Hair Facts and Fiction – Separating Truth from Myth
There are a lot of hair facts and fiction circulating. Old wives tales have been around for a long time and will most likely continue circulating for a long time to come. As long as women talk, there will be rumors!
There are myths and some down right wrong perceptions about taking good care of your hair. Many people think that if you trim your hair frequently, that it will grow faster. This is simply not true. It might seem like your hair is growing faster, but in all instances, hair can only grow a certain amount each month. So let's separate hair facts from hair fiction!
Anyone can have gorgeous hair like Victoria Beckham, if you can learn to separate truth from myth. Taking good care of your hair only takes a few minutes a day, so be sure to remember whats true and whats not true at all! Hair Facts and Hair Fiction1) - Scalp massage can stimulate hair growth. Fact! Scalp massage stimulates blood circulation to the hair follicles. When you increase blood circulation to the hair follicles, your hair will grow more because of the stimulation. But not much more so don’t get your hopes up! Over massaging or massaging roughly can actually damage them, so massage with care! 2) - Both women and men can go bald. Fact! It’s all in the genes baby! Male and female pattern hair loss can be inherited from either side of the family and may or may not skip many generations. Male pattern hair loss usually begins at age 18 to 20 and female patter hair loss between ages 45 and 55. Men are far more likely, to lose all of their hair and go completely bald however. Why? No one really knows! Women can get really thin hair, but rarely go bald. Thats the hair facts about balding! 3) - Diet has nothing to do with healthy hair. Fiction! Nutritional and healthy foods in your diet help you grow healthier hair. The more junk food you eat, the more likely your hair and nails will suffer over time. If you don’t eat at all because of an eating disorder like bulimia, your hair can actually start to fall out. (nails too!) To have really healthy hair, be sure to take extra B vitamins. The B vitamins are sometimes called the Beauty vitamins. Biotin seems to be especially important to healthy hair and nails! 4) - Brittle hair can break off. Fact! Insufficient moisture and vitamins can cause you to have brittle hair, just as over processing it can. Brittle hair will break or spit or both. 5) - For every one gray hair you pluck out, another two grow in. Fiction! There is no sufficient evidence to back up this claim. It is simply an old wives tale that was spread to keep younger women from pulling out their own hair. 6) - Brushing your hair makes it shinier. Fiction! Brushing does help stimulate oil production and distribute natural oils. However, the more you brush your hair, the more likely you will damage it. Brush your hair once a day, twice if you must. If you want to brush it more, be sure to use a natural hairbrush made with boars hair. Excessive brushing can tear your hair, pull it out and even damage the cuticle layer causing split ends, especially if you have dry and chemically treated hair. Excessive brushing is not good for oily hair either. It stimulates the sebaceous glands which increases oil production. 7) - Shampooing everyday is necessary. Wash your hair no more than three times a week for long hair and more often for short or oily hair. Shampoo has a base surfactant, which is merely a cleansing agent. It makes no difference which one you use as long as the shampoo suits your hair type. Of course, if you have chemically treated hair, you’ll need to use shampoos that are specifically formulated for chemically treated hair. These shampoos contain moisturizers that are essential to hair health and shine. If you have oily hair, use clarifying shampoos or ones that contain jojoba oil or tea tree oils. That's another one of those hair facts! 8) - Shampoos won’t clean your hair unless you have a lot of lather. Fiction! Shampoos don’t have to lather at all to clean your hair.
12) - Wearing hats all the time can cause baldness. Fiction! The time that men generally go into the work force or armed services about the same time that male pattern baldness begins for men. That's just a 'koinkidink' folks! The association of hats and baldness is only made because of the timing of the two things. Hats do not cause hair breakage or split ends. 13) - Hair can turn gray or white overnight. Fiction! Usually, hair grays over a long period of time. One day you wake up and hello! Its all gray or white! However, it can go gray over a much shorter period of time on exception. I knew a young girl of 20 years old years ago, who had gray hair. She was one of my clients in the salon that I worked at in Durham, NC. She told me that she had started getting gray at 15 and was mostly gray 5 years later. Its not one of those hair facts that is the exception not the rule. This is due to some freak in genetics I guess. It might sound really sad, but she had the most beautiful salt and pepper hair that I’d ever seen. She could have colored it, but preferred to keep it gray. She told me that was Gods gift to her and that it made her feel special! 14) - Dandruff is caused by dry scalp. Dandruff and dry scalp are two different things. A good shampoo and conditioner will take care of dry scalp, which is 'flakiness'. Dandruff shampoos are not advised for dry scalp. Dandruff is more of a health concern that requires specialized shampoos to help take care of it. The flakes are caused by overactive sebaceous glands in most cases and appear yellow or oily looking. Very few people have actual dandruff. 15) - Dandruff is contagious. Fiction! You can't 'pick up' dandruff. You can however, pick up plenty of other icky things from using someone else's comb or brush, so use caution when you borrow brushes or combs from other people. 16) - Cutting your hair during a full moon makes it grow in healthier, fuller, faster or longer. Fiction! Your hair won’t know if it’s a full moon or not! However, if you believe it works for you, then go for it. It certainly can’t hurt! More Hair Facts and FictionSo now you have the skinny on the fat of hair facts and hair fiction! If you have other questions about hair facts or myths that I haven't included, ask me about them on this page. Enjoy! View Yourself With Over 8,000 Hairstyles at TheHairStyler.com
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