Hair Care (and my hair phases)

     

     Soft, shiny, silky hair. I think this is what practically every girl craves. We spend so much money each year trying to find that holy grail product, while wasting money on flops along the way. We put so much time and money into styling our hair, while damaging it in the process. Why do girls do this? A person's hair can say a lot about them. Not to mention, for the sake of beauty.

some of my many hair phases:      

     
    I think I'm a valid candidate to be talking about hair. My hair has been every length possible. From short to waist length. It's been a variety of textures. It's been straightened, curled, permed, crimped, etc. Not to mention, it's been several different colors of browns and reds in my high school days. Once  it was temporarily blonde for a whole 5 minutes due to a hair accident. What can I say? I love to experiment. These days I've beens  going  the natural route. No heat appliances (which means no straightening, no curling, no blow drying). No more dye on these follicles of mine. Color is fun, but au naturale was always the best look for me anyways. With all the experimenting I put my hair through, it became damaged  over time. The result was I had to cut most of it off, now I'm growing it out the right way. I've had to learn how to properly take good care of my hair. Some tips now, before I banter even more:

1. Treat it like lace. By the time hair reaches your shoulder, it is two years old. Gross right? 

2. Don't wash it everyday. Your hair needs the natural oil to condition it. Stripping your hair of the oil will only leave it coarse and dry. BUT if you're like me, and you MUST wash your hair everyday...wash it with conditioner. I'm serious. I shampoo and condition every other day. In between, I wash with conditioner. Take the conditioner and massage it on your scalp as if it were shampoo. Then wash all of it out. Afterwards, condition the ends only and leave it in for a few minutes as you usually would. This cleans my hair without drying it out. 

3. Don't ever brush your hair when its wet. This will break your ends. Use a wide tooth comb. 

4. Leave in conditioners. I love these. They make your hair feel soft and smelling good. 

5. Hair masks/deep conditioners. Use these once a week. It's a deep conditioner that will penetrate your strands.

6. Hair buildup: use vinegar or clarifying shampoo. Use this about once a week or so. With time, oil, hairspray,and hair products build up on you scalp, and regular shampoos may not be able to get rid of all traces. A clarifying shampoo will rid your hair of these substances and make it feel fresh and clean. 

7. Try to stay away from blow drying. I like to let my hair air dry most of the time. If you do blow dry, try to purchase a dryer with a cool shot option. I like to dry my hair with this, as it is not damaging. Try to get the ones where you don't have to hold down the button the whole time, this is killer on the thumb after awhile. 

8. Don't cheat the length. I hate seeing girls with long hair which are obviously damaged. Trim that sucker every two months or so. There's no point in having long strands if they are full of split ends and feel coarse to the touch. 

9. Try to avoid using to much hairspray. The alcohol will dry out those follicles. 

10. A good diet. You are what you eat. Try cutting back on fats and cholesterols. The bonus is that's also good for you health. 


I hope this article was of some use! Have a nice week =)