By posting this, I will probably insight hours of laughter for some of my close friends but I thought it would be fun to share some of my tips for taking care of your hair, especially if it's damaged. It's the damaged part that I am an expert on. I've done SO much to my hair I'm surprised I still have any. For example, from last September to now (October 15th, 2015) the below array of pictures is what I did to my hair. In order....
Jumping back and forth with colours, bleach, heat styling, you name it, I did it. Now that I've calmed down (Let's hope. Life Goal = have the same hair colour 3 months from now*), I'm trying to get my hair as healthy as it can possibly be. Though it may not seem like it, I did work hard to take care of my hair while simultaneously destroying it. As a result, even though I had all those colour changes, my hair is not nearly as damaged as it could be and I have little to no split ends. Since some of these tips worked so well for me, I thought I'd share the knowledge.
#1) Coconut Oil!
I know this is a common one, but I cannot recommend it enough. It is super inexpensive and works wonders. It comes as a solid and all you have to do is rub it between your hands to get the oil. Rub it throughout your hair and let it sit. I leave it in overnight but if you are in a rush, 20 minutes should do. A few friends have told me they need to shampoo twice to get it out of their hair, but I personally only need to wash once. And as a bonus, if you deal with a dry scalp, Coconut oil fixes this better than any product I've ever encountered.
#2) Don't Wash Your Hair!
This one a lot of people have trouble with but ideally, you should only wash your hair every four to five days. I definitely cannot go that long but I wash my hair every three (working towards four!) days. This gives your hair time to naturally moisturize and keeps your shampoo/conditioner from drying it out. It doesn't matter if you have the most expensive moisturizing shampoo, excessive washing will dry out your hair, while at the same time making it more greasy! The worst kind of catch-22. Over-washing your hair gets rid of the natural oils your scalp creates. If your hair is really greasy after a day or two it may be because your scalp has been trained by daily washing to produce more oil than necessary. This excessive washing can leave you with greasy roots, and super parched ends. Yuck! A couple months of washing less regularly will cause the oil production to go down and your hair will be less greasy and a lot less dry.
#3) No Heat!
I am aware this one is impossible for those who love styling. For those of you who can't live without straightening or curling, here is a tip; pick your poison carefully and only use one hot tool. If you regularly blow-dry your hair then do only that and put away the rest of your hot tools. If you absolutely must straighten your hair with a straightener, then let your hair air dry. And so on. Try to go a week with no hot tools at all. You will notice a difference.
I've been lucky enough to have these tips work miracles with my hair but I do have others stored away. Let me know in the comments below if you'd like any more hair tips or to know of an products that worked wonders for me.
- OJ
Jumping back and forth with colours, bleach, heat styling, you name it, I did it. Now that I've calmed down (Let's hope. Life Goal = have the same hair colour 3 months from now*), I'm trying to get my hair as healthy as it can possibly be. Though it may not seem like it, I did work hard to take care of my hair while simultaneously destroying it. As a result, even though I had all those colour changes, my hair is not nearly as damaged as it could be and I have little to no split ends. Since some of these tips worked so well for me, I thought I'd share the knowledge.
#1) Coconut Oil!
I know this is a common one, but I cannot recommend it enough. It is super inexpensive and works wonders. It comes as a solid and all you have to do is rub it between your hands to get the oil. Rub it throughout your hair and let it sit. I leave it in overnight but if you are in a rush, 20 minutes should do. A few friends have told me they need to shampoo twice to get it out of their hair, but I personally only need to wash once. And as a bonus, if you deal with a dry scalp, Coconut oil fixes this better than any product I've ever encountered.
#2) Don't Wash Your Hair!
This one a lot of people have trouble with but ideally, you should only wash your hair every four to five days. I definitely cannot go that long but I wash my hair every three (working towards four!) days. This gives your hair time to naturally moisturize and keeps your shampoo/conditioner from drying it out. It doesn't matter if you have the most expensive moisturizing shampoo, excessive washing will dry out your hair, while at the same time making it more greasy! The worst kind of catch-22. Over-washing your hair gets rid of the natural oils your scalp creates. If your hair is really greasy after a day or two it may be because your scalp has been trained by daily washing to produce more oil than necessary. This excessive washing can leave you with greasy roots, and super parched ends. Yuck! A couple months of washing less regularly will cause the oil production to go down and your hair will be less greasy and a lot less dry.
#3) No Heat!
I am aware this one is impossible for those who love styling. For those of you who can't live without straightening or curling, here is a tip; pick your poison carefully and only use one hot tool. If you regularly blow-dry your hair then do only that and put away the rest of your hot tools. If you absolutely must straighten your hair with a straightener, then let your hair air dry. And so on. Try to go a week with no hot tools at all. You will notice a difference.
I've been lucky enough to have these tips work miracles with my hair but I do have others stored away. Let me know in the comments below if you'd like any more hair tips or to know of an products that worked wonders for me.
- OJ
