Who’s guilty of taking great care of yourself, but letting you hair fall behind?
We get it, discovering new colours and testing out new chemical exfoliants is great, but if you find your hair gets no love until you get to the salon, perhaps it’s time you gave your hair some love.
If you’ve been treating your hair like the bad guy in zombie movie, here are some everyday ways coax it back to life.
#1 Never heat style on bare hair
Think of your unhappy burnt hair each time you heat style! Avoid blow-drying, straightening or curling your hair without first applying a heat protectant.
It creates a barrier to shield hair from extreme temperatures and help protect against split ends, breakage and frizz.
Whether you’re a straightener addict or more of a blow-dry-whenever-you-can-be-bothered type of girl, this step is non-negotiable.
#2 Use a treatment regularly
Treat your locks to a rich, conditioning at-home treatment at least once a week. Twice if your hair is in need of a little extra TLC. Look for ingredients such as avocado oil, argan oil and keratin to nourish and repair any damage. If you’re someone who colours their hair a lot, also look for formulas with bond repair technology, that repairs the hair shaft from within.
#3 Brush your scalp as well as your hair
Brushing your scalp stimulates blood circulation (hello luscious hair growth!) and helps distribute your scalp’s natural oils evenly through your hair. This keeps your locks smooth, shiny and resilient, and you haven’t even applied any product yet. Curly (read: frizzy) haired beauties should save this step for the night, while those with thin (and sometimes limp) hair should do so in the morning.
#4 Get it wet less often
Water makes hair swell from the inside, which forces the cuticle up. When that happens over and over again, you get frizz and breakage. Don’t wash your hair more than you have to. Whenever you can skip a day, that’s great. Instead, embrace a dry shampoo that’s a hard-core oil and odor absorber.
#5 Investigate ingredients
Just like our skin, there are some haircare ingredients that will work better for some than others. After all, our hair types are completely different, so finding out whether coconut oil is your friend, or silicones and sulphates aren’t, is something you can become more familiar with by reading the label. Considering we use shampoo and conditioner fairly frequently, this is a good place to start. When you find something that works, take note of the ingredients, and the same for when it doesn’t. You might be surprised to discover what your hair’s preferences are.