In terms of “beauty”, I struggle the most with my hair – split ends, styling, lack of volume, having to wash my hair every other day and such. For the most part, my hair does feel healthy, aside from the ends. I’ve started dying my hair since grade 7 and I’ve only stopped in 2019 since I want to take advantage of my natural hair before it goes gray. The lower half of my hair is recovering from the damage caused from going blonde a few years back, but it’ll still be a while before it’ll be all virgin hair again. I don’t want to chop off my hair anytime soon, so I have to wait until the dyed part grows out and slowly trim it away. In the meantime until my hair gets back to its original state, I found that these golden rules to follow for healthy hair can help all of us on our haircare journey! Here’s the ultimate guide to getting healthy hair and how you can get started.
1 – Brush Your Hair 1-2 Times A Day
Brushing your hair once a day will help with tangles, but it also helps distribute your natural hair oils through your hair to condition your strands. It also stimulates the scalp and helps with blood flow to grow healthier hair. But remember to be gentle, and don’t pull or tug too hard as it can cause breakage and sometimes, even more tangles.
Recommendation: This is The Best Detangling Hairbrush For Stubborn Knots and it’s perfect for wet or dry hair and doesn’t make brushing hurt.
2 – Choose Quality Products Because Ingredients Matter
An important part of the guide to getting healthy hair is to use quality products. Drugstore beauty products are cheap because the quality is low and they don’t use the best ingredients. This is the same for drugstore haircare products. Bad ingredients such as silicone can actually cause buildup in your hair and clog the pores in your scalp. You want to stay away from ingredients like sulfates, phthalates, parabens, and even fragrances if possible. Yes, low prices are tempting, but if you want healthy hair and are putting bad ingredients into it, you won’t see the results you want. Nowadays, professional haircare products are a lot easier to get your hands on. Even Wal-Mart is selling brands like Joico which was previously sold in salons or professional haircare stores. The Joico Moisture Recovery Conditioner is literally my favorite conditioner and I’ve been using this since my Beauty Supply Outlet days in 2008. I even had someone who stole my conditioner because it made their hair so soft and it was always brittle and hard before.
Recommendations: A few brands and their products I like to use are the following: Amika, IGK, Morrocanoil, Olaplex, Ouai, and Paul Mitchell.
3 – Protect Your Hair Before Enjoying The Sun And Water
The sun and other elements including chlorine in swimming pools and the salt water of the ocean can be very damaging and drying to your hair. In order to protect your hair before enjoying outside elements, a great rule to follow for getting healthy hair is to pre-soak or dampen your hair and apply leave-in conditioner. You can also use a sun protection spray as well that protects against UV rays and heat. By taking this extra step before you go out, your hair will be less likely to sustain damage that’s harder to fix in the long run. It’ll also help with less tangles and shinier, and healthier hair.
Recommendations: Morrocanoil Protect And Prevent Spray and Bumble And Bumble Hairdresser’s Invisible Oil Heat/UV Protective Primer.
4 – Filter Your Water
For those who are farther away from the city, or in a more remote area, there’s a higher chance that you’ll have “hard water”. This means that the water that comes through your pipes contain a lot of minerals like calcium or magnesium which can cause your hair to be very dry, brittle, and have a lot of buildup. With hair that can’t keep its moisture, it’ll be more prone to breakage as well. Having hard water can also cause your hair to be more limp, dull and can even fade or discolor your hair if it’s dyed. A quick fix for this is to install a filter to your shower head. So if you are able to get a filter, it’ll really help with getting the healthy hair you want.
Recommendation: This is a very popular 20 stage shower head filter that removes impurities from the water and helps you with getting the healthy hair you dreamed of. Even if your home doesn’t have hard water, this is a great way to ensure that you’re getting the cleanest water for your hair and skin.
5 – Avoid Hot Showers
Hot showers are great, especially when it’s cold outside. But hot water can damage the hair and cause more frizz as well as dehydrate the scalp. And cold water is just too difficult for some people to handle and may even cause headaches. We want balance, and for the most part, warm water is okay. Hot water opens the cuticles of your hair and makes it become more porous and prone to breakage. After you wash your hair, it’s best to do one more quick rinse with cold water. It’ll help your hair seal in the moisture as well and make it look shinier.
