Uh, What Are Those White Dots At The Ends Of My Hair? A Hairstylist Explains

“These dots indicate that the hair is fractured or broken,” says movie star hairstylist Nick Stenson, inventive director of Matrix. But they’re not precisely your run-of-the-mill cut up ends that we usually consider: The hair might not cut up into a well-recognized “feather” or “tree,” however the ends are definitely frayed, usually from extreme warmth styling or chemical therapies. As Stenson notes, “Noticing these white dots at or close to the ends of your hair means you have got irreversible injury to the hair construction as a consequence of chemical or mechanical injury.” However, even should you keep away from chemical therapies and scorching instruments, you may nonetheless expertise white dots; your hair simply could also be severely going through different kinds of injury (bodily put on and tear, dehydrated strands, and the like). 

The purpose why they’re really easy to snap off is as a result of they sign the weakest level within the hair shaft, because of the injury we referenced above. And whereas it might be tempting to pluck off each one, you’ll need to go for a full trim and let knowledgeable do the job. Snapping off all these damaged ends (albeit satisfying) might depart your hair trying brittle and uneven. 

Plus, a trim is the one solution to actually deal with the injury; like cut up ends, there’s probably not a solution to salvage the frays. “Unfortunately, once hair reaches this fractured state, there is no way to mend it,” Stenson provides. Once you have got ‘em, the best thing to do is trim off the damaged ends to keep them from fraying the hair shaft further. Then, you can focus on healthy hair habits to keep them from sprouting in the first place; according to Stenson, that includes “treating regularly with a reparative mask and always using low heat settings and a heat protectant when using hot tools.” It’s definitely not the one factor you are able to do to forestall injury (extra on that here), but it surely’s a certain solution to begin.