Let’s face it, split ends are awful. Frizzy, dry-looking messes that make even healthy hair look unkempt at the tips. Research shows over 60% of women suffer damage from split ends caused by heat exposure alone (and that’s not even including other damage factors), which speaks volumes about how stressful daily styling routines can be to the hair shaft over time. You cut them off only for them to reappear seemingly weeks later. How can you get rid of them? And what are the best split ends hair treatments?
What Causes Split Ends?
Split ends occur when the hair’s cuticle layer wears away. When the cuticle is gone, there’s nothing protecting the inner fibres, which causes them to split apart. While there are many sources that can cause split ends, here are the main ones to look out for.
Heat Styling
Heat tools like hairdryers, straighteners, and curling wands are damaging to hair. Continued use can weaken your hair shafts, causing them to break off or split at the ends. Heat raises the cuticle by breaking down hydrogen bonds and damaging the hair’s protein structure. Once they’re gone, hair loses its elasticity, causing it to snap rather than bend. If you style your hair with heat daily, you will most likely continuously have split ends no matter how well you care for the rest of your hair.
Overwashing & Harsh Shampoos
Daily shampooing, especially with sulfate-based formulas, strips hair of moisture, leaving it dry and brittle. Brittle hair is far more likely to have split and broken ends. The more you wash your hair, the drier it gets. By switching to a sulfate-free shampoo like GK Hair Moisturizing Shampoo and Conditioner, you can break that cycle before it begins. It’s a great shampoo for split ends.
Rough Towel Drying
Rubbing your hair vigorously with a towel might seem like a helpful way to speed up the drying process but all that rubbing creates friction that roughens up your cuticle and weakens your hair shafts’ outer layer. Once that cuticle is gone, there’s nothing to protect those inner fibres, causing split ends to occur. Try squeezing your hair rather than rubbing and allow your towel to absorb excess moisture rather than dragging it through your hair.
Chemical Processes
Chemical treatments, including bleaching, colouring, etc., damage your hair’s protein structure, causing it to become weaker and eventually split. Basically every chemical process you put your hair through lifts the cuticle to either deposit colour or strip it away. This weakening accumulates over time, so the more frequently you undergo chemical treatments, the more damage you’re doing to your hair. Always allow at least a month in between colouring or lightening to give your hair time to recover.
Not Enough Moisture
Dry hair is very prone to having split ends. When your hair lacks moisture, it loses its flexibility, meaning it cannot bend without breaking. Breaking is essentially what split ends are. One of the worst parts about dry hair is that the lack of moisture can go unnoticed until you start to see damage at the ends of your hair.
Brushing Your Hair When Wet
When hair is wet, it is in its weakest state. Water swells the hair shaft and raising the cuticle. Basically, everything about wet hair makes it easier to stretch out and snap. By brushing or combing your hair too harshly when wet, you’re putting tension on your hair that it can’t handle, causing breakage and eventually split ends. Always use a wide-tooth comb on wet hair.
Pro Styling Tip: Use a t-shirt to dry hair. Microfiber towels and old cotton t-shirts are much gentler on hair than towel sheets.
Styling Corner
To really deep condition your hair, apply GK Hair Deep Conditioner, wrap hair with a shower cap, and leave on for 20–30 minutes before rinsing.
Best Products to Treat and Prevent Split Ends
GK Hair ThermalStyleHer Cream
If prevention is your main goal, GK Hair ThermalStyleHer Cream is a must-use. Applied directly to hair before heat styling, ThermalStyleHer forms a thermal barrier around the hair shaft that drastically reduces cuticle damage caused by blow drying and straightening. Less damage equals fewer split ends over time. Instead of trying to manage split ends that keep forming, stop them from appearing in the first place!
GK Hair Deep Conditioner
Are you very keen on how to get rid of split ends? GK Hair Deep Conditioner Hair Treatment is a hair mask for split ends that works. Enriched with proteins and amino acids that rebuild hair from within, our Deep Conditioner penetrates the hair shaft to repair damage rather than smoothing it over.
GK Hair Argan Oil Serum
Looking for the best hair serum for split ends? It should absorb quickly into hair without weighing it down and contain nutrients that do more than coat the surface. GK Hair Argan Oil Serum contains argan oil and keratin, which smooth down the cuticle and seal in moisture. Use it daily to protect hair between washes.
Final Thoughts
Split ends aren’t unavoidable, but they can be hard to quit once they start happening to you regularly. Making sure you have the right products and tools to properly care for your hair is the first step. Shop GK Hair’s split-ends treatments today and find the best hair serum for split ends that works for you! Looking for more info on repairing damaged hair? Head over to our keratin treatment guide next.
