8 Bad Habits for Your Hair (And Our Solutions)

We’re all trying to avoid hair damage, but are we doing everything possible to do so? When it comes to hair damage, it’s not only about the most common sense bad habits like applying too much heat, highlighting too often, or not dealing with split ends.

A lot of stress for your tresses actually comes from your regular daily habits, most of which seem rather harmless. Repeated daily, however, they do still lead to somewhat damaged hair long term. Don’t worry if you do any of these occasionally — no one follows best practices to a T. Luckily, just a few good habits for healthy hair are enough to quickly improve your hair condition.

Here are our top 8 bad habits for your hair and how to correct them.

1. Not Washing Your Brush

Nearly all of us are guilty of this. Since you brush your hair daily, all the dead skin cells, oil, product residue and more accumulate on the brush and end up back in our hair the next day.

Cleaning your brush at least once a week with warm water and antibacterial soap (use a hairdryer to get rid of the moisture) would ensure your hair always remains clean.

2. Applying Pressure While Brushing

Brushing your hair is very important. But the way most of us comb through our hair puts too much stress on the tresses.

If you brush your hair from top to bottom, you push all of the tangles to the ends, where your hair is most fragile and prone to breakage.

It might sound strange, but try the reverse. Start brushing at the ends and move up. Use some of Alterna’sCaviar Anti-Aging Replenishing Moisture Priming Leave-In Conditioner to moisturize your hair and make it softer.

3. Wearing Tight Ponytails

Ponytails are easy, comfortable and look great. But pulling your hair back too tightly puts too much tension on the scalp and might eventually lead to hair loss around your hairline and temples.

You shouldn’t completely avoid ponytails. Just mix it up once in a while — braid your hair, for example, or wear it loose. Also, don’t pull wet hair into a ponytail — it is weaker and shrinks as it dries out, leaving more opportunities for breakage.

Another important point is to make sure your hair tie doesn’t create a lot of tension. So try to use silk scrunchies or metal clasp less — the more flexible your hair ties are the better.

4. Taking Hot Showers

We all love hot showers. Unfortunately, scalding hot water is not that great for our hair. It opens up cuticles, allowing moisture to escape, and thus actually drying out the hair. That’s not to mention color fading.

The solution is to switch the temperate to medium or lukewarm, especially when washing your hair. A blast of cold water at the end for your final rinse wouldn’t hurt either.

5. Using Too Much Dry Shampoo

The other side of using too much shampoo is always substituting it with dry shampoo, which doesn’t completely clean your hair, leaving product buildup, sweat, oils, etc.

So while using dry shampoo occasionally is a great idea, don’t leave washing your hair out of the picture completely.

6. Using Too Much Shampoo

While shampooing keeps our hair clean, doing so every day tends to dry it out, stripping it of natural oils.

To make it easier on your hair, try washing it every other day instead. For shampoos themselves, consider switching to sulfate-free options, which are much gentler in general. Any one of Alterna’sCaviar Anti-Aging Shampoos would work wonderfully.

In addition, once a week, enhance your routine with nourishing products likeMy Hair. My Canvas. Glow Crazy Shine Booster, Jelly Fix Repair Booster and Cool Hydrations Masque to get some of the best hair treatment for damaged hair.

7. Damaging Wet Hair

When your hair is wet, it’s in its most fragile state. This means towel drying it, squeezing it or brushing it will rough up the cuticles, increase frizz and potentially lead to more damage overall.

Instead of towel drying, use the towel to gently remove excess moisture. Instead of brushing, detangle your hair with a wide-tooth comb. Also try to get your hair to about 80% dry before using a hairdryer.

8. Excessive Heat Styling

Using a straightening iron on wet hair will literally make it boil with steam and leave it prone to breakage, especially if you do so daily.

Your best bet is to make sure your hair is dry before styling, or at least using a heat protectant if it’s a little damp. Also don’t be afraid to lower the temperature to 300 ºF max — it’s more than enough. If you have to use hot tools often, make sure to compensate with some damaged hair treatment, such as a hair mask for damaged hair: Alterna’s Caviar Anti-Aging Replenishing Moisture Masque, for example, would be perfect.

Our last tip — make sure you’re getting a regular trim, around every six weeks, depending on your hairstyle. Otherwise, even though breaking the bad habits for your hair described above might seem like a small thing — it does add up. That’s why it’s essential to have the right hair product collection available to you at all times. Wondering which products you need to keep your hair in top shape? Take our quick Hair Quiz to find out!