6 – Use A Clarifying Or Detox Shampoo 1-2 Times A Week
A great rule to follow for healthy hair is to occasionally use a clarifying or detox shampoo to get rid of buildup and residue that can be accumulated from product use and environmental factors. It also helps with stimulating the hair follicles for hair growth and clears the scalp of dead skin and dandruff. Using a clarifying shampoo will balance the hair and restore its natural shine and add volume.
Recommendations: I like using the Ouai Detox Shampoo and the Christophe Robin Cleansing Purifying Scrub With Sea Salt.
7 – Do Not Wash Your Hair More Than 2 To 3 Times A Week
Your scalp produces natural oils that nourish your hair and when you wash it, it takes away this oil and to compensate for stripping it away, your scalp overproduces oil and your hair gets even oilier. It’s a never-ending cycle and this is something I’m still working on. I normally have to wash my hair every other day and with the use of dry shampoo, I’m able to extend this for an extra day. There are some people who only have to wash their hair once a week and their hair really does look healthy and surprisingly, not oily.
Recommendations: Dry hair – wash your hair once or twice a week to avoid further drying out your hair. Fine/thin hair – wash your hair every 2 days to help with retaining moisture. Thicker hair – wash your hair every 4 to 5 days.
8 – Shampoo Your Hair Twice For Healthy Hair
For the most part, I don’t pay attention when my hair stylist washes my hair since I’m lying there relaxing, or just hoping I don’t get any water down my shirt. But occasionally I do notice them shampooing my hair twice before conditioning. I’ve recently realized that shampooing your hair twice and rinsing your hair in between before applying conditioner will help you to getting your hair healthy . Like with double cleansing for the face, you can do the same with your hair. The first shampoo helps with removing dirt, oil, and buildup. The second shampoo will allow the hair to take in the beneficial ingredients and nourishment from the shampoo itself. I’ve started doing this for the past few months and I found that it really helped with adding volume to my hair and with invigorating the scalp. I am definitely hoping to see more benefits in the long run but I have incorporated this into my haircare routine and I quite like it.
9 – Use A Hair Mask Once A Week
Hair masks are tough for me to use only because I don’t have that much time to wait in the shower. Depending on which one you get, sometimes you need to leave it in your hair for up to 15 minutes and I really don’t want to just be standing in the shower waiting for the time to go by. But, when I do have time or am using a hair mask that requires less time, I really enjoy using a hair mask to provide extra nourishment to my hair. I like it for the purpose of adding moisture to my otherwise somewhat dry ends, and it makes my hair so much softer. Some hair masks even help with strengthening your hair from further damage and breakage and is highly recommended for those with really damaged hair. You will see and feel such a difference in your hair health.
Recommendations: I love using the Olaplex No. 8 Bond Intense Moisture Mask, Joico Moisture Recovery Treatment Balm, and the Ouai Treatment Masque comes with an option for Fine/Medium Hair and Thick Hair.
10 – Air Dry Your Hair Once In A While
Most of us are tight on time and want our hair to dry as soon as possible. But excessive use of blow dryers can really damage your hair and cause dryness and breakage. My mom’s hair can attest to this since she blow dries her hair multiple times a week at a salon for the past decade or so. Her hair has become so dry with tons of split ends and you can just really see the damage from the amount of heat that has been used to maintain her ‘do. Air drying your hair at least once in a while to give your hair some sort of break. We also tend to forget that the sun can cause heat damage too, especially if you’re in a more tropical area with strong UV rays. Your hair doesn’t need blow drying and hot tools on top of that.
11 – Use A Microfiber Hair Towel
We’ve probably been using a regular bath towel to dry our hair for the longest time, but switching to a microfiber hair towel will do your hair some good. I started using a microfiber hair towel in around 2008 when my grandma bought 2 for me when she was visiting Asia one year. A microfiber hair towel lessens the amount of breakage as your hair isn’t as easily caught in the fibers like it does with regular towels. It also helps your hair dry faster by its moisture-wicking abilities and absorb water without it soaking up water like regular towels. Another plus is that it minimizes frizz in the hair. You should leave the microfiber hair towel on for about 15 to 30 minutes to absorb a majority of the water in your hair.
