How to Get Rid of Split Ends

We towel dry our hair vigorously and add hot air to finish drying it. We wrap hair sections around a hot tube and hold for 5 seconds. Sometimes we pull little pieces of our hair through tiny holes, apply chemicals and cook for an hour.

Every day we brush our hair with any old brush in the drawer and squeeze in some gel or spray on sticky stuff. Wow! We look good! Until we don’t. Date night comes around and we’re crying in front of the mirror because the ends of our hair look like tiny inverted corn stalks. Our beat up hair is frizzy, dry and tangled.

Split ends are easy enough to get rid of. Just snip them away. Even if you need 2” off your length to cut out your split ends, your hair will still look longer and healthier. You may be tempted to use one of the many products that claim to “repair split ends” but do not expect much. Home remedy fans like mayo or olive oil for deep moisturizing hoping to cure split ends. Truly, cutting them and beginning the process of preventing their return is the best answer. Your hairstylist is the solution for split ends. You are the answer to preventing them.

The primary cause of split ends is dryness. It seems dryness is the enemy in every area of beauty care from skin, to nails to hair. The solution, of course, is protect and moisturize. We may need to make new habits and break old ones to achieve the results we want. The following tips might light your way:

  1. Keep regular appointments for hair trims. Before you leave the salon, make your next recommended appointment and plug it into your calendar. That will prevent the sudden realization that your hair is a mess and has not been trimmed for a year. Regular trimming removes unsightly split ends and prevents further damage traveling up the hair shaft.
  1. Shampoo gently.
  1. What is damaging for hair is bad for skin as well. Use warm water for hair washing. If you must shampoo daily, use a mild shampoo and gently lather once, rinsing well. We are fighting dryness so a good leave -in conditioner is essential. Towel dry hair by gently squeezing the moisture out. Scrubbing your hair with a towel will cause breakage.
  1. Avoid heat whenever possible.
  1. After shampooing, let your hair air-dry as long as possible before styling with a blow-dryer and hot iron. When you use styling tools, keep the setting low. I know when you are in a hurry air-drying and low heat is difficult but it is worth the effort.
  1. Do you brush your hair 100 strokes each night? It does help prevent split ends if you use the brush gently stroking from root to hair end. Some of us brush our dogs with more care than we use on our own head. Likely, we spent more time choosing just the right brush as well. If your brush has split ends, do not use it on your hair.

Maintaining healthy hair is easy with a few simple maintenance habits. Make those habits your regular rule and you will be looking good every day. Your hair will not cause any crisis you experience on date night, leaving some room for one of the other 99.