Hair Myths

 Since the first caveperson decided that mud would make a great hair gel and the art of hairdressing was born, the hair and beauty biz has been rife with misinformation and myths. We’ve all heard them: “Pluck a gray hair and three will grow in its place”, “Hair color will damage my hair”, and “The owner is the best stylist to go to”. But how many of these assumptions are true and how many are just things we’ve been told repeatedly until we’ve started to believe them. There are many misconceptions about hair growth health and styling but I’m going to give you the skinny on my top twelve. Let’s take them one by one and get to the facts behind each. So the next time you hear someone repeat a hair myth, you can give them the hair truth. Let’s start with the three I just mentioned:

Myth 1# Plucking one gray hair causes more to grow in its place This is totally untrue. Imagine being able to pluck one hair and gain three in its place, there’d be no more old bald men driving corvettes. Plucking the hair is a very bad thing to do for other reasons. If you pull hair out by root you can do damage to the root bulb which could lead to no hair growing in that spot ever again, so drop those tweezers!

Myth # 2 Coloring your hair causes damage to the hair. Years ago colorings could be rather harsh, but not anymore. So much technology has been focused on conditioning your hair that the color products now are often more nourishing than if you had no color at all. Overlaping a color touch-up onto the previously colored hair is what causes color damage. An knowledgeable stylist will contain touch-ups to the regrowth area only in order to maintain a healthy consist color for the long term.

Myth # 3 The salon owner is the best person to go to. This is sometimes true, but when it is it is just a coincidence. I have known a few owners in my time that were terrible hairdressers. They weren’t owners because they were better stylists they were owners just because they decided to open a salon. I have also known quite a few owners that were remarkably talented. So ownership doesn’t necessarily prove ability. Also an important point to notice is that in those cases where the owner is a masterful hairdresser, he or she has most likely personally trained several people inside their salon. This means that there are others that work there who know how to cut, color and style hair just like the owner does and if you go to one of these other people you will often times have an easier time getting in, pay a little bit lower price and have the same quality hair as you would have had going to the owner.

Myth # 4 Switching shampoos frequently makes hair healthier. The reasoning behind this is that some people think their hair builds up a tolerance to the same shampoo and will in time become immune to it. This isn’t true. Your hair doesn’t know the difference betweens brands of shampoo. What it does know is how many nutrients or conditioning proteins it is receiving. So if you switch to a shampoo that just cleans but isn’t providing the necessary ingredients that your hair is thirsty for then you could actually be damaging the quality of your hair. Most of us switch shampoos because we have become immune to a shampoo, meaning that we are bored of seeing the same old product on our shelf. But if your stylist recommends a specific item for you to use, stick with it until they tell you otherwise..

Myth # 5 The is no difference between salon products and drug store products. This is false and I am not just saying that because I am a hairdresser. Salon shampoos, conditioners and colors are often very different products than you will find in drug stores, even if it is the same brand. I will give you an example. My salon recently stopped carrying a product line because the company changed the formula and ingredients; the products had been diluted with water and the potency of the products decreased. We soon discovered the reason for this was that the company has been bought out by another company who is going to release it in drug stores. Also, everyone’s seen the commercials for Loreal color, you can buy it in any Rite Aid. But the Loreal color at the drug stores is a whole different formulation than the Loreal Professional color that salons use. A lot of the compounds that condition, seal and smooth the hair are left out of the drug store versions. So this idea is false. There is often a big difference between salon retail and mass-market store retail.

Myth # 6 Rinsing with ice cold water gives you shinier hair. No, it’s just you sticking your head into freezing cold water. Shine comes from your hair’s ability to reflect light. If your hair has no such ability, you can purchase that ability in a salon, most all salon’s sell shine serums. But the temperature of your water has no effect on that.

Myth # 7 Brushing your hair one hundred times every day keeps it healthy. Actually brushing your hair more than necessary can weaken and break your hair, as well as pulls hair follicles out. So the more you brush your hair, the more hair you will lose. I bet Marsha Brady regrets all those hours spent brushing in front of the mirror now.

Myth # 8 When asked “who’s the best”, a salon receptionist will say everyone’s great even when they aren’t. This is both true and false. The receptionist may say that everyone’s great, but I guarantee you when she makes her recommendation to you, she will not include anyone she feels isn’t up to par for your particular needs. After all, she’ll be the one you’ll complain to, right? So she is not going to recommend a stylist that carries the chance of turning out an unhappy customer. So the next time the receptionist tells you, “They’re all great”, wait and listen for her to say, “but Joe has an opening today.“ That is most likely her way of telling you that you need to go to Joe because he’s best suited to perform the services you are seeking, without seeming to favor one stylist over another.

Myth # 9 Conditioner will make my hair flat and lifeless. This myth is sometimes true if your hair is thin, fine and heavy, or if you condition too much, or choose a conditioner too rich for your hair type. But in order for hair to be healthy, shiny, and bouncy you must maintain a proper balance of moisture and elasticity with some type of conditioner. Luckily there are many light weight conditioners on the market, and you don’t have to condition every day unless you have dry, coarse hair. I will give you one tip for using conditioner if you have ever suffered from flat hair, apply the conditioner starting at the ends of your hair first and work upward, placing very little to no conditioner on top of your head or at the roots. Hair closest to the scalp is healthy new growth and shouldn’t need it, plus that is typically the place where you need the most lift and volume. Most people who hate conditioner are guilty of slapping it on their head right up top first, which just adds to the flat-hair problem.

Myth # 10 I can save money by getting a great color and cut from a top salon and then go to a cheaper place to maintain it. False, false, false! I cannot tell you how often I’ve seen clients make this mistake. They inevitably return to their top-notch stylist within a year because their hair is a mess! If you have a masterful cut and color, few people are going to be able to recreate that again. There is more to it than just following the pattern of your haircut. Clients who try this just get disappointed and their hair begins to steadily look worse and worse with every subsequent visit to another stylist. Finally the client has to crawl back to the hair’s original designer and suffer months of getting their hair back in the right shape, color and condition. So don’t skimp on your hair. If you cannot afford your first-choice hairdresser, at least allow the less expensive hairdresser to give you something they know how to create and maintain. That way you are still saving money and you are not asking a stranger to just copy someone else’s work. That always ends in a mess.

Myth # 11 Trimming your hair often will make it grow faster. Cutting or trimming the hair has no affect on its growth rate. Your hair’s growth is decided by your genes, health, age and hormones. However, trimming split ends will make the hair look healthier and will stop the spread of the split end further up the hair strand, which saves you having to cut the hair even shorter.

Myth # 12 You can repair split ends without cutting them. This isn’t true. Once your ends are split they are split until they are cut off. There are products out there that contain silicone that will temporarily smooth the ends together, but they will split back eventually. Its better to cut them off before they split too far and you wind up with a short haircut.

There’s my top twelve list of hair myths and pet-peeves. If you’re guilty of one or more of these misguided notions and your hair isn’t looking and feeling its best, you are probably the victim of misinformation. My recommendation? Find a great hairdresser you trust and begin to examine what’s been going wrong. Armed with the proper knowledge you can get back on track to the healthy beautiful head of hair you’ve always wanted.

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