Why Does My Hair Curl at the End & How to Stop Your Hair From Curling

Are you bothered by the fact that your hair curls at the ends and want to find out why this happens? I did the research and below you’ll find out all the reasons why your hair could be curling at the ends and what things you can do about it.

Why does my hair curl at the end? 

Your hair often curls at the ends of your hair because of the weight distribution of your haircut. When external layers are cut, all the weight of your hair is removed from the outside of your hair. This way you can say you “lose balance” and this can be difficult to tame. 

Controlling the shape of your hair then becomes difficult. Let’s put it simpler: When you don’t have weight in the right places of your hair, your hair will do all kinds of crazy like curling at the ends. 

Even though the above reason happens often, some other reasons can cause your hair to curl up at the ends.

13 reasons why your hair curls at the ends

Changing shampoo

Changing your shampoo can cause the curling of your hair at the ends because shampoo (and other hair care products) can soften or coarsen your hair and encourage curls. now, it might be that the new shampoo you picked has an ingrediënt in it that doesn’t work well for your hair and makes it curl. 

The best thing you can do when this happens is to try to revert back to the original shampoo you were using before it happens. Find out if that was the problem. If that was the problem, you might even find out what the ingrediënt was that caused the curling of your hair.

Change in season

It is normal to experience changes in your hair (and scalp) when the seasons change. As you can imagine the weather conditions change when we move to warmer and colder months. 

the humidity in the air changes, the amount of rain that falls changes, and the temperature changes and this has an impact on the level of moisture in our scalps. This in turn can cause changes in scalp health and in overall hair texture and hair health.

This in turn can cause your hair to curl at the ends. The best thing you can try to do is use a scalp scrub to remove excess build-up and then moisturize the scalp so that it can return to a natural balance. This can lead to your hair going back to the way it was before.

Hormonal change

It can also be that a hormonal change has changed the texture of your hair. An increase in androgens (androgens are a group of sex hormones. They help start puberty and play a role in reproductive health and body development) in women can lead to a change in the hair follicle from round to flat. This in turn can lead to a change in hair texture from straight to curly.

Food and stress

Changing your diet can make for a significant change in your hair texture. As you might know, your hair needs certain minerals and vitamins (like protein, iron, and fatty acids like omega-3). When these needs aren’t met because of a change in your diet, your hair strands won’t be happy.

The same goes for stress. We all know that stress can have a significant impact on both mental and physical health.

But, most people don’t think about what it can do to your hair. While texture changes aren’t very common when having stress, They still can happen. In some cases, high levels of cortisol in your body can cause your hair texture to change and curl at the ends (or become dry, brittle, and thin).

The very best thing you can do if you find that your hair curls because of stress, is to find the cause. It’s best to seek professional help so that the underlying issues can be addressed. The other thing that you could try is topical.

You can try and use a medicated topical like the BosleyMD Women’s Extra Strength Minoxidil 5% topical foam to get your healthy hair back and regrow it.

Bleaching or coloring your hair

Bleaching and/or coloring your hair can cause damage to your hair. Both are harsh treatments that often will leave your hair dehydrated, brittle, and dry. This in turn can lead to dry and split hair ends which can result in your hair curling at the ends.

Genetics

Besides the weight distribution we talked earlier about, the genetics part can play a huge role in your hair curling. 

Genetics plays a defining role in the keratin structure of your hair strands (keratin is a family of naturally-occurring fibrous structural proteins found in your hair, nails, and skin).

The amount of keratin your body produces can have a pivotal effect on the structure of your hair.

Weight of the hair

As said earlier: “When external layers are cut, all the weight of your hair is removed from the outside of your hair. This way you can say you “lose balance” and this can be difficult to tame. “

A wrong distribution of the weight of your hair can cause your hair to curl up at the ends. you might want to go to a professional hairdresser to get some advice when this happens. They can often tell you what you can do about it.

Length of the hair

the length of your hair can be a factor in whether or not your hair curls up.

The longer your hair is, the heavier it gets. Heavier hair has a greater tendency to fall down compared to shorter hair.

When your hair is longer, it’s more likely to curl around itself and this can cause your hair to curl up. It’s a totally natural thing to happen.

Pregnancy

The change in your hair texture due to pregnancy is tightly related to the hormonal changes we talked about earlier.

Pregnancy can cause hormonal imbalances which can take a toll on your hair. More often than not you can hear women talk about how their hair is unmanageable and damaged while pregnant. 

When it’s really bothering you, you can see your local physician who can help and guide you with some supplements.

