Hand in Hair Syndrome – What is it and do you suffer from it?

So you’re still in the new phase of discovering your curls and can’t believe how soft and bouncy your natural hair is. You just want to touch it and play with it all the time. You are in awe of it and constantly catch yourself twirling and twisting your curls around your finger while you are watching TV, reading a book, or while you are deep in thought. Sometimes you just pat your hair to make sure it’s all still there. You might even feel the need to try out a new hairstyle every single day. If you find yourself guilty of this on a continuous basis, I can confirm the diagnosis is Hand in Hair Syndrome.

While this sort of behaviour is completely understandable – I mean, who would want to deny you the pleasure of  revelling in your new-found curls – I can’t begin to describe what a detrimental habit this can turn into. If your goal is to retain lots of length, you seriously need to rethink your strategy and stop this NOW as it can wreak havoc on your tresses.

This is why

• The on-going friction from twisting and playing can cause split-ends.
• You can end up causing knots from the constant friction, which can sometimes only be cut out.
• The continuous tugging and touching can lead to frizz and breakage.

How to stop the madness

• Wear a protective or low manipulation style.
• Something as simple as a bun or wrapping your hair in a scarf will do the trick.
• Every time you catch yourself playing in your hair remind yourself of your hair goals and how doing this will detract from reaching them.

Admittedly, while writing this piece I find my fingers in my hair from time to time, so this is definitely one of the few cases where I’d say do as I say and not as I do. But I think a lot of us naturals are guilty of this naughty little habit. The times when I am most at risk of this behaviour is when I arrive home from work and I let my hair down after it’s been up in a bun or ponytail the whole day. That’s when I really have to remind myself of my healthy hair goals.

So my final piece of advice  to you as well as myself is simply this: As difficult as it is just leave your hair alone!

Do you suffer from Hand in Hair Syndrome? What do you do to overcome  it?

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