Wednesday, February 17, 2010

All about Hair

Ok so I've been asked about my hair and what I do to make it look SO awesome.  ok maybe not so awesome- but at least looking decent.

When asked what products a used- JL was quite surprised when I said: "None." So she asked my secrets.  So here are my secrets to ok/healthy hair.


1: Shampoo:  I really don't have a specific kind I use.  Since my skin gets so dry in the winter- right now I'm using head and shoulders.  Usually I'll use pantene.  

2. Conditioner: Same thing- I don't use a special type but I am in LOVE with the Loreal Rosemary mint shampoo and conditioner.  

It smells like heaven!  It's for color treated hair and it reduces the frizz and has special UV filters to lessen damage.  (It's also 100% vegan for those of you tree huggers out there!)


3: When to Wash:  Ok this will make or break your hair so pay attention!  DO NOT WASH YOUR HAIR EVERY DAY.  I'm totally being real right now.  The reason is--- shampoo strips your hair of it's natural oils and leaves it completely dry.  So when you wash your hair every day- your head works EXTRA hard to produce more oils to repair the damage the shampoo does.  So that's why- when you wash every day and you skip one day- you hair looks EXTRA nasty greasy- and that's because your head is producing a super amount of oils.

If you do wash your hair everyday- it will suck to break that cycle.  The first week will suck.  But I swear to you- start washing your hair every other day.  It will be greasy on those 2nd days and it will drive you nuts- but after a week or 2 of doing this- your hair will eventually start producing less oil and your hair will start looking healthier and less greasy.  Honestly. If you are unhappy with your hair- this is the first thing to try.


4: How to Wash Your Hair:  Suds up, rinse, repeat,. right?  Wrong.  Shampoo is designed to cut the oil (which is produced by your head) and conditioner is putting more oils into your hair to make it soft/tanglefree, etc.  But this doesn't make any sense if you think about it.... why would you want to cut the oil then put more on?  You don't!

First shampoo.  I only shampoo once.  Why? Because I don't want to strip my head of everything it naturally has.  Only shampoo your head.  This is because that's where the oil is.  If you hair is long- just suds up the hair around your head and a few inches off- the run off shampoo will clean the ends- but since your ends are not getting oils because it's too far from your head- the more you shampoo your ends the more dry they become (hence split and dead ends).  

Conditioner.  Only put conditioner on the ends of your hair.  Why?  Well as I said before- your conditioner has extra oils to help mend the broken ends of your hair.  It's super strong - so you do NOT want that super strong oils to go right back on the top of your head- where they will naturally be produced anyways.  

Basically you want your hair to be an even scope.  Take away some oils from the top, add some to the bottom.  Shampoo your head, condition your ends.

5. Styling: Ok now this is just for me- I don't know if you have particular ways that you have to do your hair. I don't know if it's long or wavy or straight or curly.  My hair is naturally a little bit wavy.  But here's the main tip to maximizing the health of your hair: Heat destroys your hair. You have heard this over and over- I'm sure.  But the more you blow dry your hair or straighten or curl it with harsh heat tools - the more damage it does to your hair.

What I do? I shower at night and let it air dry over night.  Then in the morning- if I want to style it-  it will already be dry- so a few minutes with the straightener or curlers isn't so bad because I didn't blast it with 10 minutes of heat blow drying it.  I will rarely blow dry my hair is it frizzes my hair to pieces- but I will on occasion.  Those who blow dry their hair every day will damage it.

6: Styling without heat: My hair, as I said, is only slightly wavy.  But I love when my hair is full and has waves or curls!  But I hate using the curling iron or hot curlers because I seriously love to sleep in and don't want to waste time.  So I found a few tricks to get the hair I want.

For really loose waves I will tie my damp hair in a tight bun and sleep in it


When I wake up my hair is usually lookin like this:

That's my usual go to look.  I'll usually throw my hair in a bun at night and call it a day.


Now if you want to get this look:

It's very easy!  I like to call this the poor man's curls.  Basically it's a loose crimp.  In order to achieve this look- french braid your hair into 2 french braids - but make sure it's slightly damp.  Sleep in the braids, wake up, take them out and there you go!  Very simple and very easy. 

Curls?

The best way to get a head of curly locks without using heat is to sleep in curlers.   I know this sounds painful! But there are very easy (and CHEAP!) ways to go about this.  And it's fun because you can do it the night before while watching tv and not all sleepy in the morning!

How many of you remember these sponge curlers?  

Break those suckers out!!  I used to LOVE it when my mom would set my hair in curlers, and it would come out so nice and curly!  If you don't have any of these old sponge curlers- there's other cheap and easy ways to curl your hair overnight.  

Avon sells very cute wire and foam/fabric pillow curlers.  

They are super easy and super fun! it's a foam pillow that's wrapped in cloth with a wire on each side.  Basically wrap your hair around them and then fold the wires inward! very simple to close up and easy- and you don't have to worry about clipping!  I believe I paid around $6-8 for a pack of 12 - (and since I have long thick hair I got 3 packs) but I gotta tell you- they're totally worth it! I think you can find them on amazon for about $4.80  a pack.


But if that's STILL too expensive you can use..... PAPER TOWELS!  I know that sounds ridiculous- but I tried it out and it worked great! and you can reuse them!  Roll them up loosely, start rolling your hair normally and then tie them off at the top of your head. Here's a pic of little kids doing it.  


The cool thing about the paper towels is that you can make as big or as small curls as you want.  The more hair you put on one paper towel- the bigger the curls!  It's really simple and really fun!  My hair is still curly after sleeping in paper towels on monday night!


One Last Tip:

For shiny hair the quickest and easiest tip is this:  Heat dulls your hair.  For extra shine, at the end of your shower- blast your hair with cool water to cool it down and remove the heat.  I usually do this at the end of my shower when I'm washing my face- because I have to cool the water down to rinse my face!  So once I'm done rinsing my face- I stick my head under the cool water!  


I hope this helps for any of your hair needs or maybe you learned something!  If not... I hope you enjoyed the pictures!  Do YOU have any hair tips that I might use?

4 comments:

  1. wow! that was a super informative post. :D I love the paper towel idea and will def be trying that ASAP! It looks so simple and it's so thrifty, too. Thanks for the tips!

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  2. p.s. you've also inspired me to do a no poo post :D i'll probs crank it out later this week.

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  3. I had no idea washing my hair every day was making my scalp produce extra oils! I'm going to do it every other day from now on!

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