Healthy hair hacks | Hair health tips

I’ve always had long hair and I get highlights, so those are two things working against me for keeping my soft and healthy. But considering those facts, I somehow have managed to keep my long hair soft smooth and healthy. I try to take care of it, so it doesn’t end up looking brittle or dry. I’ve thought a lot about the steps I regularly take to help maintain my good hair health and I came up with some really great hair hacks that can help you keep your hair healthy too. I also did a video with some demos, if you would like to watch below.

// Let’s talk about hair

With the weather getting colder, the cold wind outside and the dry indoor heat can really take a toll on your hair, leading to split ends and breakage. So, let’s fight back during those cold winter months to protect our hair. First, I’ll share some best practices and then I’ll go into some of the products I’ve been using to make my hair soft and healthy.

// Best practices

The first hair hack is to wash your hair less often. If you don’t have extremely oily hair and can get away with it, try to skip washing your hair a day or two…or three if you can manage. Washing your hair every day dries it out and strips too much of your natural oils. 

This next one may not feel good on a cold day, but another tip is that after you condition your hair, try giving your hair a quick rinse of cold water. When it comes to your hair, cold water helps to seal your hair cuticle, making it lay smoothly. A smoother hair cuticle better reflects light, giving your hair the appearance of shine. 

Another way to lock in that shine is to limit the amount of heat you use to dry that wet hair. I try to let my hair air dry for as long as possible and then when it is about 80-90% dry, I go in with the hair dryer. Always use the low heat setting on your hair dryer and point downwards to help prevent frizz.

Remember to be gentle when your hair is wet. When you start with the towel dry, don’t rub the towel side to side. Instead of side to side, just wrap or squeeze the water out of your hair gently. Then you can use a comb or a brush specific for wet hair. If you take your normal bristle brush and tear into your hair with that, it can cause a lot of breakage because your hairs can stretch. Then from the stretching they become weak and break more easily. I have this brush specific for wet hair called the Tangle Teezer. It is plastic but has lasted me probably around 5 years, so it’s a good durable quality. The shape and type of spikes on this Tangle Teezer brush help it easily go through your wet hair without damaging it.

While I was researching some extra healthy hair tips, I found several suggestions to use a satin pillowcase. I have not tried this but now I’m curious. They said sleeping on satin pillow covers is known to reduce hair breakage due to friction. Because cotton is rough in texture they can cause more friction against your hair. I thought this was interesting and I have heard about using satin pillowcases for preventing wrinkles while sleeping, but hadn’t heard of it for use on hair breakage. Something to consider.

 
// THE BEST HAIR Products

So, every time I wash my hair, I use a shampoo and conditioner. The brand I always go back to is Pantene. The one I get is the Daily Moisture Renewal Shampoo and conditioner. Because I get highlights on my hair, I want to do everything I can to bring back any moisture that was lost from the chemical processing. So I always look for shampoos and conditioners that say they help with moisture retention.

I use the shampoo all over, but focus the conditioner on the ends of my hair. For the conditioner, I pay special attention to comb it through my hair after placing the product on. I wash my hair first thing when I get in the shower so that I have time to leave the conditioner in as long as possible. Even if it isn’t a deep conditioner, your hair can always benefit from leaving the conditioner on for a little longer.

Once a week, I use a special purple shampoo. I like the Blue Malva from Aveda or the Matrix Brass Off. These are great if you get your hair colored to go from dark to a lighter shade. Sometimes, depending on your hair chemistry, when going from dark to light the hair can get a little red or brassy. The purple shampoo, which actually more like a bright bluish purple, can help counteract these yellowish orange tones because orange and blue are opposite on the color wheel.

The purple shampoo actually puts a small amount of dye in your hair to tone down those orange tints. They’re also great if you have greying hair and you want to brighten up any yellowish tint that you’re getting. But because these purple shampoos do deposit a bit of color, be really careful if you’re using for the first time, especially if you have light hair. Just try 1 minute at first and go up from there. They also make purple conditioners, but I prefer to use those moisture specific conditioners or a deep conditioner, so I always go for the purple shampoo version of the purple tinted products.

Speaking of deep conditioners, I have 2 that I alternate between about every other week. The first one is more budget friendly. Its the Aussie 3 minute miracle conditioning treatment. It is pretty cheap, but works so well. It’s supposed to make your hair 10 times stronger against damage and helps reduce breakage. It smells like grapefruit, orange and lemon, so a very refreshing scent.

The other one I like to use is the Macadamia oil deep repair masque. It is pricier than the Aussie 3 minute miracle, but it will last a long time. One thing is, it smells kinda funny, like coffee - but you only smell it while it sits on your hair. And the results are worth the temporary weird smell. This product is basically hardened macadamia oil, so when you scoop a little into your hand, it gets soft and oily. It has great ingredients like omega 7 and fatty acids, vitamin e and green tea. You rub the oil between your hands and comb through your hair and leave on for about 20 minutes. Then you wash and condition like normal. It leaves hair silky, conditioned and full of movement. It’s great for dry, damaged or color-treated hair of all textures and is just a really great deep conditioner.

The last tip I have is for that very last step in your routine. After your hair is dry and you are getting ready to head out the door. I use just a little oil on the ends of my hair just to smooth down any broken looking or dry areas. This makes the hair look that much healthier. I try to not put too many products in my hair after it dries because I don’t want to weight it down. So, after styling I use the OGX Coconut Milk Anti-Breakage Serum. This is an oil based serum that is lightweight and helps to protect, strengthen and hydrate your hair. It has coconut oil and silk and smells really good – like you’re on vacation at the beach! It adds shine and smoothness without feeling oily and heavy.

So, there were all my favorite healthy hair tips. Here on Artsy Cupcake, we like to help each other out, so please share in the comments section below what your best hair hacks are. Thank you so much for reading and I hope you have a happy day!