Dry or brittle hair can affect your overall appearance, making you appear less healthy and it can change the way you style your hair. A number of factors can affect the moisture in your hair ranging from health conditions to the air quality where you live. If your hair is dry and prone to breakage, it's important to take action to restore moisture and reduce activities that may be contributing to the damage.
Identification
A number of visual and tactile signs can indicate a person has dry, brittle hair. Visual cues include hair that appears frizzy or kinky. Brittle hair also will have significant breakage, meaning the ends of the hair may appear ragged or uneven. Brittle hair also will take an increased amount of time to dry with a hair dryer because wet, damaged hair will naturally try to hold in moisture. Tactile signs that hair is dry or brittle include hair that makes an audible noise when rubbed between the fingers. Another sign is when a person holds a strand of hair with each hand and pulls: if the hair breaks apart easily, it is dry.
Considerations
Before choosing an appropriate remedy for dry, brittle hair, it's best to consider why hair is in this condition. A number of contributing factors for dry hair exist. Lifestyle factors that may cause dry hair include excessive hair washing, blow drying and heat styling. If a person lives in a very dry, arid climate, she is more likely to have dry hair. Other contributing factors may indicate a more serious condition: these include anorexia nervosa, malnutrition or an underactive thyroid, according to Medline Plus. People with these conditions should seek medical treatment for dry hair symptoms.
Prevention
Preventing dry hair begins with making several lifestyle changes. Begin by washing your hair less. For example, if you wash your hair every day, cut back to every other day. Air dry your hair instead of blowing it dry or utilize the "cool" dryer setting. Be sure to spray on a heat styling protector prior to heat styling such as blow drying, curling or flat ironing. If you color your hair, extend the length of time between coloring sessions in order to hold in moisture.
Remedies
If your hair already is damaged or brittle, many treatment options exist. Apply a deep conditioning treatment, which penetrates the hair shaft to restore moisture. If your hair dryness is related to the environment in which you live, use a conditioner that has an ultraviolet protector in it, which may reduce damage. For damaged hair related to nutrition, taking a multivitamin or a vitamin specifically designed to boost hair health may help. Increasing the amount of protein in your daily diet, through consuming increased amounts of chicken, fish, soy or nut products will also help to restore your brittle hair.
Warning
While treatments can rejuvenate dry hair to a certain extent, it is possible for hair to be too dry or damaged to salvage, particularly at its ends. When this is the case, a stylist can trim the hair to eliminate damage. Then, begin using both preventive and rejuvenating treatments to improve the hair's appearance.
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