A haircut does not deteriorate on a timer. It deteriorates through the ends, and the ends are almost entirely within your control between appointments.
Understanding that changes what you focus on. Most of what makes a cut stop looking good is not the growth. It is what happens to the last few centimetres in the meantime.
Protect the ends, because they are the oldest part
The ends of your hair are the oldest hair on your head. On long hair they may be several years old, and they have been through every wash, every blow-dry, every summer and every colour service since they grew.
They also get the least natural oil, because the oil produced at your scalp has furthest to travel to reach them. So they are simultaneously the most worn and the least protected part of your hair. Which is why they are where a cut visibly fails first.
The rest of this page follows from that one fact.
Be careful with wet hair
Hair is at its most fragile when wet. It stretches, and stretched hair breaks. More damage is done in the five minutes after a shower than in most of the rest of the week.
- Squeeze water out rather than rubbing with a towel. Rubbing roughens the cuticle.
- Detangle from the ends upwards, in sections, not from the roots down.
- Use a brush or comb designed for wet hair, and take your time with knots rather than pulling through them.
- Do not tie wet hair up tightly, and do not sleep on it wet.
Manage heat, because it is cumulative
Heat damage does not heal. Every straightener pass at maximum temperature is permanent, and it accumulates on hair that is already the oldest part of your head.
Heat protection every time is the baseline. Beyond that, most people style considerably hotter than they need to. Try turning the temperature down before you decide it does not work. And a day or two a week without heat at all does more for your ends than any treatment.
Wash and condition for where the damage is
Shampoo is for your scalp. Conditioner is for your mid-lengths and ends. Applying them the other way round, conditioner at the root, shampoo scrubbed through the length, is common and does the opposite of what you want, weighing down the roots while stripping the part that needs help.
Sulphate-free products, cooler water and washing a little less often all extend both your cut and, if you colour, your colour. A treatment through the ends once a week is worth more than a better shampoo.
The small habits that add up
- Sleep with hair loosely tied or plaited, not tightly. Eight hours of friction a night is real wear, and a silk or satin pillowcase reduces it.
- Vary where you tie it, and avoid tight elastics in the same place daily. Repeated tension in one spot causes breakage there.
- Take it down when you can. Constant tension is the issue, not tying it up as such.
- Protect it from sun, salt and chlorine. Brisbane sun is hard on ends; rinsing with clean water before swimming means less chlorinated water is absorbed.
- Get the products right for your hair. Worth asking at your appointment rather than guessing in a chemist aisle.
Please do not cut it yourself
Two temptations come up constantly, and both cost more than they save.
Trimming your own fringe. Fringes are cut with tension, angle and your growth pattern accounted for. Cut flat and dry at home, they end up shorter than intended and out of shape. And then need correcting rather than tidying. Many salons will tidy a fringe between appointments; it is worth asking what the arrangement is when you book rather than reaching for the scissors.
Snipping individual split ends. It seems harmless. It creates short broken pieces through the length that fluff and flyaway for months, and it does not address the ends that actually need removing.
What home care will not do
- It will not slow growth, so the shape will still change on schedule.
- It will not repair split ends. Nothing does. They can only be cut off.
- It will not rescue a cut that has grown past the point where its shape works.
Good maintenance buys you a better-looking cut for longer. It does not replace the cut.
Ask about your hair specifically
Which products, how often to wash, and what routine suits your hair depends on its texture, condition and whether it is coloured. And it is worth going through properly rather than guessing.
If you are nearby in Carina, Camp Hill or Coorparoo, you can read more about our cutting and blow-dry services or book in and we will take you through it.