Debunking most common 9 hair care myths

Does washing your hair every day make your scalp more oily? is biotin helpful for hair growth? do sulfates damage your hair? these are just bebunking most common 9 hair care myths.

Washing hair daily – Hair care myths

Washing your hair every day can make your scalp oily

First myth which is washing your hair every day will make your scalp more oily, this is absolutely false, how much oil your scalp produces is predetermined by your genetics and your hormones and any external hair care practices like washing or anything that you’re using on your scalp or hair on a regular basis cannot train your scalp to make more or less oil.

Your scalp is going to produce as much oil as it wants to, no matter what you do. i felt that this was really important to clarify especially for my friends out there who have a particularly oily scalp, because they’ve almost been shamed into not washing their hair as frequently.

They’re worried it’s going to increase how much oil their scalp continues to make, but no if you have a lot of oil on your scalp and you feel like you need to wash your hair, more frequently even every day to remove that and not have a greasy hair feel or look that’s fine. 

Washing your hair every day is bad for you

Next hair care myth which is washing your hair every day is bad for you, i would say this is generally false, however it also depends on the other hair care practices that accompany your hair washing, so a couple of things we know about hair and damaging the hair is that both prolonged exposure to water as well as heat exposure both can damage the hair.

If you’re washing your hair every day and then you’re letting it stay wet for a prolonged period of time, for example washing your hair and then putting it up in a bun and having it stay wet for four five six hours or even wet overnight, that could be problematic because it’s going to make your hair more susceptible to breakage.

Also if you’re washing your hair every day and then doing a significant amount of heat styling whether that’s blow drying or using a hot tool like a straightener or a curling iron, you may be doing more harm than good to your hair by washing it and styling it every single day.

If you do feel the need to wash your hair every single day whether that’s because, you have a very oily scalp or you do intense exercise every day, you want to minimize odor i think the best thing to do is to really focus your washing on the scalp, that’s where a lot of the oiliness and dirt comes from.

It’s not like you need to remove debris that has built up on your hair shaft every single day, because it doesn’t accumulate that quickly, also minimizing daily heat styling that may accompany daily hair washing is another way to ensure that your hair does not get overly damaged by washing it every single day.

I guess this is all to say that it is possible to do increased damage to your hair by washing it every day, but if you have gentle hair care practices, you don’t have to worry about it. also if you’re someone who does wash their hair every day and heat styles it every single day and you’re not noticing any undesirable changes to the texture or the tone of your hair.

 Absolutely keep doing it there’s no reason to change your hair care practices. If you’re happy with how your hair is with what you’re doing.

Biotin help your hair grow – hair care myths

Let’s go on to the next myth, which is biotin helps your hair grow, no this is false, unless you are biotin deficient which is incredibly rare the fact of the matter is that if you have appropriate biotin levels, in your system if you supplement with additional biotin you will not see any increased hair growth, that is what the data shows.

There are certain hair loss supplements like neutrophil and viviscal that have good data to support hair growth in certain populations, they do contain biotin, but we can’t attribute the hair growth that happens from taking these supplements to the biotin specifically it’s more about the entire complex working together.

It’s also important to note that biotin supplementation can falsely alter certain laboratory results, if you’re having your blood drawn, so it’s really important that your healthcare team knows that you’re taking biotin, if you’re having certain lab tests done. 

Plucking Grey hair – hair care myths

speaking of hair growth, let’s go to the next hair myth which is, if you pluck out one gray hair two will grow in its place, it may seem like that because once we notice a gray hair it can feel like every day, after that new gray hairs are cropping up, but manipulation of a gray hair or really any type of hair by plucking it or cutting it or shaving it does not make you grow too, in its place or have any additional hair growth from that follicle.

Hair Trims & hair growth – hair care myths

In that same vein there is also the myth that more frequent hair trimming will make your hair grow faster, false, hair growth initiates at the scalp or at the root and extends downwards, so any manipulation of the ends of your hair is going to have zero effect on the speed of your hair growth, that being said more frequent hair trimming helps remove the broken or damaged ends of your hair, which may allow your hair to grow longer and not prematurely break off. 

Brushing hair & hair growth – hair care myths

Another myth about hair growth is that brushing your hair more frequently or brushing your hair 100 strokes a day will make your hair grow thicker or faster, when i was a little girl i totally remember doing this, because i had heard that myth, but hair manipulation of any kind including brushing actually increases damage to hair.

So there’s something called the cuticle which is the outermost portion of your hair, you can think of it like armor or protection for your hair and anytime you introduce excess friction like combing or brushing frequently, you damage the cuticle and the hair becomes less protected and more prone to breakage, so really minimizing hair brushing is going to help your hair grow the best.

