Myth.

"You have dandruff because your scalp is dry."

Dandruff isn't a dry-scalp problem,

it's actually almost always oily.

"Shampooing causes extra hair loss."

Myth.

Hi, I'm Anabel Kingsley.

I'm consultant trichologist

and brand president at Philip Kingsley,

and a trichologist is a scientist of the hair and scalp.

Hi, I'm Dr. Howard.

I'm a New York-based board-certified dermatologist

and the founder of Girl+Hair.

Dermatology is the study of the skin, scalp,

hair, and mucus membranes.

And today we will be debunking myths about hair.

"Hair grows faster when you constantly cut it."

Myth.

Kingsley: Hair grows around half an inch a month,

and cutting it won't speed up that process.

On average, we have around 120,000

hair follicles on our scalp,

and they're all going through

different phases of the hair-growth cycle.

Correct, correct.

Kingsley: So there's anagen,

catagen, telogen, and exogen.

Howard-Verovic: And right now on your scalp ...

Kingsley: Generally up to 90% of hairs

will be in the growth phase.

Howard-Verovic: And then the rest are waiting to fall out.

Kingsley: And then some are shedding.

So hair is not going to grow faster if you cut it,

but it will look nice if you get your trims regularly.

"You have dandruff because your scalp is dry."

Dandruff isn't a dry-scalp problem,

it's actually almost always oily.

Dandruff is also known as seborrheic dermatitis,

an overgrowth of naturally occurring yeast

on your scalp called the Malassezia yeast.

And they are lipophilic, which means they love oils.

Howard-Verovic: They love sebum.

Kingsley: Yes, they gobble it up.

And the more oil is on your scalp ...

Howard-Verovic: The happier they are.

Kingsley: Yes, the happier they are.

The more flakes you tend to see.

You might find it's behind your ears,

on the side of your nose, eyebrows.

And it can be right here even.

Wherever the yeast likes the sebum.

Kingsley: Some things to treat dandruff

are targeted shampoos, scalp toners,

scalp masks, and also,

look at what you're eating.

"Washing your hair every day is bad for you."

It's a myth, but there is some fact in there.

You want to treat your scalp just as you treat your skin.

So you want to make sure it's properly cleansed.

You want to make sure you have good hydration on the scalp.

If you are a very active person,

maybe you want to cleanse some more.

Fine hair like mine, if I don't shampoo daily,

my roots get very greasy and flat.

And the reason for this is that

when you have fine hair,

you have more hairs on your scalp,

and therefore you have more oil glands on your scalp,

because every hair is attached to an oil gland.

Whereas coarser hair textures ...

Howard-Verovic: Sometimes the sebum has a hard time

leaving the scalp to the tip of the hair.

And it's counterintuitive,

because you think that maybe coily hair or textured hair,

you don't want to wash it a lot,

but actually the washing process

is a part of the hydration process.

So the more you wash, the more you hydrate.

"Shaving causes hair to grow back thicker and darker."

Myth. So, hair naturally grows tapered.

So when you shave, you just make the ends blunt,

and you're cutting the hair

at a thicker point along the hair shaft.

So shaving may appear to make your hair

grow thicker and darker, but it actually doesn't.

Howard-Verovic: If you were to wax, you're taking the hair

out of the follicle. So it's still going to grow back.

Kingsley: Tapered.

If shaving did make our hair grow back thicker,

I'd shave my hair.

"Air-drying your hair is better than blow-drying."

It depends on your method again.

So if you are air-drying,

but your method of air-drying

is really scrunching or constantly tugging

and, you know,

that's going to be more damaging.

Or, you know what, I know some people who "air-dry,"

but they're, like, running out of the house,

and they'll swoop their hair in a ponytail,

but it's wet in the middle but dry on the outside.

That could be a problem with that wet hair

all the time in the middle

or at the base of your scalp.

So if you just brush your hair gently

and let it dry without really touching it much,

without roughly towel-drying it, that's fine.

But equally, blow-drying doesn't have to be damaging

if you do it in the right way.

Howard-Verovic: And using a heat-protectant spray.

You should hold it at least six inches away.

Like, around this far away.

You can start on a medium heat setting,

and then reduce to low as you go.

You use the back of your hand as a reference.

If it feels too hot, it's too hot for your hair.

Howard-Verovic: Especially with curly or coily

or zigzag-pattern hair,

a hooded dryer may be a good choice

if you like to wear wigs, weaves, box braids.

