I thought that changing the direction of the hair parting was an urban legend that had little or no effect on the health of your mane until I spoke to hair care expert (and creator of her eponymous brand), Miriam Quevedo. In fact, I only believed in hair parting because of its ability to add volume to the hair. And not so much because she understood the logic of doing it–which she does–but because a hair guru, the world-renowned stylist Frédéric Fekkai, once said that "changing the direction of the parting can completely transform a woman's look. It determines where the volume of her mane will be concentrated. By moving it, you can balance proportions. A theory confirmed by other stylists such as Eduardo Sanchez who corroborated that by bringing the parting to the opposite side of the natural parting, you immediately get a more lifted root.
Until now, I have overlooked these recommendations. Although I love having volume at the root, I love wearing the parting in the middle so much that I've prioritised this option over volume. But when I learned that changing it from time to time (just a few millimetres) could visibly improve the loss of hair density in that area and prevent the exposed scalp from swelling, I changed my mind. And even more so when Quevedo revealed another fact to me: "Hair ages 6 years faster than skin". If we take into account that in addition to the chronological age of the hair, there are other factors that accelerate the process and that occur on a daily basis–free radicals, solar radiation, pollution, use of heat tools, and lifestyle–it makes perfect sense to move the line to minimise, as far as possible, that environmental factors always affect the same area of the scalp, and to prevent the hair from getting damaged.
Environmental ageing
"By always having the parting on the same side, what happens to the scalp is that this area is always exposed to environmental ageing. The microbiome is altered, and contamination enters the follicles, altering the ideal microenvironment of the scalp that maintains healthy and continuous growth and a healthy scalp. By changing the parting slightly from time to time we will block UV rays from always hitting the same area. Moving it every week or month means that no area is more exposed to these factors," explains Quevedo.
How often to move the hair parting
The ideal would be to change it minimally, almost once a week, especially during periods of significant sun exposure, since this slight and repeated change avoids exposure in a specific area and, therefore, reduces the ageing process caused by solar radiation on the scalp. However, if you prefer to do it less often, every three months, for example, the expert advises carrying out this change in a more radical way: from the middle to the side and from the side to the centre.
On the loss of hair density
Although changing the direction of the hair parting will not directly affect hair loss, it does have an impact on the hair density of the area, since where the hair opens up, when exposed to factors that alter its well-being, it can begin to lose some density. In addition, as David Lesur, training director of the David Künzle salon, explained to us on another occasion, if you suffer from hair loss, this loss may be more noticeable in the parting area. On the other hand, it is worth remembering, as Miriam Quevedo's training team explains, that the fact that the hair follicle becomes thinner at the root is explained, in part, because the vitamins we ingest are always absorbed first by the main organs and, in case of deficiency, they do not reach the distal areas such as the hair and scalp correctly. Using products for hair and scalp that protect from solar radiation and scarves is a good alternative.
This article first appeared on vogue.es
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