Hairstyle Myth Of 100 Brush Strokes

Sadly there is a lot of misinformation for hair clients floating around the Web. In all fairness, some of the information has been part of the growing Urban Hair Legends and Old Wives Hair Tales that never seem to die.

The truth? Unless you are trying to achieve some special hairstyle or combing out a roller set, brushing your hair 100 times a day can actually do more harm them good.

In fact one of the most common ways hair clients damage their hair, besides chemical abuse, is from the following hair brushing sins:

1. Brushing hair when wet to very wet which is when it is most fragile and prone to breakage as well as overstretching. Brushing hair when wet can also cause hair to frizz unnecessarily.

2. Allowing a thermal or metal brush to heat up too fast or to excessively high temperatures which can literally fry hair.

3. Utilizing a brush with razor sharp bristles which can cut delicate strands. The very best brushes are made of 100% boar bristle or a good quality faux boar designed to avoid ripping and/or tearing strands.

4. Using a brush with hard round tips on the ends. Ball tips positioned on the bristled can snap delicate strands, pull and rip tresses and potentially cause split ends.

5. Selecting the wrong type of brush for your hair texture (fine, medium, wavy, curly, excessively curly) type (thin, medium, thick) and current hair condition (healthy, slightly damaged, very damaged). A brush that would not damage healthy short hair may do major damage to hair that is very long and slightly damaged. No one brush works for all people and their hair.

6. Brushing 100 strokes per day. This practice is based from a long ago period in time when people only washed their hair once a month or less. In those days the goal was to brush 100 strokes to help the natural scalp oils (sebum) flow down to the ends and prevent scalps from becoming clogged or ends becoming dry.

As hair clients started washing their tresses on a more frequent basis it became less appropriate to brush strands 100 strokes per day. Most hair consumers cleanse their hair 2-3 times a week or more. As a result the danger of excessive sebum or oil build-up in the scalp has been removed.

Due to the frequent washing routines, hair is more dry. Hair that is chemically treated (colored, highlighted, permed, ect.) should never be brushed more than absolutely necessary.