Best Tips for Healthy, Happy Hair
The best tips for healthy hair derive from maximum moisture, nutrition, and cleanliness. When you are giving your hair all the nutrients and hydration it needs, it will show in the most luscious, defined locks you will love showing off wherever you go. There are many great easy tips for improving the health and thus the happiness of your hair but a few favorites are things you can do to define and hone in on the type of hair you have and thus have more success toward the hair you want.
Leave-In Conditioner
When you wash your hair, you are essentially wiping out a lot of essential nutrients in the cleansing. When your hair is more often working with a clean slate, it’s not always a good thing. Your hair can get greasier easier and more often. This is overcompensation for the nutrients it’s not receiving or being given back. Think of exfoliation. When you are stripping your skin, you are removing a lot of the dead skin and toxins but it’s equally important to put nutrients and moisture back to soothe and rehydrate afterward. Otherwise, your skin, (or hair), can be raw in a sense and not healthy in different ways.
As you wash your hair, a tip for healthy hair is to make sure you condition afterward. And not just condition, but if your hair seems to lack average moisture and hydration, leave it in. Some people take this tip for healthy hair as far as to wash their hair, leave a layer of conditioner in altogether, and sleep with it in. They then wash it out in the morning and are very happy with the moisturization results of overnight soaking. Also, when you condition, make sure that you don’t fully rinse out all the conditioner. Don’t leave a large layer of conditioner in your hair but make sure it still feels soft and smooth, not raw or rough once again.
Wash Frequency
As washing wipes your hair clean, on top of putting moisture back you also want to be careful with how often you wash in general. The frequency of washing can and should actually vary depending on your age, ethnicity, levels of activity, and hair type. Younger ages have more active oil glands and can benefit from more daily washes. If you have drier hair on average, a tip for healthy hair is to wash less often. If you fall somewhere in between, you can usually choose how often you wash in regards to comfort, routine, and styling. Oil glands originate in the scalp so longer hair can also suffer from dryness.
Hair Type
If you have longer hair, a tip for healthy hair is to actually moisturize from tips to top. With longer hair, your hair struggles to stay evenly moisturized down its full length. Similarly, if you have curlier hair, it may struggle to be fully moisturized so you will want to go to extra lengths to have adequate hair hydration. If your hair is straighter, it may struggle less with proper hydration so you may not have to go to extra lengths to moisturize and keep your locks hydrated. You may inversely need to be careful not to have over-hydrated hair that is easily oily.
Over-Treatment
Be careful with your hair when you are dying, bleaching, and styling it. Don’t let your hair experience too much unprotected heat from styling such as curling or straightening. This can fry your ends, making them brittle and fragile. They may be more prone to breakage and result in unevenness. Make sure that you are using a heat protectant on your hair when styling as well as styling with heatless often in general. Hair that experiences high heat on average is less healthy, less strong, and less resilient.
It is also recommended that you not bleach your hair more than once a day, twice a month, and 6-8 times per year for maximum health and minimal long-term damaging effects. Bleaching is a harsh chemical process that breaks down your hair proteins to remove the color and leaves hair similarly prone to dryness, fragility, and breakage. A tip for healthy hair is to combine bleaching with proper moisturization and rehydration treatments to replace and replenish the nutrients and moisture healthy, happy hair needs. Give your hair its strength and softness back once you’ve got the new hair color you love!
Hair Brushing
You should be careful in the way that you brush your hair so that you don’t split your roots or even rip them out. One tip for healthy hair is to brush your hair from tips to the top. Your gut can sometimes steer you wrong and you would think you brush your hair from top to bottom, but it can cause too much root tension and can actually rip the follicle out. You want to carefully brush your hair in sections from the ends on up, gradually working out the knots as you go. This can even out and minimize tension and result in rips and tears. De-tanglers and forms of leave-in conditioners can be great options for reducing tangles and tension as well.
Other Moisturizing
There are many different natural moisturizers that work great in hair that you should also try for fewer chemicals in your hair and body. Coconut, jojoba, avocado, almond, and tea tree oils are some nice, more natural choices. There are also some less common options that also work great. These include mayo, honey, egg, banana, pumpkin, and yogurt to name a few. There are also so many combinations you can try to make your own, more personalized hair moisturizer treatment. Peppermint is a personal favorite, as mint hair products can invigorate the scalp and leave it feeling cool and refreshed long after treatment. When you have moisturized, healthy hair, it will grow faster and continue to grow healthier.
