Here’s Why You Need to Switch Up Your Hair Part
This simple change could solve your hair woes. (Photo: Instagram)
When we settle on a hair part that we like, some of us tend to get stuck in our ways. The way you wear your hair every day becomes part of your identity, and lots of people are convinced that they couldn’t change their part even if they wanted to. Whether your cowlick is making it harder to flip your hair to the other side or you haven’t changed things up since you were a kid, your hair can be trained to fall any way you want it to, and it’s actually beneficial for the health of your hair to do so.
Prevent pesky baby hairs
Suffer from baby hairs that refuse to grow? Your part is likely the reason. “The longer we wear the same part, the more we wear the hair down in that area and cause breakage,” New York hairstylist Annie Rush told Allure. Most people try to conceal the resulting baby hairs with product and heat, but this further damages them. “These cover-up techniques tend to strip the hair of keratin, leaving a little white bulb at the bottom of the broken hair that won’t recover itself.” Rush can spot this issue from a mile away, and easily identifying when clients are dousing baby hairs with products containing alcohol and then frying them with heat. She says the best way to disguise flyaways is by changing up your part. This gives broken hairs a chance to grow and heal, since they are spared the heat damage and the roots are upright and breathing rather than plastered down. It also gives you a chance to explore another side of your hair identity.
Potentially prevent hair loss
If traction alopecia is an issue for you, then changing up your part is a necessity. Traction alopecia occurs in people who wear their hair back too tightly, causing hair loss from continual tension on the root. It starts with minor inflammation that you can’t see, but becomes scarring hair loss most visible along the hairline and the part. Keeping your part in one place can’t cause this issue, but making the change can give the roots an opportunity to heal if you catch the condition early.
How to make the switch
If you think it’s time to change up your part, try finding your perfect center part by brushing your hair back and letting it fall naturally in the middle. This way, it will likely fall somewhere close to the center but won’t be forced into a perfect part. To stick with this look, Rush recommends dampening the roots before going to bed, parting and brushing your hair in place, and sleeping in a loose low ponytail or braid for a week.
Whip your cowlick into shape
If your hairline cowlick proves problematic when you’re looking for your new part, use a flat brush to blow dry the cowlick back and forth in every direction and point the dryer in the same direction that you’re moving your brush. “This will allow for root lift and will make your cowlick a lot more manageable,” celebrity hairstylist Bobby Eliot told Byrdie. Finally, blow the cowlick in the direction you want it to go and secure with a bobby pin until it cools. A spot of pomade can help for extra hold before your hair is trained in this direction. Rinse and repeat and your cowlick and breakage problems will vanish.
Related:
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