Are you constantly seeking healthier, more beautiful hair? Well, the secret to luscious locks is healthy hair, and healthy hair begins at home – not at the salon. Thankfully, the best hair care tips and tricks are often the easiest. Here’s how to take care of hair at home, for healthy, head-turning tresses.
The Best Hair Care Tips and Tricks To Maintain Healthy Hair
If you’re not taking proper care of your hair on a daily basis, it’s little wonder your tresses have started to feel less than beautiful. Perhaps your hair is dry and brittle, oily and limp, overly frizzy, or suddenly feeling thin and sparse? Your scalp may even be flaking and itchy.
The best place to start is with a reset. Forget everything you’ve been doing, and go back to the basics.
Here are some favorite hair tips for regaining and maintaining beautiful hair.
1. Tips For Washing Your Hair
Washing your hair may feel “fool proof”– surely you can’t wash hair the wrong way? Actually, you can, and some people do. Here are some tips for hair washing that can help ensure it’s done in a way that’s both effective and gentle.
Avoid Washing Hair Daily
It’s common for people to wash their hair daily because they think it’s too oily. But this opens up a two-pronged problem.
- First, some natural oil is essential to the health of your hair. If you wash your hair too much, you can strip that moisture away. This could leave your hair and scalp drier and your hair more prone to breakage.
- Second, when the scalp becomes drier, it may produce more oil to compensate. So, the more you wash your hair the more oil it produces.1
Overwashing your hair may also fade your salon color faster.2 For most hair types, washing your hair every two to three days is generally recommended by experts.3 Invest in a good dry shampoo to help your wash last longer.
Shampoo Gently And Condition The Ends
Don’t overdo it with shampooing by slathering on pumps of shampoo. A quarter-sized amount of shampoo is usually enough in most cases. Then, gently massage it into your scalp for a couple of minutes to help remove build up.4 When you apply conditioner, only apply it from the mid length through to the ends of your hair. This may help prevent excess build up in the hair. It also helps to keep the conditioner where it’s needed most –– the ends. Let it sit for several minutes, then rinse.5
Choose The Right Formula For Your Hair Type
Choosing a shampoo and conditioning formula that’s best suited to your hair type is definitely a wise idea. For example, oily hair types should avoid shampoos and conditioners that are deeply hydrating and look instead to options such as clarifying shampoos. While dry hair or curly hair types require moisture-rich formulas packed with smoothing agents to help seal the cuticle.6
Wash With Lukewarm Water, Rinse With Cool Water
Hot water may dry out your tresses. It might also fade your salon color faster. So, stick to lukewarm water. You can even go one step further and rinse your hair with cool water. The science behind this is that warm water opens up the hair cuticle, while cold water seals it shut, thereby locking in the moisture.7
2. Tips For Drying Your Hair
Don’t Towel Dry Your Hair
Rather than harshly rubbing your hair dry with a terrycloth bath towel, opt instead for a microfiber towel. Rubbing your hair dry can create frizz or cause breakage.8 Instead, simply step out of the shower, wrap your wet hair in the microfiber towel, and then walk away. It will dry naturally within the microfiber towel wrap.
3. Tips For Styling Your Hair
Protect Against Heat Styling
Heat styling is incredibly damaging to hair.9 However, that’s not enough for most people to give up blow drying. So, how can you minimize the damage? Don’t blow dry hair when it’s fully wet. Instead, apply a heat protectant spray, and let your hair air dry naturally until it’s about 70% dry. This may help to reduce the heat damage. Likewise, if you’ll be using curling irons or flat irons, always begin with dry hair. Aim to limit excessive heat styling, and use these appliances only once or twice a week if possible. You can also use a styling serum with restorative protein compounds to nourish hair and prep it for styling. This might help to combat dullness and breakage while also providing some hold for a more lustrous-looking mane.
Protect Against Hair Breakage
As it turns out, overuse of hair elastics might lead to hair breakage. Don’t tie your hair back all of the time, and seek out thick, soft hair elastics when you do. Scrunchies, silk hair ties, and telephone cord spirals are ideal.
You should also avoid tying hair too tightly. Tight braids, tight buns, or tight ponytails can seriously damage hair follicles and cause hair to break off.10
4. Tips For Brushing Your Hair
Brushing Your Hair: Wet Or Dry?
It’s often said that you shouldn’t brush wet hair. This is because hair is at its weakest when it’s wet.11 So, when should you brush your hair? Ideally, you should wait until your hair dries to around 80% and then turn to a gentle, soft brush.
Are All Brushes Created Equally?
Different brushes are better for different hair types. For example, those with curly hair should avoid traditional brushes and simply rake their fingers through their locks instead. A good paddle brush can also do a gentle job of this.
That old wive’s tale about brushing your hair 100 times a day for beautiful hair? Not such a great idea. Too much brushing can damage hair. Aim to only brush your hair when you need to untangle it.
Take Your Natural Hair Texture Into Account
If you have straight hair (or slightly wavy) hair you may get some benefit from dry brushing your hair –– as long as you don’t do it too often. Grabbing a soft-bristled brush (like a paddle brush) every few days may help distribute natural oil from the scalp down through the hair shaft, which can help to smooth it, without making it oily.12
5. Tips To Protect Your Hair From The Sun And Pollution
Sun and pollution can wreak havoc on your locks, just as they do on your skin. Aim to protect your hair when you know you’ll be out and about in the sun or the city. Here are a few tips for hair for optimal protection:
- Cover up: wear a hat or scarf to protect hair from sun damage.
- Wear hair sunscreen: Use a good hair sunscreen just as you would on your skin to help protect it from the sun’s harmful UV rays.
- Tie hair back: Keeping your hair back may help to keep it out of the sun and prevent pollution from infiltrating it.
- Use a clarifying shampoo: About once a week, deeply cleanse your scalp and hair to wash out any pollution that may have built up.
Hair Care Tips: Take Loving Care of Your Hair
No amount of blowouts or fancy hairstyles can disguise broken and damaged hair. By following a few basic hair tips and tricks, you can ensure that you’re taking the very best care of hair on a daily basis.
Got more questions about how to take care of your hair? Head on over to our Hair Care FAQ page!
1 https://www.teenvogue.com/story/washing-your-hair-wrong
2 https://www.today.com/style/heat-enemy-11-tips-help-your-hair-color-last-longer-t84596
3 https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/gallery/how-often-should-wash-hair
4 https://www.today.com/style/how-wash-hair-correctly-tips-experts-t111714
5 https://www.today.com/style/how-wash-hair-correctly-tips-experts-t111714
6 https://www.byrdie.com/shampoo-101-choosing-the-right-shampoo-3517815
7 https://www.teenvogue.com/story/washing-your-hair-wrong
8 https://www.thecut.com/2018/02/best-tips-for-air-dried-hair.html
9 https://stylecaster.com/beauty/how-to-heat-style-hair-safely/
10 https://www.bustle.com/p/the-3-best-hair-ties-to-prevent-breakage-21731521#:~:text=Using%20the%20wrong%20kind%20of,breakage%20will%20definitely%20not%20do.
11 https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/beauty-hair/hair/news/a46471/why-you-shouldnt-brush-hair-after-shower/
12 https://www.stylist.co.uk/beauty/thehairchannel/the-golden-rules-of-brushing-your-hair-dos-donts-expert-tips-care/130745