Have A Good Hair Day

6 Common Hair Myths That Are Actually False

In this post I’m going to cover 6 common hair myths that have been passed around over the years. I’m not sure where they started from, but I want to get the truth out about these myths so that everyone is a little more properly educated!

You can watch my Youtube Video on this topic below:

1. Stress turns your hair gray

First on the list of debunked hair myths we have ‘Stress turns your hair gray”.

We’ve all joked about it before. And I cant tell you how many times I’ve heard a client say as I’m applying her root touch-up, “I owe all these gray hairs to my children” or something along those lines.

I’m not sure where this myth started, or why it has become such a well-known “fact”, but it is definitely not true.

Your hair turns gray because it loses melanin as you age. This is mostly due to genetics, and even some medications such as chemotherapy can have an affect on it.

But most definitely not stress! If that were true, my natural hair color would be snow white right about now.

So while we can’t blame our children for our lovely gray hairs, we can blame our parents and grandparents for passing down their hair genes.

2. Color takes better on dirty hair

Next on the list of debunked hair myths we have “Hair color takes better on dirty hair”.

From what I’m told by my clients, their last hairstylist told them that “hair color takes better on dirty hair” as they show up to their color appointment with greasy day 5 unwashed hair in a messy bun.

I’m not sure what hairstylist would ever say this to someone. Or maybe it was started by a client as an excuse to come in with greasy hair and somehow it got passed around? Maybe some stylists actually believe that this is true?

Either way, I want to make it clear that this is most definitely false. Let me explain why.

If you are going to paint a wall or a piece of furniture, what’s the first thing you do before slapping the paint on it? You clean it.

You aren’t going to paint over dirt. Just like you aren’t going to put makeup on a dirty face.

Why would painting hair be any different? It’s best to have a clean canvas for the color to take to the best of its ability. If you have oils or hair product build-up on the hair, it’s going to make it much more difficult for the color to penetrate to the cortex evenly.

The ONLY reason I would ever suggest showing up to your hair color appointment with oily hair is if you have a sensitive scalp or allergies to some chemicals.

The oils on your scalp will protect it some from the chemicals to minimize having any reaction or sensitivities. But again, this is the only time I would ever recommend this.

Clean hair not only takes the color better, but it is MUCH easier for us to work with.

Weaving oily hair is more difficult and can affect the outcome of your highlight placement, let alone slow down the speed of your processing causing a more yellow blonde or less gray coverage.

PLATINUM-HAIR

3. Hair breakage can be repaired

Out of all the hair myths I talk about on this post, this one is probably the most understandable. Brands and products will advertise that they will “repair your hair”. This is technically impossible.

Hair breakage is characterized by a damaged or missing cuticle (outer layer of your hair) which leaves the inner layers exposed, running the risk of those breaking off as well. It can be caused from over-processing, aggressive brushing, or heat damage.

So typically because of this, you decide to purchase a mask or conditioning treatment that says it will repair the breakage.

While the conditioning treatment is 100% what you should be doing, you need to understand that the hair that has split and broken off is never coming back.

The hair that you still have can be strengthened and protected, but ultimately it cannot be repaired. Once hair breaks off, that’s it. It’s never going to magically appear at your ends again.

The conditioning treatment is necessary to soothe and strengthen the damaged hair so that more breakage will not occur. This will still help it to become fuller and healthier over time.

Check out my post here to see what tips I recommend for maintaining long and healthy hair without any breakage.

4. Cutting your hair makes it grow faster

This hair myth is a tricky one because it is sort-of true. Cutting your hair does not make it grow out of your head faster, but what it does do is stop it from breaking off of your ends.

So the hair at your scalp will still be growing at the same pace that it always does. But when your ends are healthy and not split or breaking, then your hair will get longer faster than if you hadn’t cut it.

If you have very thin or straggly ends on your hair, the best thing you can do is to cut them off. They aren’t serving you any good, and your hair will all around be healthier and fuller after the cut.

A lot of times my clients look like they have significantly more hair when leaving the salon than they did when they arrived.

If you keep up with your cuts and trims regularly, your hair will be longer and thicker in 6 months than it would have been if you hadn’t trimmed it at all. Guaranteed.

HEALTHY-BLONDE-HAIR

5. You have to wash your hair daily because it is oily

This myth hurts my heart a little when I have a client tell me this because literally the opposite is true. A lot of people have have such a hard time grasping this concept. And people commonly yell at me in the comments on this topic. Let me explain.

The reason your hair is so oily is because you wash it every day. Every time you shampoo, you are stripping the hair and scalp of its oils that we naturally produce to keep it moisturized and healthy. So when your scalp realizes that it is dry from the oils being removed by shampoo, it begins to produce more oil.

The more often you shampoo, the more oil your scalp produces. What you need to do is train your hair to not produce as much oil. This takes time for your hair to adjust, so you won’t be able to go from washing every day to washing once a week immediately.

Begin by skipping one day at a time by using a dry shampoo in between washes. After a week or so, add a second day. Everyone’s hair and lifestyle is different, so just because your friend can wash only once a week doesn’t mean that’s what will work best for you.

Check out my post here to determine how often you should be washing your hair. My post here explains the benefits of dry shampoo as well as my best recommendations.

6. Shaving will stimulate and grow more hair

Last on my list of debunked hair myths we have “Shaving will make hair grow thicker”.  I’m sure some of you will be shocked to see that this isn’t true, and some of you may not even believe me. But shaving does not stimulate hair growth.

Shaving is cutting the hair with a razor right at the point where it comes out of the skin. Underneath the skin, the hair is still there attached to the root in the follicle.

Why would cutting the hair at the skin line make it grow in thicker? How would this create more hair follicles and grow new hairs? It doesn’t. If this were the case, my leg hairs would look like a legit animal at this point.

What shaving can do is strengthen the hairs a little because the razor puts some pressure on the hair follicle every time it is done. But there is absolutely no way that this could cause new hairs to grow. So shaving bald spots is really not doing anything, I’m sorry fellas.

Conclusion

In this post we talked about 6 common hair myths, or old wives tales that are indeed false. Those myths are:

  1. Stress causes gray hair
  2. Color takes better on dirty hair
  3. Hair breakage can be repaired
  4. Cutting hair makes it grow faster
  5. Shaving stimulates and grows more hair

If you have other hair myths that you’re curious about, leave me a comment and I’ll let you know if it’s true or not! Be sure to subscribe below to make everyday a good hair day!

Last updated 05/10/2024

Laura Collins
administrator
From hairstylist and studio salon owner of 10+ years to haircare content creator. My goal is to use all of my experience and knowledge from years behind the chair to help you make everyday a good hair day!
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