Have you ever wondered why your hair is dry? Learn about the factors that cause hair to become dry and how to prevent it.
What is dry hair?
To understand how hair becomes dry, it helps to know the structure of the hair, which consists of three layers:
- The cuticle is the outer layer of your hair, consisting of dead cells that overlap like fish scales. It helps retain moisture in the hair and protects the inner cortex and medulla;
- The cortex is the thickest layer of your hair, which gives hair follicles strength, texture, and color;
- The medulla is the soft, innermost layer of each hair.
It’s easy to see that the cuticle protects our hair from external factors and affects its appearance. Cuticles that are too widely spread apart are to blame for dry hair—they’re the reason we lose valuable moisture.
Dry hair – characteristics
Excessively dry hair loses its shine, softness, and elasticity. It often becomes frizzy, resulting in that characteristic “straw-like” texture on the head. In addition, the open cuticles make the strands feel rough to the touch and lose their smoothness. As if that weren’t enough, we may also experience split ends and brittle hair.
Over-processed hair vs. naturally dry hair
These two terms are often confused. Dry hair is hair that has lost too much moisture—it hasn’t been properly hydrated for a long time, causing the cuticles to lift and resulting in a loss of its beautiful shine. It looks dull, feels rough to the touch, and frizzes easily. On the other hand, naturally dry hair is primarily curly or wavy hair. That is why caring for curly hair requires regular, intense moisturizing. However, if you do it properly, you won’t cause it to become dry.
Dry hair isn’t always damaged hair, but…
There’s one more important thing you should be aware of before we move on to the rest of the article: if your hair is currently dry, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s damaged—that is, that the hair structure has been compromised. However, all damaged hair is also dry. Repeated dryness is a common factor that damages hair strands.
Causes of dry hair
Many factors can lead to dry hair, including environmental conditions, poor hair care habits, and physical health.
Some of the environmental factors that can cause dry hair include:
- living in a dry, hot climate
- spending a lot of time in the sun or wind (dry hair often becomes a problem in the summer)
- frequent swimming in chlorinated or saltwater.
The 6 most common hair care mistakes that contribute to dry hair:
- washing your hair too often
- brushing hair by pulling on it, or generally not brushing it often enough
- going to bed with wet, loose hair
- using harsh (SLS- and SLES-containing) shampoos, conditioners, or styling products
- hair coloring or chemical treatments
- using electric curling irons and hair straighteners.
In some cases, dry hair is the result of an underlying health condition that reduces the hair’s ability to retain moisture. These include eating disorders (in which we do not consume sufficient nutrients) and hypothyroidism (dry and brittle hair is one of the first symptoms of this condition).
What works well for dry hair?
There are several ways to treat dry hair, not just one:
- applying vegetable oils – hair oils have film-forming properties (they create a special protective layer on the hair cuticle), which is why the practice of oiling hair is becoming increasingly popular. For best results, apply the oil to damp hair for at least 20 minutes and up to an hour;
- using deeply moisturizing hair masks—many masks, including our regenerating mask: REGENERATING Deeply Regenerating Mask for Dry, Damaged, and Frizzy Hair, also contain highly moisturizing and regenerating hair oils (including buriti oil, coconut, almond, and jojoba oils), but is also enriched with shea butter, oat proteins, and plant-based waters. It doesn’t weigh hair down like oil treatments do, and you only need to leave it on for 15 minutes;
- Dry your hair with a hair dryer on the cool setting (never go to bed with wet hair!)
- Regularly trimming the ends—it sounds trivial, but it’s essential;
- Brush your hair regularly and gently—preferably strand by strand, without any tugging. Distributing sebum along the hair strands through combing and brushing is a way to moisturize your hair;
- Healthy eating – pay attention to what you eat. Dry hair may be caused by low levels of vitamins E, A, and C, as well as biotin, omega-3 fatty acids, iron, silicon, and copper.
