Hair Geography

What Causes Dry Hair & Dry Scalp

The problems of dry hair and dry scalp often occur in tandem because

their causes are frequently interrelated.

Dry hair can be caused by environmental conditions prevailing at the

time, such as overexposure to the sun and wind, and presence of

minerals and chlorine in the water used to wash your hair. Dry hair can

also be the result of swimming or bathing in pools and spas with

chlorinated water, or having hair treatments relying on perm chemicals,

peroxide bleach, color developer, and hair relaxer chemicals.

Dry hair, and dry scalp as well, can result from using hard water for

bathing. Hard water is okay to consume by mouth, but when used on your

head and skin, it may produce certain problems. We already know it

causes dry hair, but did you know hard water may also trigger scalp

eczema or dandruff, thinning hair, and dry flaky skin? If you like to

have your hair treated at the salon, using hard water may render your

hair resistant to perming or coloring, or make your hair lose color too

fast. Other things that could happen when you use hard water is that

your hair could suffer from darkening or discoloration, or your perm

might start falling out.

Depending on whether you source your water supply from either ground

water or surface water, there may be chemicals present in your water

that can have a detrimental effect on your hair. Such chemicals could

be calcium, chlorine, iron, lead, copper, and magnesium silica. Usually,

the hardness of your water supply is determined by the amount of

calcium present (either because it comes from ground water or was

placed in your water supply by the water treatment plant.) Chlorine is

often added to the water supply to eliminate bacteria and make the

water safe to drink. When these minerals and chlorine are present in

our bathing water, an electrochemical process occurs which results in

bad hair and poor scalp health for us.

You see, our hair, scalp and skin carry a negative electrical charge.

On the other hand, minerals and chlorine carry a positive electrical

charge. Thus, it is only natural for minerals and chlorine to adhere to

our hair, scalp and skin during bathing. Calcium, in particular, can

dry out your hair and make it feel heavy. Flaking of the scalp also

results when calcium attaches to and builds up on our scalp. You might

also find yourself losing hair because of calcium in your water – this

is because calcium tends to build up around the base of the hair

follicle, causing hair breakage and impeding the growth of new hair.

Another common component of our water is iron which may make for

dry & brittle hair. If iron is in your water, you may discover your hair

darkening (or if you are a blonde, your hair might turn orange.) Hair

frequently exposed to iron may resist coloring and perming during

hair treatments. Other elements to look out for in your water are

copper and magnesium.

Another common complaint that goes with dry hair is the onset of gray

hair. Boost Manufactures a great line of products that are designed to combat

gray hair and even darken the hair over a short period of time.

See our complete section on products, treatments and shampoo for dry hair!