Hair Myths- True or False by Melissa Bustamante

 

Sanity Sureness  

-True or False, Fact or Fiction, Evidence or Myth

- Hair Myth’s busted and facts you should know about- 

Since the year 243 BC, when mythology Queen Berenice of Egypt sacrificed her long hair to ensure her husband would return safely from war is a prime example of how hair has always stood to represent power, strength and beauty.  Obsession with hair is hardly a modern invention.  Always searching for ways to make hair thicker, longer, and stronger.  So why the preoccupation? According to anthropologists, healthy hair is a sign of good health and considered to be attractive.   And there you have it that’s how the stories begin; I’m sure you’ve heard them:  Eat bread crusts to make your hair curly.  Cutting your hair on a certain day of the week will bring you good luck.

It can be hard to separate fact from fiction depending on the stories that we’ve heard about our hair especially when you were too young to question them and just accepted what you heard.  Today, I’m here to reveal all the truths of some of these stories. These fun facts will stretch across the span of different topics such as: Hair Loss, growth, damage, and more. 

Hair Loss

Fact or Fiction: Hair thinning generally comes from the maternal side of the family.

Fact or Fiction: Wearing a hat or a cap will make you go bald.

Answer: Per scientific studies and research, it has been proven that hair loss can be a genetic inheritance from either side of the family. It can be paternal or maternal.

Answer:  You can wear a hat for 24 hours a day or seven days a week, it will not cause any hair fall. In order to cause baldness, the cap would have to be tight enough to pull your hair from the roots, which may not be possible.

Hair Growth

Fact or Fiction: Cutting your hair frequently promotes hair growth.

Fact or Fiction: You should Brush your hair 100 strokes per day for growth.

Answer: Cutting the hair regularly helps get rid of split ends that can make your hair look better, but it does not promote hair growth. On the contrary, hair is a non-viable tissue that grows at a steady rate and there is no way to control the growth or non-growth by cutting it.

Answer:   Hair brushing distributes oils from the scalp more evenly along the strand for shininess and also stimulates blood flow to the scalp, which can help with hair growth. However, the myth that you need to brush your hair 100 strokes every day is false and infact brushing can create friction on the hair, which can damage the cuticle and make hair appear frizzy.

 

 

Grey Hair:

Fact or Fiction: Plucking out one grey hair will make seven grow back.

Fact or Fiction: Stress can turn you grey overnight

Answer: This is not correct, as each hair follicle only has one hair; however plucking can damage the follicle to the extent that new hair won't grow back. 

Answer: Not happening! That's because the visible shaft of every hair consists of dead cells, which can't change color. Your hair can only change color gradually as it grows.

Hair Damage:

Fact or Fiction: The longer you skip washing your hair, the more its natural oils can repair it.

Answer:  Natural oils can provide a layer of protection however, the oils on your scalp are not capable of nourishing your strands like products designed with moisturizing ingredients and fatty acids that will actually penetrate and protect your hair.

Fact or Fiction: You can repair a split end.

Answer: Once the hair is broken, it’s broken. Split ends are frayed strands of keratin caused by damage to the outermost part of the hair.

 

The end result of my research is that every hair myth that I’ve read and read and re-read has ended in all of them being fiction. Remember just because you may hear something repeated over and over again year after year doesn’t mean that it’s true!  So there ya have it you can stop eyeing up your mother- in- laws side of the family to figure out if your hubby’s hair is going to be thinning for future Christmas portraits, you can pluck those greys without worry of growing 7 more, you can stop wasting time brushing/stroking  your hair 100 times a night because everything that I have found here has turned out to be false! That’s right we cannot believe everything we read or hear.

Straight talk. Go directly to your stylist they will have the answer for you and if they’re unable to answer at that moment they will be able to get back to you!