In the rarely-treaded terrain of haircare for men, convenience is often exchanged for the well-being of our tresses. We often bemoan the various haircare products stashed in the bathroom receptacle when our missus uses them, but we belong to the century where appearances reigns supreme in its importance, it’s about time we reconsider our position when it comes to getting healthy locks. We have come up with five ways to have healthier-looking hair, which in turn, bodes for easier styling and a better appearance overall. And fret not, it doesn’t involve loading a chunk of products on your scalp.
1) Lather less
Contrary to popular practices, it is not necessary to shampoo daily for well-maintained hair. It turns out our mothers are wrong with their regular admonishments to shampoo our hair daily, because doing so may cause our scalp to dry out. Don’t rest on your laurels though, because your hair still requires moisture when you wash them. Lack of hydration would cause your hair to frizz and become a handful on occasions when you wish to opt for a slick comb-back.
2) Avoid tight hats
Unless you’re a frontman of a jazz band or a celebrity partaking in airport fashion, a hat isn’t exactly what you should have on your head on a day-to-day basis. A tight hat can cause “traction alopecia”, a condition in which hair is pulled out of the scalp. Prolonged usage can cause permanent damage to the cuticle, resulting in regular breakages, or, if you’re still too stubborn to heed this advice, bald spots. When that happens, ignore this entirely because you’ll be needing some sort of headgear then.
3) Pat dry instead of scrounging your head with your towel
This practice might need some getting used to, because most of us, be it by instinct or pure laziness, tend to work our towels violently over our head. Since this problem is gender specific (girls too wrap their heads up in a bun after showers), it is one of the biggest causes of damage to men’s hair. This is because when the hair is wet, it is highly fragile. So the next time you step out of the showers, think of how long you’ve been unkind to your scalp and start patting dry instead.
4)Avoid treatments, particularly hair-dyes
One of the gravest transgressions any man can commit is the act of dying his hair. It works when you are guided by practical reasons such as to conceal the signs of aging, but not when you decide to bring out the flamboyance in your hair just to stand out and be different from everyone else. Coloring, particularly bleaching, can cause damage to both your scalp and hair. We’re not sure what worries us more though, damaged hair or sporting a hairstyle that resembles a box of melted crayolas.
5) Blow dry moderately.
While this pertains more to styling than maintenance, it nevertheless makes your hair undoutably more manageable. After patting dry your hair, a hair dryer works like a charm, particularly when you want to work with a style after your hair dries. Blowing dry your hair away from the scalp creates more volume as well, which would leave your hair in better shape when you use products to style it. Better yet, new hairdryers have the option to tone down the heat it emits, which alleviates the damage a typical hairdryer might cause.
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