Specific Forms of Hair Damage

 Specific Forms of Hair Damage

Damage from Hair Cutting, Styling and Shampooing Cutting

Cutting hair with blunt scissors results in a cut with a long, jagged edge; the cuticle scales are especially vulnerable to further damage. Stylists use high quality steel scissors, which are very sharp and cut cleanly. It is possible to tell whether a stylist chose to use scissors or a razor by looking at the record of the hair: razor cutting produces long, tapering sections of cuticle which weather quickly, and even peel back. The belief that cutting hair when dry will save the hair from heavy brushing when it is damp and therefore vulnerable to damage is erroneous.

 

Styling

Plastic wide toothed combs are less physically damaging than metal combs. Metal implements are also more prone to induce a static charge to hair and increase flyaway and frizz. A circular or semicircular brush is probably the lease damaging to hair.

 

 Shampooing

In the past, when harsh shampoos were used, acute and even irreversible tangling or matting was often observed. Modern high quality shampoos contain low levels of conditioning agents which reduce this problem.

 

Tangling

Tangling of hair during shampooing may occur, particularly of the hair is long. At its worst, this can result in so-called birds nest hair, which is a form of felting, invariably associated with highly processed hair which interlocks. It is often and falsely blamed on shampoo products, and in face is a pure physical process. The only option in this instance is to cut the hair off.

Fortunately, this kind of matting is seldom seen nowadays, since most modern shampoos contain conditioning agents designed to specifically reduce tangling. However, small amounts of tangling and occasionally matting are still quite common in long and weathered hair. It may be the result of wetting and drying hair without using a shampoo, since friction is higher in wet hair than in dry. It is sensible to segment long hair before shampooing to reduce this risk.