Healthy Hair Care: How To Get Shiny Hair

There’s something about silky, shiny hair that just makes you want to run your fingers through it and dramatically shake your head. Let’s be real, is there anyone who doesn’t want to know how to get shiny hair? But if you’re stuck with lifeless locks, you may be wondering how you can ever make your hair shiny. It’s easier than you may think. The following tips are great for getting glossier, shinier hair.

First, What May Cause Dull Hair?

If you’re dealing with dry, limp, or frizzy hair, there are a few culprits you can probably pinpoint. There are a few potential reasons your hair may be appearing more dull lately. They include:

• A diet that lacks nutrients that are key to keeping hair healthy
• Improper cleansing and hair care routines
• Damage due to UV rays or heat styling
• Overprocessing with chemicals (often seen in color-treated hair)
• Everyday exposure to environmental conditions, like cold or dry air
• Overuse of poor quality hair products or using the wrong products
• Your hair’s natural texture (straight hair tends to look shinier than curly hair because smooth surfaces reflect light).^1,2

Here’s How to Make Your Hair Shiny and Glossy

Eat These Hair-Healthy Foods

Healthy hair starts from the inside out. Consuming a balanced diet with the right nutrients can help start you on the right path to healthy, shinier hair. Here are the best types of foods you can eat that may support shiny-looking hair:

• Eggs, which are a great source of zinc, selenium, protein, and biotin. Biotin aids the production of the hair protein keratin.³
• Berries, which have strong antioxidant properties that may help protect hair from free radicals.⁴
• Leafy greens. like spinach, which is a great source of folate, iron, and vitamins B, C, and E.
• Sweet potatoes, which give you hair-healthy beta-carotene.
• Avocados, which are a great source of hair-healthy antioxidants, fiber, potassium, and magnesium.
• Fatty fish, like salmon, which gives you a healthy dose of protein, omega-3 fatty acids, and vitamins B-12 and D.^5,6

Try A Hair Supplement

A hair supplement may be able to help your body get the nutrients it needs and support healthy hair. Look for a supplement with:

• DFK-GLOW, which is abundant in keratin, a protein that may help support healthy hair.⁷
• Hydrolyzed collagen, which supports the protein that gives your hair structure, potentially leading to glossy hair.⁸
• Antioxidants, like quercetin and luteolin, which support your body’s natural defense against free radicals and support healthy, shiny hair.⁹
• Hyaluronic acid, which helps moisturize your scalp and create the conditions for healthy hair to grow.¹⁰

Rinse Your Hair With Cold Water

After you shampoo and condition your hair, try a cold water rinse. The idea behind this is that cold water seals in your shampoo’s beneficial ingredients and water inside your hair shaft. It may also help your hair cuticle cells lie flat, which causes light to reflect off your hair, helping to promote shiny locks.¹¹

Steer Clear Of These Damaging Ingredients

When you’re trying to figure out how to get shiny hair, the type of products you use may be just as important as the type of products you don’t use. A class of ingredients to leave out? Sulfates. Sulfates may strip your hair of natural oils, which might leave it looking dull.¹²

Try An Apple Cider Vinegar Rinse

An apple cider vinegar rinse may help clear product build-up from your hair strands, which might help give you shinier hair. But before you open your pantry and pour apple cider vinegar over your head, know that you have to dilute it heavily first. Try this:

1. Dilute one part ACV with five parts water, and add the mixture to a spray bottle.
2. In the shower, spray your scalp with the mixture.
3. Work the mixture in with your fingers.
4. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes, and then rinse it out.
5. Apply a light conditioner, and rinse.¹³

Use Heat Styling Tools (Carefully And Correctly)

Curly hair texture may look more dull than straight hair because of the way light reflects on it. A blow dryer and flat iron may be able to give you the shinier hair you desire. When using heating tools, spritz on heat protectant spray first. Protecting hair from damage may help keep your hair shiny.

How To Use A Blow Dryer For Shiny Hair

1. Apply a product to protect your hair.
2. Starting with towel-dried hair, blow your damp hair with a dryer set to medium heat.
3. Blow your hair dry until it’s 80% dry.
4. Secure the top layer of your hair with a clip and continue drying the lower layers with a round brush and more heat.
5. Point the blow dryer downward to keep hair soft and help create shine.
6. Blow dry the top section, using the brush to pull your hair up and out.¹⁴

How To Use A Flat Iron For Shiny Hair

1. Running a flat iron through your hair after a blowout might help give you super shiny, glossy locks.
2. Apply a heat protectant.
3. Focusing on one inch sections at a time, flat iron your hair from roots to ends.
4. If your hair is curly, it may help to run a fine tooth comb through each section before straightening.¹⁵

Apply A Scalp Treatment

Build-up on the scalp may lead to dull hair strands. For healthy-looking hair that shines, try hair treatments designed to target your scalp. A quality scalp treatment may support a balance of the natural oil on your scalp and help infuse moisture into your roots. This may result in shinier hair.

To apply, spritz the treatment onto towel-dried hair at your roots and massage into scalp.

Spritz On A Conditioning Spray

Damaged hair is often dry, frizzy, and decidedly not shiny. If you notice that your hair is dull, a leave-in conditioner spray may help give your locks a much-needed moisture boost. Some high quality conditioning sprays work by smoothing down frayed cuticles and supporting the hair’s moisture levels. This may give you the silky hair of your dreams.

Use A Boar Bristle Brush

Your sebaceous glands produce natural oils that are meant to moisturize your scalp. Know what else those natural oils can do? Make your hair shine. A brush with natural bristles is a great tool to distribute oil from your scalp to your ends. Professional hairstylists often recommend a boar hair brush, which may also close your cuticle, giving you even more shine.¹⁶

Shine On

Magazine-worthy, glossy hair may seem difficult to achieve, but it really is within reach. Shiny hair starts with healthy hair. Choose quality products, show your hair some love, and before you know it, you may be ready for your close up.