5 Things You Never Thought Could Cause Hair Damage

No matter how well you take care of your hair, even if you regularly deep condition and never heat-style, there are still things you may never have considered that cause your hair to break. Because sometimes even avoiding all of those damaging practices doesn't ensure that your hair will stay healthy. For instance, have you ever noticed that when your ends begin to split, they do so only in certain areas? While it may seem somewhat odd if, for example, only the hairs that frame your face tend to break and not grow as well as hairs in other areas, it's not a freak happenstance. There's a reason for it.

So if you're trying to grow your hair out, or even just want to maintain its length, there are a few habits and situations to watch out for— habits and situations that could be causing some major damage without you knowing it. Because even though your hair can probably tank any of these circumstances on occasion, in the long term, breakage is almost inevitable. So to keep your locks long, strong, and healthy, here are five situations to watch out for and make sure they don't become habits.

1. Wearing Purse Straps

If you throw your purse over your shoulder without thinking about it, more often than not, it'll land on your hair (if you have at least shoulder-length hair, of course). When this happens, there are three different ways to proceed, but one of them is best. The first is to leave your hair trapped under the strap. While this may seem like a totally reasonable option, this actually causes a lot of weighted friction on your hair, leading to damage and breakage especially for the hairs directly under the strap. The second option is to just pull your hair out from under the strap. You may do this without thinking, but if you stop and take a second to just lift the strap before pulling your hair out (the third and best option), you'll save your hair from some crazy potential damage and breakage.

2. Sleeping In The Same Position

Especially if you use a cotton pillowcase, sleeping can actually cause quite a bit of friction on your strands. And if you frequent the same position? That's just concentrated damage to one side of your head. To make sure your hair isn't breaking while you snooze, try switching up how you sleep, or invest in a silk or satin pillowcase to relieve some of that friction.

3. Playing With Your Hair

Maybe you only do it while you're nervous, or maybe your hair just feels really damn good (no judgements), but twirling strands of hair or playing with certain sections isn't good for your locks. It causes friction between strands, leading to damage and breakage.

4. Wearing Tight Ponytails

Even if you use gentler elastics that aren't supposed to grip your locks, pulling hair into a tight ponytail too often will still cause those hairs that are closest to the band to literally become bent out of shape. Keep your ponytails looser or wear them less frequently to prevent breakage where your hair tie touches.

5. Driving With The Windows Down

Unfortunately, that feeling of the wind blowing through your hair isn't the best thing for it. The wind causes hairs to whip around and into each other, which causes friction and therefore damage and breakage. The whipping action is especially bad because it causes hair to tangle, which causes even more damage. So if driving with the windows down is your jam, just make sure to secure your strands first.

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