6 Popular Healing Remedies That Can Spoil Your Hair

How many of you love applying the DIY masks on your hair and scalp? How do you know that it’s going to work magic on your hair? Wait, what if instead of saving your hair, it damages it further? The internet is filled with natural remedies to keep our hair shiny and strong. But peeps, even the most natural ingredients that you can get your hands on in the nearest supermarket can cause damage to your hair.

But, how will we know which of the natural ingredients damage our hair? We did some research online and analyzed the content we came across on the cyberspace. And with that, we have compiled a list of the following 6 healing remedies that can end up damaging our hair.

1. Onion

What It Promises:

Quicker hair growth, stronger roots, healthier, and shinier hair.

We all know that the antifungal and antibacterial properties of the sulfur present in the onion are beneficial for our hair. Apart from this, there’s a great source of information that says that onion juice can help in the treatment of focal alopecia (we mean baldness) (1).

Here’s What Can Go Wrong

• Don’t our eyes burn with the fumes accompanying the smell of strong onions? So imagine what will happen if we apply the pure juice of onions on our scalps. Applying fresh onion juice to our scalps can result in inflammation, especially if you have any scratches on your scalp.
• The strong, everlasting smell of the onions is something that cannot go unnoticed. The more onions you use to make the onion juice, the stronger will the smell be.
• Another problem with respect to the onion hair mask is if we mess up its consistency, the juice can make its way to our eyes. And we all know that hell might break loose if that happens.

2. Beer

What It Promises:

Deep hair restoration, provides nutrition to hair, makes hair shinier, and also controls hair fall.

Here’s What Can Go Wrong

If you were intrigued by the idea that getting your hair soaked in some beer could be the easiest route to healthy hair, read the points given below and think again (2).

• Beer contains alcohol which can damage the protective layer of the scalp. In order to avoid this, we suggest that you don’t wear the beer mask on your hair for long (don’t expose it to alcohol too much). What we’d suggest is that use it to rinse your hair instead. Or another hack would be to boil the beer for a few minutes which will reduce its alcohol content and then cool it down and apply it.
• Just like the onion, even beer has a strong smell. Use a shampoo after the hair mask to reduce the smell.

3. Eggs

What It Promises:

Due to vitamin D and E present in eggs, it promises shinier and smoother hair (3). It also promises the reduction of split ends. On the plus side, it’s believed to add lots of protein.

Here’s What Can Go Wrong

• One major mistake that people do while applying egg masks is that they whisk the egg whites as well. The egg whites are too dense in nature to be able to penetrate the hair. Therefore, it’s better if we forget this protein therapy. Also, the raw egg smell isn’t everyone’s favorite smell (4).

4. The Oils: Castor, Burdock, Coconut

What It Promises:

Treats dryness in the scalp; shinier and healthier hair.

Here’s What Can Go Wrong

• It’s proven fact that the oils can actually damage your hair. Dry hair basically needs to be moisturized. Applying a thick layer of oil over it is clogging the hair follicles which rid the hair off its nourishment (5).
• Using oil masks on your hair will only make your scalp oilier and your hair much drier.

5. Kerosene

What It Promises:

We know you have major doubts with this one. Who uses kerosene, right? But our research on the internet showed stories right from the old days when kerosene was used to fight lice. This method gained popularity and then soon it was discovered that it also fights hair loss and makes hair thicker too.

Here’s What Can Go Wrong

• Don’t we know that kerosene is a product that is used for oil refining? So naturally its texture is very viscous, it has a noxious odor which makes it highly impossible for any shampoo or essentials to remove it.
• Also, kerosene is highly toxic in nature. And our other body parts can definitely react to this substance – dermatitis, irritation in eyes, nose, burning in chest etc. are some of the problems that can crop up (6).

6. Baking Soda

What It Promises:

In addition to being an affordable option, it is said to make hair less greasy, also lighter, and smoother.

Here’s What Can Go Wrong

• The acidity level of our scalp is 5.5 pH whereas the acidity level of diluted 5% soda solution is 9 pH (7). Studies conducted while experimenting with different shampoos have shown that liquids whose pH level is higher than 5.5 can damage the hair’s structure and also make it more fragile.

So, from now on every time you think of trying a new DIY hair mask at home with such simple, easily available ingredients, do your homework about them first. And only then start using them. Which natural hair remedies do you use? Leave your answers below.

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