The Truth about Split Ends!

Heart Hand HeartMark Health logo to teach nutrition and fitness and registered trademark by Planet Heart

The trademark Heart Hand gesture is called the HeartMark! May you take the time to HeartMark and think about what goes into your body today!

By split ends, I am referring to… split ends. It’s a frivolous, flimsy subject matter, except for the industries that earn from selling products or services to combat split ends.

If you are a guy, you have no idea what that is. All girls know to fear split ends, but few understand the truth about them. Most spend their time and money to combat them. HeartMark Health is here to mend that.

The earliest I heard of split ends was in 8th grade. Some girl said that if a person doesn’t cut the hair often, it will split and continue to split all the way to the top and then the hair will just fall off. I wish girls didn’t spread such silly ideas at that age. I did not know the science or even what split ends were, but I somehow recognized the absurdity in her warnings. I didn’t forget, but I didn’t waste time or money as a result. In high school, a girl grabbed my hair in the wrong light and saw no split ends so I was spared until I got to college.
By college, I was bombarded with vitamins, hair products, and commercials about split ends. I discovered that my ends were indeed—gasp—splitting. I have to admit—I got sucked into the madness of trying to get rid of them. I am so ashamed. I am embarrassed that I fell for the lies surrounding the strands. I know how much time I wasted on an invented issue.

And yes, it is an invented issue. It turns out that every one of my babies’ hair had split ends from the time the hair grew. This is not some genetic issue. It’s not a health issue. It is not a matter of using the wrong shampoo. It’s just what happens to the ends of the healthiest, prettiest locks. If looked at in the right light, all ends look split.
It may be that the water in our system dries the hair. Until I find a source of water on the West coast that doesn’t leave my skin and hair dry, I won’t know for sure. But I don’t want to write something that will open up the door for another product to pop up and claim that they can make money out of people’s “problems.”

I have even heard of hair stylists who tell their clients that they need to cut their hair to get rid of the split ends. This is a sure way to guarantee repeat business. Their clients don’t get to see my healthy two year old’s split locks. If they could, they would realize there is a lot of nonsense and an entire industry of selling products around split ends.

My own hair stylist, thankfully, assured me that my hair is healthy and beautiful. I really appreciate his honesty. If he had said something else, I might have been tempted to waste more time and money, endlessly fighting this pointless battle.

It took a lot of growing up for me to discover more and more silly beliefs that people perpetuate. This split ends fallacy is similar to the “cellulite” lie that I blogged about in the past. (The short version is that cellulite is the adorable dimples that people are born with. Babies have it at birth. But that doesn’t sell lotions and the women who use them usually don’t have children yet, so the myths perpetuate.) It is also very similar to the braces myths which I will write about in the future. These industries manage to sneak in and we just don’t notice that we feed and maintain them.)

HeartMark Health is here to remind women and girls to listen to themselves. Before they rush to buy some therapy, they should check if it really makes sense to use it. Of course, therapies that go into the body should really be questioned and checked with a few doctors. No question is too silly to ask. And doctors are human, too. So if any treatment does not feel right, people should advise their doctors of that as well.

A big HeartMark to all your strands,
Tali

Children learning HeartMark Health at Sprouts Supermarket, doing the Heart Hand gesture as they learn

Children learning HeartMark Health lecture in Sprouts Supermarket, doing the Heart Hand gesture to "See What They Love" and connect with their body!

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