When it comes to hair, it’s easy to lose track of the number of old wives’ tales surrounding what’s considered proper care for maintaining healthy locks. Whether you’ve been routinely brushing your 100 times a day because your mom told you to as a kid, or your friend swears that cold showers make her hair shinier, many of these tips have become part of our beauty routines, and are accepted as “common knowledge.”
While these rituals may have become ingrained in our minds as the key to achieving great hair, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re true. We asked Toronto-based hairstylist Jukka to clarify whether 10 common hair tips are fact or fiction.
Browse the most popular hair myths below.
1) Plucking grey hairs will cause more grey hairs If your initial reaction to spotting your first grey hair was to pick up a pair of tweezers, you’re not alone but you may want to think twice before doing the deed. “You will temporarily get rid of the plucked hair, but the hair follicle will push a new one to replace the one you’ve removed,” explains Jukka. If you’re lucky, the new hair might have a slight differentiation in colour, and could appear less grey. “If you damage the hair follicle when plucking, you could end up with something worse than salt and pepper strands: bald spots,” warns Jukka. Verdict: False 2) Washing with cold water will make your hair shinier While cold water may wake you up in the morning, it isn’t really the answer to shinier hair. “In general, cold water removes less of your hair’s natural oils which may make it appear as if your hair is shinier,” explains Jukka. A good conditioner or oil can do the same thing (and will obviously make hair more manageable as well). Verdict: False Bumble and Bumble Hairdresser’s Invisible Oil ($50, sephora.com)
Get the FASHION newsletter
Subscribe and never miss fashion and beauty news, product drops, trends and cultural commentary