Before your next salon visit, do a quick hair check at home with your own hands.

Before your next salon visit, do a quick hair check at home with your own hands.

In the salon chair, it is easy to just say "it feels a bit damaged." Putting your own hair into words is harder than it seems. Here are three simple checks you can do at home, plus questions to ask your designer.

First, elasticity. After washing, towel off lightly, pick one strand behind your ear, and pull very gently, then let go. If it stretches a little and springs back, your hair still has elasticity. If it stays stretched or snaps easily, heat or chemicals may have affected it. Only pull gently, never hard.

Second, the ends. When your hair is fully dry, hold a few strands between your thumb and finger and slide from the middle to the ends. Smooth means the surface is even. Bumpy or rough ends may be dry. Remember where the rough part begins, below the shoulders or from ear height.

Third, shine. On a sunny day, with nothing applied, look at the light on your hair in a mirror. If the light runs in one soft line to the ends, the surface lies evenly. If only the ends look cloudy, the ends may be rough.

If something worried you, ask about it at your visit: how gentle your next perm or color can be, how much to trim, or what home-care order suits your hair. Change only one product at a time and watch for a few weeks.

Home checks are just a quick note. Your designer decides the real state after seeing and feeling your hair. Even saying where the ends catch and where they look cloudy makes the consultation much faster.

Visiting Seoul? Book your visit via DM. APEAK HAIR is in Sinchon and near Sungshin Women's Univ. Station.

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by APEAK HAIR