Dry Hair
Dry hair is essentially oxidised hair; it can be very dull and brittle causing it to break easily. Some common symptoms include:
- Dull hair
- Rough texture
- Unmanageable
- Lifeless
Causes:
- Over-use of heated appliances
- Perming
- Colouring
- Bleaching
- Incorrect product use
- Environment:
- Sun exposure
- Minerals in the water
- Wind exposure
- Harsh oxidising chemicals:
- Chlorine in tap water and pools
- Neutralizer
- Peroxide bleach
- Colour developer
- Relaxer chemicals
The reason that minerals and oxidising chemicals are so damaging is because they are both positively charged, while hair, skin and the scalp are negatively charged. This means that the oxidisers and the minerals are attracted to hair so they attach to it, weighing it down. As well as this particular minerals have different effects:
- Calcium builds up on the scalp causing flaking that looks like dandruff. It blocks the mouth of the follicles which are pits in the scalp out of which hairs grow, so the hair breaks off and new growth is blocked.
- Iron tints dark hair darker and turns blonde hair to orange. It also prevents perms and colours from processing properly
- Copper comes from the ground, pipes and swimming pools. It discolours blonde hair to green and dark hair darker. Green hair can be improved using with a lemon juice rinse. Copper also inhibits the processing of perms, relaxers and colours.
- Magnesium in soil and hard water causes hair to lack shine and prevents chemical hair processes.
- Silica causes dandruff like flaking. A build up of silica blocks follicles causing hair to fall out.
- Lead is used in some home-remedy grey hair cover-ups. This too prevents the processing of chemical hair treatments.
- Chlorine in tap water and pools oxidises minerals onto the hair compounding their effect. It also makes hair gummy when it is wet and straw-like when it is dry. It damages the cuticles and proteins, so the air and the sun oxidise the hair further.