If it doesn’t bother you that much you have to just ride it out and see if your hair returns to its natural state of the pregnancy.

hair styling/hair styling products

Another huge factor is your hair styling and the products you use for that.

We put our hair through a lot. We bleach it, color it, apply it to curl and straighten irons with flaming heat, get a perm, and so on and so forth.

Improper hair care routine

The fact of the matter is that your hair care routine can cause your hair to curl up at the ends. An improper hair care routine can be one of the following things:

• Not washing your hair with shampoo but only with water
• conditioning your hair before you use shampoo
• using regular conditioner instead of leave-in and treating the regular conditioner as a leave-in.

All of the above have in common that it can potentially lead to weighing down your hair which can curl at the end.

Split and dead ends

Having split and dead ends is another possibility of curled ends you have to deal with. Split ends can make your hair look dry and frizzy ends which can cause it to curl up at the ends.

Weight distribution

As we’ve discussed earlier, wrong weight distribution is probably the most common reason why your hair curls at its ends.

how to stop your hair from curling at the ends

Below are the things you can do to stop your hair from curling at the ends. Now some are difficult to do something about (pregnancy for example), but for all the other issues above, there are solutions below.

Go for the right haircut and weight distribution

When your experience hair curling at the ends due to a weight distribution imbalance of your hair, you should seek a professional hair stylist to set that straight.

A professional hairdresser can help you in cutting your hair to the right haircut and the right weight distribution so that it will not curl at the ends.

Try not to bleach or color your hair or at least get proper advice

Bleaching and dyeing your hair are harsh chemical treatments for your hair. Therefore it is best to try and keep the bleaching and coloring to a minimum. 

When you take good care of your hair, however, you sure can color or bleach your hair, but you should always treat your hair right. Adjust to a proper hair care routine as you can read below.

Having a proper hair care routine

Using a proper hair care routine is a pivotal factor in keeping your hair from curling at the ends. When you take good care of your hair, your hair will be healthy and become less “unmanageable”.

So, find the right hair care routine for you. You can do this by defining what type of hair you have and what its needs are. When you know that you can adjust to that and make sure that you use the right and proper care.

This also means that you should be on the lookout for overuse of the blow dryer, and heat styling tools.

Manage food and stress

Keeping your hair healthy is, as you read, a major factor in keeping your hair from curling. Managing food and stress plays a huge part in this.

when you can give your body the food (the nutriënts it needs) you help not only your body but also your skin and hair. A healthy body is a healthy hair. So, keep in mind that a healthy diet can help you reduce the curling at the ends.

The same goes for stress. Now there are things and/or periods in your life that you can’t do anything about. But, striving for less stress can be beneficial to keeping your hair straight.

You can try the following things to alleviate some stress:

• Go out and be active
• meditate
• yoga
• getting enough sleep
• keep a journal

And there are for sure more things you can try!

Make use of heat protectants

As said earlier, you should keep the heat styling to a minimum. Hair curlers, flat irons, and straighteners. Now, if you want to use a heat styling tool I urge you to make use of heat protectants.

A heat protectant is a product that you apply to your hair that will stop the heat tools from stripping your hair of its moisture (besides that it will also protect your hair from UV rays!)

How to use it effectively:

Dry your hair for at least 60 to 70% percent before you apply the heat protectant to your hair. This way you can ensure that you’ll have maximum effectiveness.

Make use of silk or satin pillows

The thing with ‘normal’ pillows is that they can absorb the moisture from your hair. with silk or satin pillows this isn’t the case. This material will not absorb the moisture so the moisture can be kept in your hair. 

Using a silk or satin pillow will not only help with keeping the moisture in your hair, but it can also help with maintaining your styling and reducing friction. This in turn will avoid your hair from curling at its ends and help with overall frizz.

Sleep with the pineapple hairstyle

When you go for a pineapple hairstyle as you go to sleep, you can protect your hair from the wear and tear that’s involved with sleeping. This can really reduce the hair curling at the ends for you.

Minimal effort with maximal results!

Professional help

Last but not least, you can always seek out the advice of a professional hairdresser. I think that this isn’t mentioned nearly enough. There are lots of professionals who can tell you much more about your hair and how to treat it so that it won’t curl up.

The best thing about it is that the advice is tailor-made for your hair so you know you get the best effect you can get.

Before you go…

Finding the right steps you can take to keep your hair from curling at the ends is just the beginning. I can imagine you have more questions about hair curling and that’s why I have some other articles that you might find interesting. Below you’ll find my recommendations.

Why does my hair curl inward?
Why does my hair curl up at the back of my hair?
Why does my hair curl up when it gets longer?