Careful With Your Wet Hair!

Hair is especially susceptible to breakage when it’s wet. “Water exposure swells and stretches the hair’s shaft, which causes the shingle-like outer layer to lift, and adding stress from brushing in that state can cause it to break,” says Sabina Wizemann, senior chemist at the Good Housekeeping Institute Beauty Lab, a Prevention partner. Instead, brush dry hair before shampooing. If it’s tangled afterward, towel-dry it so it no longer drips, apply a leave-in conditioner, and use a wide-tooth comb or a detangling brush, working from the ends up in small sections, she advises.