Getting Rid of Split Ends

When hair is long, old, or damaged, the tips of your hair begin to split. This happens when the tip of your hair loses its protective layer. Split ends can look unattractive and make your hair seem frizzy and dull. Unless you trim your hair very frequently, you most likely have problems with split ends. You can't get rid of your current split ends without cutting them off, but if you are careful with your hair, you may be able to prevent getting them as badly in the future. The way to prevent split ends is by trying not to damage or dry out your hair. Here are some tips to help prevent split ends:

• Be careful of using blow-dryers, straighteners, curling irons, hot rollers, crimpers, wavers, and any other heated hair device. Because it quickly dries out your hair, heat is the biggest cause of split ends. Try to reduce how often you use heated hair tools, or at least the amount of time that you use them for. You can also purchase sprays with thermal protection, which should help somewhat although it won't completely solve the problem. Try air-drying your hair or letting it be curly, or straight, however it is naturally.
• Avoid or lessen how often you dye your hair or get a perm. Both of these damage hair, which eventually causes split ends.
• Use conditioner when you shower to seal in moisture.
• Do not brush your when it is wet. Use a wide-toothed comb instead.
• Limit how much you brush your hair. Brushing can break pieces of your hair, which contributes to split ends. Also be careful of hair clips or elastic hair ties. These often break off pieces of your hair. These broken off pieces are easily susceptible to splitting.
• If you currently have split ends, your hair will continue to split up the hair shaft. To prevent this, make sure that you cut off at least an inch above the split end. Cut split ends when you notice them—you don't need to wait until your hair appointment. Also, do get hair appointments regularly so that your split ends don't get out of control.

You may hear of products that "cure" split ends—these may appear to work at first, but they do not permanently fix anything. Some products do seal your split ends for awhile, but the only permanent way to get rid of split ends is to get a haircut.