Hair can be our pride and joy when it is shiny and undamaged. Though as hard as we try, healthy hair may not always be what we find on our heads. If your hair is in a rut and has seen better days that leave you wondering what you’re doing wrong, then here is how to improve its odds of body and shine on a more regular basis.
A big mistake that many of us do is shampooing every day. Among all the styling products we pile on, the weather, pollution, dust, and pollen, the thought of what could be in hair makes it feel dirtier than it probably is. The problem with daily shampooing is that it not only strips the natural oils to steal its luster, but it also sets the stage for hair breakage and frizz over time.
A safer solution in that quest for healthy hair is shampooing it every other day. If your scalp feels itchy or the touch of your hair is sticky, then treat your strands to a dry shampoo in between. Something else to look into is checking your current hair products for an oil-based ingredient or silicone that could be weighing your hair down.
For those in between shampoo days, what you may want to try is taking advantage of these two fall 2018 trends of adding some hair gel to slick your hair back or going for the wet and wavy look with pomade or some texture cream if you have some curls to your hair. Your hair can look trendy and solve that missed shampoo day at the same time without anyone noticing.
Scarves and wide headbands also will be the rage this autumn 2018. Both of these can add style to your fall wardrobe while solving that issue of skipping a shampoo.
Another sizeable mistake that damages healthy hair is how we dry it. How many times have we rubbed it vigorously with a towel after rinsing? All that rubbing to dry can cause serious damage to fragile, wet hair that is more vulnerable to break, frizz and become dull.
What you should try instead is a special microfiber hair towel or even an old T-shirt to initially wrap or pat your wet hair in. Besides keeping hair safer from breakage, the material in microfiber also has another benefit to speed up drying time.
Hot styling tools may be necessary for our hair goals. Unfortunately, they also take a toll on our hair. Opt to air dry over using your blow dryer whenever you can to keep hair stronger and more resilient against breakage and damage. You might also want to think about giving your flat iron, curling iron and electric rollers a break with a new, natural style instead of being dependent on those tools for healthy hair. Nonetheless, always use a heat protectant spray whenever you subject your hair to damaging heat from your hot styling tools.
Your hair brush also has a lot to do with that guarantee of healthy hair. We all have our favorite brushes for specific hair jobs, but a natural bristle brush tugs less on the hair to keep it from breaking while distributing the scalp’s natural oils optimally through your entire head of hair. Just as helpful as this brush is, it is also important to clean your natural bristle brush of grime and bacteria buildup weekly to maintain healthy hair.
Healthy hair also will be more likely if you replace your old pillowcases for silk. Sleeping on silk allows the hair and your face to glide against the slippery fabric. Silk saves the hair from excess pulling and tugging that can tangle and cause breakage to help prevent stretching skin and contributing to wrinkles.
Remembering these few tips for healthy hair will keep it stronger, shinier and safer from breakage than you might realize.
I’ve heard that silk pillowcases are great for your hair and your skin. That will be on my wishlist.