Ponytails & hair loss – hair care myths

The next claim that was submitted as a hair myth is that ponytails cause hair loss or hair thinning, so this is actually true, if the ponytail is tight, in dermatology there’s a phenomenon called traction alopecia which is hair loss due to frequent pulling or traction on the hair root, that can be caused by tight ponytails or braids or any other hairstyle that is constantly pulling on the hair.

Something that’s really important to note is that traction alopecia the hair loss due to that frequent pulling can be permanent, so it can cause so much damage to the hair follicle that that hair follicle forms a scar and is never able to produce new hair again, so it’s really important to keep in mind.

When you’re thinking about how you want to style your hair, but also this is only if you’re styling your hair like this frequently or over and over and over again, so if you wear a tight hairstyle from time to time it’s no big deal, but if that’s how you always wear your hair it’ something to really be mindful about ponytails and other tight hairstyles can also cause breakage to the hair. So not necessarily hair loss from the root or from the scalp, but breaking the hair in the mid shaft area which can make the hair appear thinner.

This is particularly true if you put your hair up when it’s wet, because when your hair is wet is when it’s the most fragile, so just make sure that if you are going to do tight hairstyles that your hair is completely dry first. 

Dry shampoo & hair loss – hair care myths

The next myth is that dry shampoo is bad for your hair or will make your hair fall out, so all dry shampoo really is made up of starch and starch is a molecule that has the ability to absorb oil, in a very significant way and so when you’re using dry shampoo essentially all you’re doing is depositing a molecule that it’s absorbing oil and making your hair appear less greasy.

So in and of itself dry shampoo is not bad or damaging to your scalp or to your hair at all, but there might be a few different reasons why your hair doesn’t feel as healthy when you use dry shampoo regularly, one reason is as you space out your hair washings you’re probably also spacing out how often you are conditioning your hair, so although your roots feel dry which is kind of what you want your ends can start to feel dry or straw like as well.

So if you are spacing out your washings because you’re using dry shampoo, it can be really helpful to use a hair oil to nourish the ends of your hair so they don’t feel as dry or are not as prone to breakage.

A lot of people also feel like they shed more when they use dry shampoo like when they get in the shower a lot more hair comes out, but really that’s because you are normally shedding 50 to 200 hairs every single day, when you wash your hair that helps release some of those hairs that have left your scalp, but have been trapped among your hair tresses.

So if you have not washed your hair in three or four or five or six days, when you go to shower a lot of that hair that you’ve shed over the past several days, kind of comes out all at once and so it can look like you’re losing a lot more hair, but you really were just losing hair at the exact same rate.

The last thing i’ll say about dry shampoo is that, if you have an inflammatory scalp disease like seborrheic dermatitis also known as dandruff oil on your scalp can perpetuate inflammation, so rather than just trying to soak up some of that oil with dry shampoo, it actually can be a lot more helpful to actually wash your hair and remove that oil entirely from anywhere near your scalp on a regular basis, so for my patients who have inflammatory scalp conditions i do discourage dry shampoo use most of the time.

Sulfates & silicones in haircare – hair care myths

The final myth i’ll tackle is that sulfates and silicones are bad for your hair, false, first of all what are sulfates, sulfates are a category of cleansing agent known as a surfactant and that means that they are able to remove sebum and dirt from your hair.

However they are so good at removing that oil that they can also impart a negative charge on the hair which can make the hair appear dry or look frizzy, because that is a known issue with sulfate. surfactants most products will contain other ingredients that sort of counter balance or mitigate that particular side effect.

So when you use a surfactant cleanser your hair does not look dry or depleted, sulfates are also not skin irritants they don’t cause cancer, so i actually don’t know why those myths float out there but i wouldn’t want those particular concerns to prevent you from using a sulfate shampoo, if that’s what your hair really needs and then let’s pivot to silicones.

Silicones are an amazing molecule for hair care, because they create this really nice film on your hair that is not only protective from friction, but also protects your hair from heat damage they can also prevent water loss from the hair and can make your hair look more shiny and more brilliant, so i’m a big fan of silicones and some of my very favorite hair oils are silicone based

CONCLUSION – Debunking most common 9 hair care myths

Thanks for your reading the article – Debunking most common 9 hair care myths , and I hope that they work for you as well as they work for me. Leave me a note in the comments. So let me know how it turns out, thanks you very much! Besides the areticle, you also check this article Fine hair or thin hair care hacks – Do’s and Don’ts for more elementary knowledge about human hair wigs.