Split Ends

A hair that splits. At the end it fans out, divides into two, sometimes three strands — as if it has lost its cohesion. Medically, split ends are a structural defect: the outer protective layer of the hair becomes brittle, the fibre tears open. Heat, chemical treatment, mechanical stress — the causes are known. But there is a question that is rarely asked: why does something that naturally belongs together split apart?

Hair is not dead material, even if biology classifies it that way. It is an expression of your vital force. It grows out of you, it shows your condition, it responds to stress, to nutritional deficiency, to inner tension. When your hair splits, your body is showing you something about the way you treat yourself. The split on the outside is an image of a split on the inside.