From the gym to the meeting: five things that quietly wreck your hair

Most hair damage is not dramatic. It is small, repeated and accidental, and it accumulates in the gap between a workout and the rest of your day.

One: the tight ponytail on wet hair

Wet hair stretches. Put it under tension and it stays stretched, then snaps at the point where the band sits. If you must tie it, tie it loosely, low, and with fabric rather than elastic.

Two: the rushed blow-dry

Speed means heat, and heat on soaking hair means steam forcing its way out through the cuticle. Towel or turban first, get it to damp, then dry. You will spend less time overall.

Three: sweat left to dry in

Sweat is salty, and salt is drying. Left in, it sits on the fibre all day. A rinse is better than nothing; a rinse and a leave-in is better still.

Four: the towel

Rubbing a terry towel over a wet cuticle is mechanical abrasion at the worst possible moment. Squeeze, do not rub, and use microfibre if you have it.

Five: friction all day

Collars, bag straps, headphones. Nothing you can avoid, but a smoothed cuticle takes friction far better than a lifted one, which is the argument for sealing in the morning rather than the evening.

The thirty-second version

Rinse, squeeze to damp, one sealed 1 ml capsule through mid-lengths and ends, dry, go. It fits in the time it takes to find your shoes. Ellips Hair Vitamin is a cosmetic leave-in treatment: it conditions, smooths and helps protect the fibre against heat and mechanical damage.