Breakage

Breakage
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If you notice shorter hairs forming a ‘halo’ on your head, it could signal a regrowth phase. But if you also see jagged edges, too, it might be breakage (a stylist can tell the difference). Hair breakage is exactly what it sounds like, copious strands of hair that have become so damaged, they literally snap off. Breakage is caused by a variety of things, including dryness, heat styling, over-processing, and excessive or incorrect combing and brushing. Even a poor diet and stress can cause breakage, as the hair enters a dormant growth stage under duress. The key here is to be as kind to your coif as possible by washing and styling gently, using conditioner, eating well, and managing stress. Steer clear of tight braids, extensions and restrictive hair ties if breakage is a problem.

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Texture changes

Texture changes
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Maybe your strands were pin straight in childhood, but puberty hit and suddenly you were dealing with a head full of curls. Or you had thick, lush locks until you entered your forties, when your ponytail started to feel thinner than usual. Changes in hair texture boil down to hormones, says Kingsley, and how sensitive you are to their fluctuations. For example, pregnant women often have thick, shiny hair. That’s because their rising oestrogen prompts hair follicles to stay in the anagen (growth) phase for longer than usual. “When oestrogen levels drop and return to normal after giving birth or ending lactation, 50 per cent of women experience postpartum hair fall approximately 12 weeks later,” says Kingsley. The steepest decline in oestrogen happens during menopause, when hair follicles shrink and hair starts to visibly thin.

Goosebumps

Goosebumps
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Chicken skin, goose pimples, goosebumps, whatever you call them, you know them when you see them. And you feel them primarily when you’re cold. But why exactly does your skin sometimes get pimply and your hair stand on end? It’s basically a primitive reaction that we haven’t evolved out of yet. Way back when our bodies were covered in full coats of hair, it served us well for our muscles to contract and cause our follicles to protrude; this phenomenon helped provide extra insulation against cold temperatures. Nowadays, we don’t need goosebumps at all.

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Ingrown hairs

Ingrown hairs
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Ingrown hairs are at best unsightly and at worst painful. They happen when a hair decides to grow back into the skin – which is why they often occur after shaving or tweezing – and are most common in places like your legs, underarms and groin. Anywhere you grow hair has the potential to see ingrown hairs, though; that includes your head, especially if you have tightly curled hair. “A good way to help prevent ingrown hairs is to use an exfoliating scalp mask once to twice a week,” says Kingsley, who recommends mild exfoliants that contain betaine salicylate. Elsewhere on the body, it’s a bit easier to help prevent ingrown hairs. Always use a shaving cream or gel and sharp razors – or simply opt for a depilatory cream. A doctor’s intervention is only necessary if ingrown hairs become infected or chronic.

Brassiness

Brassiness
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Artificially lightened hair has a notorious tendency to turn orange or red – making it look ‘brassy.’ That brassiness is actually a chemical reaction called oxidation. The long and the short of it is that, when you colour your hair, harsh chemicals like ammonia, peroxide and bleach work hard to lift the natural pigments out of your hair and replace them with artificial pigments. But it’s rare that all the original pigment comes out; that brassiness is actually the red and orange undertones of naturally occurring melanin coming to the fore. The good news is your stylist can use toners to cool down unwanted warm tones. At home, you can try a purple shampoo. Its purple pigments are the perfect counterpart to tone down warm, brassy hues.

Here are some tricks to make your hair colour last longer.

Cowlicks

Cowlicks
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They’ve been associated with quirkiness, mischief and unruliness (just look to your favourite ‘Little Rascal’ Alfalfa), but cowlicks are nothing more than genetic hair-growth patterns. When a patch of hair follicles is arranged to grow hair in a swirling pattern or in the opposite direction of how you’d typically style it, there’s usually little you can do besides go with the flow. Though cowlicks are basically harmless aesthetic phenomena, scientists have reason to believe there’s a link between these hairy features and a person’s tendency to be left- or right-handed. A recent study even linked the presence of cowlicks to a gene that suppresses cancer.

Uncombable hair

Uncombable hair
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Perhaps the oddest and least relatable hair mystery on this list is that of uncombable hair. No, we’re not referring to the bedhead you sport first thing in the morning or the windblown look you get after coming in from a wind storm. Uncombable hair is actually a rare disease that affects the hair shaft. It’s almost impossible for people who live with this disorder to comb their hair flat, and the resulting unkempt look is hard to avoid. Hair of this nature also tends to break easily and it doesn’t have much pigment, so it usually appears straw-coloured. Uncombable hair seems to be caused by a recessive gene mutation that becomes apparent pretty early in life. Luckily, it also tends to go away on its own when puberty hits, and that suggests that it may have a hormonal component.

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Source: RD.com

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