And sometimes air-drying it might not be the best option,

because you can get mold and mildew within the braids

if it's not dried properly.

One isn't necessarily better than the other.

All method dependent.

"Shampooing causes extra hair loss."

Myth. This is something that I hear all the time.

What shampooing does

is it simply dislodges hairs

that were sitting loosely in their hair follicle

and were ready to come out.

So you're not actually causing hair loss.

It's normal to lose up to 100 hairs a day.

But I really do encourage my clients

who are experiencing excessive daily hair shedding

to shampoo regularly, because it's really important

in terms of keeping your scalp healthy.

And the healthier your scalp is,

the better able it is

to support new healthy hair growth.

I 100% agree.

Kingsley: Focus on your scalp when you shampoo,

and just the suds that run down

through the length of your hair

will be enough to cleanse them.

"Only shaving causes ingrown hairs."

Myth.

Waxing can cause ingrown hairs.

With any hair-removal method,

if you break the hair

instead of pulling it out from the root,

you're more likely to get an ingrown hair,

because the end will be blunt as opposed to tapered.

Howard-Verovic: It's all about, when you cut the hair,

the angle at which you're cutting.

It goes back into the skin.

So you have a curling,

but what happens when that curling occurs?

There is an inflammatory response

that happens with that curling.

So that's where you get the red bump,

and sometimes that red bump

could become a pus-filled bump,

and you can have a real situation there.

Perhaps shaving after shower.

Using a blade designated

for sensitive skin could be helpful.

Kingsley: Or a fresh, sharp blade.

Howard-Verovic: Yes.

Kingsley: And also exfoliation.

So gentle exfoliation maybe once or twice a week.

Howard-Verovic: Yes, absolutely.

"Stress makes you have gray hair."

Well, there are elements of truth and myth to this.

So, when you go gray is largely dependent on genes.

So if your mother or your father went gray early,

it does increase the chances that you will too.

But stress can certainly speed up the process.

Your hair's color is determined

by something called melanin, which is pigment.

And the color of your hair,

ranging from blond hair,

which will have less melanin,

to darker hair, which will have a lot more melanin.

When your hair bulb stops producing these pigment cells

is when you start to turn gray.

I think embracing the gray can look beautiful,

or you can color over them. Whatever works for you.

"If you pluck a gray hair,

two more will grow in its place."

Myth.

Kingsley: What I find happens

is that when you notice one gray hair,

you go searching for others.

Howard-Verovic: So maybe you're just looking more,

as you're saying.

Like a private eye.

And you find them everywhere.

A strand scrutinizer.

She's saying it's all in your mind.

There is no data that show that

if you pluck a gray hair,

you'll have two sprout up.

Kingsley: This myth is really common,

but I just think maybe it's a word of caution,

because you shouldn't pluck gray hairs out.

Because over time,

if you continuously pull a hair out of its follicle,

you can damage the hair follicle.

You don't want to damage your follicles.

We love them so much.

And you think, "Well,

one isn't going to make a difference,"

but when one turns into 30

and you're constantly plucking 30 or more,

then you can get patches of hair loss on your scalp.

And that's never good.

"You can repair a split end."

Myth. Once it's split, that's it.

It's split. Oh! Nice rhyme.

Thanks.

Split ends happen because of general day-to-day weathering.

So blow-drying, brushing,

towel-drying it roughly,

wind exposure, UV exposure.

Howard-Verovic: That cool wooly hat that you bought

that you think is so cool

that you want to wear all winter.

Kingsley: So, hair doesn't regenerate itself.

Treat your hair like your favorite cashmere sweater.

But if you want a true cure for a split end,

you have to cut it off.

"Baldness is only passed down through your mother."

Losing your hair has some genetic components,

but it's not only 'cause mom lost her hair.

The baldness gene could be passed from your mother's side,

could be passed from your father's side.

It could even be inherited from a grandparent

or a great-grandparent.

There are many different types of hair loss.

So hereditary hair loss or "baldness,"

which, I don't really like that term.

I don't like that term either.

It's called androgenic alopecia or reduced hair volume.

So, androgenic alopecia is a genetic type of hair loss

that can be inherited from either

your mother or your father's side.

But it's also dependent on your hormone levels,

specifically your androgens.

So anything that impacts your hormone levels

can then impact your hair.

So it can potentially make

density changes worse.

So things like polycystic ovary syndrome, menopause ...

Howard-Verovic: Oral contraceptives.

Puberty, pregnancy.