How to define split ends?
As the name explains, when you see a hair split into several ends, it means that split ends happened. Generally, it appears on the amount of hair, not just one piece. And hair tends to be dull, dry, frizz, and lackluster before or with split ends, you can predict hair damage according to these phenomena.
Maybe it is difficult to observe the difference in hair glow, there is another method that could help you easily: to see whether the color of hair ends become lighter or not. For black natural hair color, it is prone to be yellow or gray, and blonde hair will tend to be white. All of these are attributed to cuticle damage.
What causes split ends?
Split ends are caused by damage to the protective layer of hair, the cuticle. When the cuticle is damaged, the inner layer of the hair is exposed, and they become dry, brittle, and prone to splitting. Split ends only happen on natural hair and human hair wigs. Synthetic hair, without different inner layers, it will not suffer from that issue.
It happens when hair is pulled or stretched, or exposed to heat and chemicals used for coloring and styling. In addition, lack of moisture, nutrients, trim and unnecessary friction are the culprits of split ends as well.
High temperature & Lack of moisture
When the cuticle is exposed to heat, the skin becomes parched and shrinks, and over time the moisture inside gradually diminishes, eventually cracking like a baked potato. Stripped of the cuticle, the inner structure splits into strands that are exposed to the air, and this is what we see as split ends.
High temperature strips water from hair, especially in summer due to dry air and sunshine. UV ray burn hair when it exposes to sunlight, ignoring extra protection. While in winter, heat still plays a bad role in keeping lace frontal human hair wigs healthy through overusing heat tools, such as blow-dryers, flat irons, and so on.
Lack of nutrients
The longer your hair, the more likely split ends happens.
You have to feed the hair to make it stronger. But, human hair wigs lose a crucial nutrient resource: the scalp and hair roots could not get any support from your body. If you leave the hair alone as well and ignore feeding it regularly with conditioner, wigs will be more and more weak and dull because of fewer nutrients supplement. Then, the cuticle is fragile to defend its inner layers and breaks finally.
Chemicals used for coloring human hair wigs
Color chemicals, and color agents, squeeze into the cuticle, drive away the original color articles to achieve an expectant color effect. This process is not meant to be peaceful, it destroys the cuticle to a great extent.
Strong stretch
In contrast to the micro confrontation among articles, strong pulling or stretch works worse.
How to deal with split ends?
If you already had split ends, there is nothing you can do to repair it unless trimming hair.
Trim the split part directly without hesitation.
You have to know split ends do not disappear on their own. It will be worse as time goes by.
Ensure that your hair is dry when you are going to cut split ends off. It is a big challenge to distinguish split ends from wet hair.
How to avoid split ends of human hair wigs?
1. Apply heat protectant spray before using heating tools to protect hair under heat. Hair strands will get split ends without any protection. You can also use heat protectant spray before going out in the sun to ditch the UV rays.
2. Reduce blow-dryer usage times. Please air dry your wig if time and space allow you to do that.
3. Use moisturized shampoos. Replace normal shampoo with moisturized shampoos specifically formulated for wigs.
Moisturized spray is also a good option to add moisture to the hair.
4. Oily conditioner. Oil-based conditioners increase the flexibility of human hair wigs and strengthen hair greatly.
5. Brush the hair gently with a wide-tooth comb. It is necessary to comb hair with a wide-tooth comb when you buy curly human hair wigs, especially having big curls like body wave. A proper comb not only keep your hairstyle perfect but untangle hair gently, which avoids unnecessary hurt caused by a strong force.
6. Cover your wig with a silk wig cap to get rid of friction between your hair and your bed while sleeping. Apply silk pillowcases as well.