What Are Split Ends? Causes And Preventing Tips
At some point in our lives, all of us will have to deal with brittle and weak hair. The point when our hair breaks easily and forms split ends. For some people is a nightmare to see our hair with split ends. This because our hair becomes unpleasant to look at and makes us create the habit of picking the ends. However, in order to better treat our split ends, we have first to detect what are split ends and what causes them. One should also make a distinction between frizzy hair and split ends, since they are not the same thing as many people tend to think.
Our hair strands are made from the hard protein of keratin. If the keratin structure weakens or is lost, our hair is prone to damage. This because the weak end of the hair fiber begins to unravel like a rope, and we call this phenomenon split ends.
Also due to this weakness on keratin structure, thin and dry hair are more subjected to split hair than thick hair is. Moreover, there are 4 common types of split hair: double splits, partial splits, tree splits, and fork splits.
No matter if your hair is short or long, if any type of these split ends is developing in your hair, they will keep it away from healthy-looking, and your hair won’t grow fast. Therefore, to keep your hair healthy you need to pay attention to the basic things such as what you sleep on at night, to the way you dry your hair after a shower, then to the use of different hair products.
So, since nobody wants their hair split, we enlisted causes of split ends and some tips to prevent them before split ends pop up.
Related: Hair Treatments For Your Dry And Damaged Hair
Credits: Unsplash
Causes Of Split Ends
There are many things that can cause your hair to form split ends. However, according to Nutrafol, split ends are more likely to happen when your hair lacks moisture. So, artificially dyed and weathered hair is usually more vulnerable to split ends.
1. Use of Heat – If you continuously use different tools of heat to dry or style your hair it can be a factor that leads to split ends faster. Excessive use of blow dryers, straightening or curling irons and other heat tools, can damage the hair cuticles and lead it to split ends.
2. Chemicals – The frequent use of artificial colors and other hair products that are rich in chemicals can lead to split ends. Dyeing or bleaching your hair often can also lead to hair damage.
3. Frequent Washing – Excessive washing of hair can make your hair become brittle, and it can cause the split ends. “If you shampoo every day, it will strip your scalp of all its natural oils and can lead to dry, brittle hair,” says Julien Farel Restore Salon & Spa. Try not to wash them every day and when you do use natural shampoos if possible.
4. Excessive Hair Brushing – You must be familiar to the tip of not brushing your hair when they are wet and tangled as it will break off and lead to split ends. After all, we all want our hair to have flexibility, strength, and to be shiny and silky. So beware to the excessive brushing, especially when our hair is wet.
5. Genetics
There are also some genetic factors that may cause split ends. Among them the inherited conditions: Trichorrhexis nodosa and Trichothiodystrophy. Trichorrhexis nodosa causes weak points to the strand of hairs and therefore leaves them more susceptible to damage and breakage. Trichothiodystrophy is a rarer condition characterized by sulfur-deficiency. Since sulfur is an important factor in the integrity of the hair, the lack of it can lead to split ends and damaged hair.
Other factors that can damage the hair ends are nutritional factors, UV rays, and extreme weather conditions. Identifying triggers that cause damaged hair means to find faster solutions for the problems of your damaged hair.
Credits: Unsplash
How To Prevent Split Ends?
1. Limit access to heat and chemicals.
2. Don’t leave the house with wet hair, nor excessively brush them when they’re wet. Instead, try to be gentle with your hair and don’t rub the towel aggressively on it.
3. Use protective sprays or other safe hair products before using heat tools on your hair. Various hair straighteners and curlers help to change the shape of your hair temporarily, but they also cause split ends if your hair is not protected beforehand.
4. Trim the damaged parts off. In this way, you maintain healthy hair and remove the split ends away.
Final Thoughts
Sometimes keeping a routine of hair trimming might be hard especially when you’re trying to grow your hair long. But many hairstylists recommend trimming our hair several times in a year, for us to remove the phenomenon of split ends and keep our hair healthy. There are also some home remedies you can use to bring your hair the healthy condition it once had.