo daily. As well as dust and dirt, shampoo will also remove the natural oil and other moisturizing nutrition from the hair. Therefore using too much shampoo would make your hair dry and weak, which is more prone to break or fall.
As I heard, some people use shampoo twice, to wash and rinse the hair off. That is way too much. Shampoo is all chemicals and artificial oils. This is not good for the health of your scalp and the hair follicles.
This excess chemical in your hair could even kill a healthy hair follicle. Therefore be mindful. Limit the shampoo usage to 2 days max per week.
5. Conditioning the hair wrong
Conditioning is an important process to protect your hair. It will provide the nutrition to keep the hair moisturized and strong. However, many people would be conditioning the hair wrong.
They would apply the conditioner to the scalp and rinse it off without applying it thoroughly to the ends of the hair strands.
The conditioner is not to be applied to the scalp. However it must be applied to the hair which is exposed to the outside along to the end of the strands (opposite to the scalp).
This will moisturize the damaged hair which is exposed to sun, dirt and other damaging factors, hence preventing dryness in the hair.
6. Over scrubbing the scalp
This is a common showering mistake made by many people. When you are in the shower it is not necessary to scrub your head so hard, since the cleaning products that you use are designed to do the job alone.
When your hair is wet, it is more vulnerable. So be gentle with it. Over scrubbing your hair, when showering can break it. A gentle scrub would be enough to clean the hair and prevent it from breaking.
7. Rinsing off in hot water could damage your hair
This is another tiny showering mistake that we all make which can lead to severe consequences. Even I used to do that mistake every day. As I have mentioned before, when we take hot water showers, the pores in our head opens up naturally. This will allow to deep cleanse your hair.
However, it is important to do something to close such pores at the end of the shower. This is where we make the mistake. We tend to finish our shower with the same warm water rinse. This will keep the pores open for a longer period of time. Making it easy for the dust and oil to enter back and moisturizing nutrition to leave from the scalp.
This will make the hair more dry, weak and vulnerable. Therefore we must rinse off our hair from cold water at the end, so that the pores in our head would naturally close again.
8. Wiping the wet hair too hard after a shower
The wet hair is more vulnerable and prone to break much more easily. So when you have wet hair, you just have to be more gentle.
Combing or wiping the wet hair too hard with the towel, can break the hair much easily.
So what you can do about it? Be gentle and easy with your hair when you comb or wipe after a shower.
9. Not using the right product
Not using the right products can be one of the biggest showering mistakes that a person can do in the shower. The products in the sense refers to the shampoos and conditioners.
The shampoos and conditioners with too much chemicals can lead to dry hair and weak scalp. So something with natural ingredients would be better.
Do not use the shampoos with sulfate. Shampoos with sulfate will be hard for the hair, especially when it is being mixed with water with hard substances.
Do not use soap to wash your hair. Soap will leave your hair dry and weak. On the other hand when you wash your hair with soap, the hair will be difficult to control, especially if you have curly hair. So when you comb it, there is high chance of breaking due to the dryness of the hair.
10. Showering for too long could damage your hair
If you have weak hair, then it can be due to the length of your shower. If you are showering for too long, then the excess contact with the water can make the hair swell. This is bad for the hair cuticles.
Due to this swelling your hair strands will be much weaker and it will often break prematurely.
The length of the shower is even worse, if you are showering hot water. As I have said before, hot water is not that good for your hair. So if you are staying in hot water showers for a long period, then it is much worse since it can kill the hair follicles gradually.
So limit you showers to 10 minutes max. Do not exceed that time. Shower is not the place to think and question your life decisions, if you want to protect your hair.
11. Not rinsing off all shampoo and conditioner
When you finish your shower, make sure that you have rinsed off all the shampoo and conditioner from your hair.
If there are residue from shampoo and conditioner, then your head will start to be itchy and it will be uncomfortable. On the other hand it is not good for your scalp too.
Chemicals from shampoo and conditioner will damage the scalp and the hair. So when you are finishing off, do not be lazy, wash away all the shampoo and conditioner residue from your hair.
12. Water has too much hard substances
Most of the time, the water that we use contains chlorine, limestone and other hard substances. This will leave deposits on the hair that can cause extreme dryness and harden our hair.
The quality of the water, do impact our hair. This is something, that most of us ignore. The hard water will also remove the natural oils from the hair follicles, causing serious damage to the hair and the scalp.[3]
You can avoid this by showering in clean water, or by using a shower head filter. These filters will prevent chlorine, minerals, calcium and other hard substances from reaching your hair.
So now you know the showering mistakes that can lead to hair loss. Be mindful, do what is best for your hair!!!
