What's the best way to keep your hair healthy and shiny?
Stop Clarifying!
A clarifying shampoo will strip color and natural oils from your hair. You do not need to do this everyday. Once every few weeks, unless you use a lot of product, is just fine.
Avoiding shampoo directly on your ends, is a good cheat. The water will rinse the shampoo from your scalp over your ends anyways. If your hair is not dirty from product or just dirt, you don't need a thorough cleansing that will just wash away necessary oils.
Do Conditioning Treatments
No hair shaft is perfect. Just like your skin, it needs a moisture boost. When your skin is dry it cracks and flakes. Don't you think your hair will have a similar effect? You can use your everyday moisturizing conditioner or a specialized conditioner for treatments if you need more than just a boost.
Your everyday moisturizing conditioner can be left on damp hair(to help it stick). Put a plastic hair net (they usually come with an elastic string) on your head, making sure to have all hair contained. These bags can be found at Sallys or any beauty supply store that sells perms. Applying heat will open up the cuticle allowing the conditioner to penetrate. Only a few minutes is needed.
Do a thorough rinsing. Most dandruff is caused by product not being rinsed properly. A specialized treatment will come with instructions.
Rinse with Cold Water
Give your hair a shock. Heat expands and cold contracts. After conditioning, rinse cool/cold water through your hair to contract the cuticles, trapping moisture in. By loosening clusters of hair via a quick finger comb through, you are allowing water to flow over every strand of hair.
Easy on the Product
Most styling products contain alcohols. Alcohol is a natural dehydrating additive to liquids. buildup of products can also result in preventing your hair and skin from receiving oxygen.
Extreme and long term product buildup on the scalp could result in thinning of hair.
Easy with the Brushing
Hair is less susceptible to snap when it is dry. Try to brush hair before you get into the shower. It will help you to brush it less when you get out. Plus, breaking up tangles will allow shampoo and conditioner get to more of your hair.
Careful with the Hot Tools
Paul Mitchell's Heat Seal is a great way to protect your hair from the daily use of hot tools.
Take short cuts! Don't straighten every piece of hair. Skip some of the interior hair or only do the top, to give your hair a break.
Blow dry a bit right after you towel dry it. Go back periodically as you get ready and hit your hair with the dryer again. It will greatly speed up the natural drying of your hair without having that saggy air dried feel. Then finish it up when your all set to go. The less hot dry air on your hair, the better.
You Are What You Eat
Remember, hair and nails are dead skin cells, essentially a byproduct of your body. What you put into your bloodstream will greatly affect every part of your body.
Consume healthy, fortifying foods and drink liquids with moisture replenishing qualities; it will show.
Use a Shine Spray or Leave-In
These sprays are composed mostly of oils. Especially with long hair, essential oils that your scalp produces (sebum) are washed away before they can do any good to your ends. Replenish your ends!
One Extra Day
Go an extra day without shampooing the oils away. Do MaiTais, a slick ponytail, or a french braid.
I often use talc or baby powder just along my part to soak up oil, counter acting the greasy look. Talc powder works best as it is not as silky and it doesn't show up as much in dark hair as baby powder.
Don't Believe Advertising
Look up the ingredients in your products. Don't expect those beautiful models to actually be using the product they are being paid to promote. Commercials only exist to get you to buy something. Remember the saying, if you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.
For instance, Pantene has one of the best advertising teams out there. In return, their sales have increased greatly. It does make hair full and shiny but, their products coat every strand of your hair in a layer of wax, causing buildup at your scalp and preventing oxygen from reaching you.
Help Me With..
|
|
Tip of the Day
You can curl with your ceramic flat iron!Clamp end of hair tress in iron. Give the iron a 180 degree turn and pull the hair through. Do no let the ends of your hair slip out the sides of the iron. It must be a thorough pass through. Hold iron either straight up and down or completely on its side while curling. Holding the iron in a limp-handed slant will be less effective.