Split ends are a gal’s worst nightmare! In every culture, the hair on one’s head has a tremendous impact on a person’s self-esteem and how others perceive them to be.

This emphasis and importance on hair, with both men and women, is manifested in social, cultural, or religious settings – all around the world.

VIEW: Wild Thing Hair Inspiration Board

Healthy hair can demonstrate power and attractiveness. Dry and damaged hair gives off the impression of being unpresentable (if you want to learn how to nurture your dry, damaged hair back to a healthy shine, read my article which offers several helpful tips to begin healing your hair).

VIEW: Galaxy Hair Inspiration Board

One common identifier of dry and damaged hair is the appearance of split ends. Having split ends is natural and inevitable. However, if you follow these tips, you could try to prevent them.

5 Tips to Cultivating Healthy Hair and Reducing Split Ends

• Massage your scalp
  Many stylists I have been to have told me one of the keys to healthy hair is maintaining a healthy scalp. The first method to maintaining a healthy scalp is by brushing the scalp itself. This act loosens dead skin cells and dirt and promotes circulation. The second method is massaging the scalp. In order to do this, lean over because this increases the blood flow and begin massaging the scalp in small circular motions.

• Refine your shampoo and conditioning routine
  When applying shampoo and conditioner, concentrate the products on the ends of your hair, where the prime focus should be. The hair at your root is new and contains the essential oils it needs to shine and not break. Split ends generally occur where the hair is the weakest, and that is at the end of the hair, hence the name “split ends.”

• Brush your hair gently
  If you read the article I linked about nurturing your dry and damaged hair, you’ll know how important it is to comb your hair rather than using a brush. Brushes cause more breakage. Make sure you comb your hair patiently to avoid breaking it and when removing tangles gently comb your hair from bottom to the top.

• Conceal split ends with oil
  Hair oils can help to hide frizz and breakage, they also add shine. I recently tried an amazing hair oil that makes my hair look fantastic and it’s available at Amazon, Macadamia Natural Oil Healing Oil Spray. It’s an ultra fine mist that instantly absorbs into your hair, giving your hair a healthy, natural shine. Keep in mind, to prevent oil residue, spray a little bit of the oil into your palm and work through the ends of your hair evenly.

• Use less heat on your hair
  Heat is the primary cause for split ends. Blow dryers, hair irons and hair curlers exude a great amount of heat, which are capable of burning your hair right off your head, watch this video if you really want to see what can happen with over exposure to high amounts of heat. To protect your hair from heat, apply a leave-in conditioner, such as Suave Professionals Keratin Infusion Heat Defense Leave-In Conditioner, it’s packed with keratin proteins and the conditioner coats the hair to seal breaks. My suggestion would be to avoid the application of heat on your hair all together, but I understand the need for it.

Healthy Hair is Achievable

Preventing split ends takes time and effort. You must build effective routines to battle breakage and be aware that this process takes time to see results. There is no quick fix. If you want to learn more about the intricacies and importance of hair on a social level, read “The Sociology of Hair: Hair Symbolism Among College Students” by Jodi Manning.

If you’ve been following these guidelines and your hair is healthy and steadily growing, send us photos or keep us up-to-date on your progress.

Article written by Avni Parekh