Recommendations: Kitsch Microfiber Hair Towel Wrap
12 – Use A Heat Protectant And/Or Leave-In Conditioner
Before you brush your wet hair and prior to blow drying it, it’s a good habit to use a heat protectant or a leave-in conditioner to really aid in getting healthy hair. Most of the time, a leave-in conditioner actually performs multiple functions. This includes detangling, moisturizing, de-frizzing, adding shine, and even heat protecting the hair. A heat protectant can also provide multiple functions including reducing hair breakage and smoothing the hair. Both of these products can come in the form of a spray or lotion and there are many options to choose from in order to get you to healthy hair.
Recommendations: Ouai Leave-In Conditioner, Amika Vault Color Lock Leave-In Conditioner, and Kerastase Ciment Thermique Heat Protector.
13 – Get A Trim For Healthy Hair Maintenance
I’m the worst when it comes to this since I only cut my hair about twice a year. And especially if I’m trying to grow my hair out, the last thing I want to do is cut it. But by the 5th month after a haircut, I start noticing my ends getting more dry and crunchy so I end up trimming my ends myself. Getting a trim every couple months will help prevent split ends, breakage, and damaged hair. And in between getting my hair professionally cut, I do a little bit of maintenance on my own every so often. Trimming my hair allows me to get rid of my dead ends and get my hair a little softer and healthier-looking before having to go for another round of maintenance at the salon. A trim can help you to getting healthy hair since it gets rid of the damaged part that makes your entire hair look unhealthy and promotes healthy hair growth.
14 – Choose Good Quality Hair Tools
Like I mentioned above about choosing good quality haircare products, the same goes for hair tools. Constantly using heat and hair tools on your hair can be damaging, but to minimize the negative effects, I like to go for hair tools that have ceramic and tourmaline. Ceramic heats up quickly and evenly to minimize hair damage and allows your hair to preserve moisture and shine. It also heats your hair from the inside out, rather than from the surface. To put it simply, tourmaline is a mineral or crushed jewels also known as crystal born silicate material that smoothens the hair by emitting negative ions and counteracts frizz while giving it shine. Another good thing to have for a hair tool is the ability to choose heat settings. This allows you to decide how much heat is needed depending on your hair type and thickness, rather than a one size fits all approach. Applying heat to your hair is never great, but using one that provides benefits to your hair is a good start to maintaing healthy hair as best as you can.
Recommendations: T3 Lucea ID, T3 Lucea, GHD Platinum+ Hair Straightener, T3 Cura Hair Dryer, and BaBylissPRO Porcelain Ceramic Carrera2 Dryer.
15 – Use A Silk Or Satin Pillowcase
Not only is a silk pillowcase good for your skin, it’s great for the hair. Silk pillowcases helps your hair retain moisture and fight frizz due to the smoothness and friction-free material. It allows your hair to glide without it getting caught or pulled like it does with cotton or other material. Silk can be expensive, so satin is a great alternative as well. They are a bit on the pricey side, but I was luckily able to get my hands on some silk pillowcases when my parents visited a silk factory in China more than 5 years ago. I’ve been really loving how it feels on my skin. You’ll also be able to avoid those sleep lines that you sometimes wake up with where everyone will know you had a good sleep.
Recommendations: Slip Silk Pillowcase
16 – Take Hair Supplements, But Choose Wisely
A lot of you I’m sure has seen hair supplement ads and are aware of all the celebrities that have been promoting them all over social media. A lot of it is actually marketing and beauty brands are trying to cash in on this trend. These hair supplements contains all your regular vitamins and biotin which is present in most of your daily supplements anyway (if you take them). So after a lot of research, I find that a lot of these supplements are just packaged more attractively and is backed by a beauty brand you probably already love which makes it more convincing for people to want to buy. I’ve tried the Hairfinity Healthy Hair Supplements, and although my hair grew faster, I did find it was falling out more. Would I rather have long hair or actually have hair? That’s an easy one. And although it’s tempting to want to try all these fancily-packaged hair supplements and tasty gummies, sometimes it’s better to go with those who actually specialize in those particular things.
Recommendations: My naturopath has recommended the Biosil Drops that helps with hair, skin, and nails. I’ll admit it tastes kind of like lobster claws and it made it hard to want to take it even when mixed with water so a better alternative is the Biosil Liquid Capsules where you won’t have to taste it at all. I also take the Vital Proteins Original Collagen Peptides which also helps with getting healthy hair, skin and nails as well.
If you want more hair tips, here are 7 Ways To Instantly Fix A Bad Hair Day And Add Volume To Your Hair.
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