If you long for lustrous, beautiful locks, these hair healthy tips will help you achieve that gorgeous mane that you’ve been dreaming of.
Healthy, Luxurious Hair Tip #1
Like everything else that comes along with true beauty, healthy hair starts from within. What we take into our bodies has a great deal to do with how our bodies perform – including how our hair behaves.
Take a close look at your diet. A diet that is rich in leafy greens, juicy fruits, fresh milk, and yogurt is a hair-healthy diet. Coconut (fresh) is considered to be a great food for hair rejuvenation. Avoid foods that are refined, canned, or processed and those foods with artificial colors, additives, preservatives, and chemicals.
Adding certain spices to the food that you cook may also make a difference in your hair’s health. Cumin, black pepper and turmeric are thought to be great for the hair. Also, cooking in olive oil can make a real difference in your overall health and that of your hair.
Healthy, Luxurious Hair Tip #2
Hair that is constantly exposed to the heat of styling equipment like blow dryers, curling and flat irons, or even hot rollers can become damaged quickly. Instead of relying on these products, give your hair a vacation by air-drying your hair naturally at least once each week. Using an absorbent towel, remove the excess moisture from your hair by gently blotting the hair dry. Do not rub the hair with the towel, as this can cause split ends, frizz, and can also damage the hair shaft. Apply a good leave-in conditioner before towel drying.
Applying styling products to towel-dried hair can help control the normal fly-away hairs that you might experience when not blow-drying. Mousse or gel is a great way to keep your hair manageable while giving it a break from the heat.
Healthy, Luxurious Hair Tip #3
Split ends can be really problematic when you’re going for a healthy, luxurious looking mane. Split ends are also known as trichoptlosis, and are the enemy of every woman. What causes them? Split ends develop when the protective cuticle of the hair is stripped away from the hair’s end fibers. Dry hair is especially prone to split ends. Split ends may also result from vigorous (and unnecessary) brushing of the hair or from chemical exposure to the delicate hair follicles on a regular schedule. Once the ends are split, they are impossible to replace. Hairs may split into two or even more strands. The best remedy is to cut off the split ends of the hair.
A bi-weekly trip to the salon for a few months is a good way to rid yourself of split ends for good (assuming you start showing your hair more love). To remove them at home: take small sections of the hair and twist them carefully in a gentle motion (downward). This will cause any split ends to stick out. Snip into the twisted hair with a pair of scissors. Cut through the thickness in order to remove the damaged ends and give your hair a layered look. Cut the same amount from each twist.
Warning: not everyone has the skills to do this at home – so if you don’t, then by all means visit your stylist!
Healthy, Luxurious Hair Tip #4
Frizz has been known to cause a lot of “bad hair” days. Nothing short of hurricane force winds can wreak more havoc on your hairstyle than frizz. But you can fight back! Here’s how to avoid your next case of the “frizzies”:
- Wash your hair with a mild shampoo or a formula that is created for fine hair.
- Rinse and apply conditioner. Leave the conditioner in for five minutes.
- Rinse with COOL water.
- Press (avoiding rubbing) wet hair with a towel.
- Gently comb your hair with a wide-tooth comb.
- Apply gel, mouse, or other styling products while hair is still wet, making sure that every strand of hair is coated from root to end.
- Dry hair, either with a blow dryer or by allowing to air dry. If blow drying, use a diffuser on the dryer’s end.
Top stylists also recommend these tips for getting the frizz under control:
- shampoo only every other day
- on “in between” days, rinse hair with water and condition only the ends of the hair shaft
- apply shampoo only on the crown to avoid frizzing the ends
- when blow drying your hair to make it straight, switch over to “cool” on the dryer and blow the sections again
Healthy, Luxurious Hair Tip #5
Shiny, healthy hair says many things about you. It says you’re vital, young, and beautiful. But if your hair has lost its luster and shine, chances are that you have dry hair. We discuss dry hair causes and treatments in our article Dry Hair Treatments: An Overview.
Restore your hair’s luxuriousness with these tips:
- Purchase a shampoo that has humectants in its formulation. Hair that has lost its moisture content is brittle and dry. Humectants work to restore the moisture content of the hair and to rejuvenate the hair’s ability to attract and seal in moisture.
- Your scalp naturally produces essential fatty acids (EFAs) in the forum of sebum. Once hair grows beyond the neck line it doesn’t get enough sebum distributed from the scalp to the end of the hair’s shaft. This is why longer hair is often dry towards the ends. Safflower oil (yes, used for cooking) is rich in essential fatty acids and can be used to restore the much needed EFAs. To do this: place a drop or two of safflower oil in your palms and rub them throughout the hair (not the hair nearest the scalp). In a scrunching motion, give special attention to the hair’s ends. Allow to remain in hair. CAUTION: don’t use too much – more than a couple of drops may make your hair appear oily.
- When using hot oil treatments to stave off dry hair, use a shower cap over the hair to seal in the heat from the oil and intensify the effects of this popular and effective dry hair treatment.
