4 Mistakes to Avoid When Having Dry Hair

The list of things that can make your hair dry is long. Diets, aging, the sun, sea, and the wind, chlorine, styling, pollution, and low humidity levels in the air are just a few of them. When your hair becomes dry, it either doesn’t get enough moisture or it can’t retain enough moisture, making the hair look dull and frizzy. To help you avoid dealing with dry hair, we’ve broken it down into 4 common mistakes that too many of us do. (Yes, we’re guilty of them too.)

Before we begin, let’s clear something up. When we say the hair is dry, we mean it lacks moisture (oil), when we say it’s dehydrated, we mean it lacks hydration (water). These two are extremely important to understand when examining your hair problems. Why? Because if you suffer from dehydrated hair (lack of water) and you go to the store and buy a shampoo and conditioner for dry hair (lack of oil) then your hair will not get the hydration it needs and instead give you an excess of oil, most likely resulting in ultra-greasy hair.

That said, here is our list of the 4 most common mistakes that causes dry hair (lack of oil)!

1. Over-washing
Every time you wash your hair, you clean the hair from its natural oils. However, if you do it too often, like everyday, your hair will end up dry because whenever the scalp has produced new oils you wash them away. If you absolutely must wash it everyday, make sure you use products that contain ingredients to replace those natural oils.

2. Over-processing
When you dye or bleach your hair, a part of the chemical process is to open up the scales in the outermost layer of the hair strands and either insert or remove the pigments inside. When you perm or relax your hair, the strands are manipulated to either become curly or straight, forcing them into a state they’re not naturally meant to be in. Every time one of these chemical processes is performed, the natural oils both in the scalp and the hair are aggressively removed.

3. Co-washing
Washing your hair solely with conditioner will give you soft and shiny hair. Sounds great, right? The thing is, we use shampoo for a reason. It’s used to cleanse the scalp and hair so that any external substances that you don’t want there, like particles from pollution, won’t build up and clog the pores on your scalp. Now, imagine if you don’t shampoo and only use conditioner that doesn’t have a cleansing component. The external substances will be trapped underneath a layer of conditioner, clogging the scalp even more and basically suffocating your pores, leaving your hair unable to grow and without access to the nourishment of the scalp.

4. Using Heat-styling Tools
Washing your face or showering in extra hot water will strip the scalp and skin from essential oils and leave them dry, and dry scalp equals dry hair. The heat from a hair dryer and flat/curling iron have almost the same effect. While hot water messes with your scalp and skin, these hot tools messes with your hair. Needless to say, any kind of extreme heat to your skin, scalp, or hair should be used in moderation, and with the right kind of products, to prevent any dryness.

Since your scalp naturally releases oils, we wanted to mimic those oils in the best way possible. That’s why PHYTO Paris created the Phytoelixir series. It’s a shampoo, mask, oil, and cleansing care cream containing macadamia oil that works to replace the natural oils and bubble wrap your hair with moisture, and narcissus wax that seals your hair and gives it shine and softness.

We’d like to pay extra attention to the Phytoelixir Cleansing Care Cream because it actually is a great alternative to co-washing. Instead of just conditioning, it actually cleanses the scalp with its nozzle applicator and gentle coconut cleansing base.

We’re aware that there might be some resistance to stop doing these 4 mistakes but at least now you know not to overdo it and also how to maintain your hair’s natural luster when you do!

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