Winter Hair Woes

As per my post last week, skin is not the only thing that suffers in the winter. Hair also gets compromised by these cold, dry, arrid conditions. Hair is simply dead skin cells. It grows approximately a quarter inch a month. So the longer your hair is the longer it has been in the scalp, or in it’s place of nourishment. Here a a few tips to help you keep your hair in it’s healthiest condition ever.

1. Shampoo from the scalp out. Your scalp is the only part of your hair that is really holding onto the dirt. Your sweat, and oils at your scalp are what attracts the dirt. The shear action of the suds from your scalp being rinsed away will be enough to pull out any loose dust from your ends. So remember suds up the scalp and leave your ends be. Of course use gentle shampoos with a pH balance of between 4.5 to 6.7
2. Condition from the ends in. Taking the above recommendation into consideration you can understand that the only part of your hair that really needs conditioning is the ends. So don’t plop the conditioner on your scalp and work down to your ends. It will leave you with flat greasy hair and dry ends. Instead, generously apply conditioner to the ends and work it up from there. Conditioners should contain little to no alcohol.
3. Color application. Whether you are doing it yourself or you are having it done professionally, make sure that you/they are not overlapping color. This is crucial! If you are double dipping hair in 20 volume peroxide every 4 -6 weeks you can expect breakage and dryness.
4. Don’t brush wet hair. Always use a wide tooth pick and GENTLY comb through to the ends. Hair is in it’s weakest state when it is wet. Be gentle to it and resist stretching it out by round brushing it and pulling it excessively while it is wet. If you must round brush for volume make sure the hair shaft it 80% dry before putting the brush to it. 
5. Use a quality leave-in oil treatment. There are a plethora of oil treatments on the market right now. Find the right one for your hair that won’t weigh it down but will add sheen and suppleness, argon oil, moroccan oil, sunflower oil, and the list goes on. Your professional should be able to recommend the right one for your hair. You should always be using some sort of leave in proteinzer or moisturizer on your hair after shampooing for optimal health of the hair.  
6. Turns out the old wives tales about mayonnaise are true. Mayonnaise is rich in oils and protein (eggs) to strengthen the hair. The problem I keep hearing most people are having with a mayo pack for their hair is that it smells and will look greasy for sometime after the application. Two things here. They used too much in the wrong place and you need to rinse with vinegar. Every site I went to with recommendations of using mayo all talked about applying to the scalp or working into the scalp. Why would you do that if your ends are dry? So again I go back to tip #1. The hair at your scalp is at optimum health! Blood flow, oil secretions, everything it needs to be healthy. So please follow the directions in the recipe so you can have a happy hair day the day after your mask! The purpose for the other ingredients I added are as follows: Avocado oils are light and moist and full of proteins. Honey is a natural humectant, which means it attracts and locks in moisture. Coconut oil is rich in fatty acids, vitamin K and E. And lavender to combat the smell factor. I have come up with a cool recipe for you.

Mayo Mane Tamer

4 TBSP of mayo (the real deal. no low fat stuff for this!)

1/2 ripe avocado 

3 TBSP of honey

4 TBSP coconut oil

4 drops of Lavender oil (optional, makes it smell a little better) :)

Rinse out treatment

5TBSP of apple cider vinegar 

2 cups of warm water

After shampooing with a gentle cleanser, towel dry hair until hair is 50% dry on the ends. Apply mask to hair starting at the ends and work it up toward the scalp. Don’t comb through. Simply work it into the ends of your tresses with your fingers. Put a plastic bag on your head and wrap with hot towel  Consider using it once or twice a month. Sure it looks funny but the heat and the steam will help the moisture and protein penetrate more readily. Kick hubby out to play poker with his buddies for the night and pop in a chick flick! ;)

Do double duty and use last week’s Green Island Facial at the same time! Now there is a picture for you! In fact post a link on my blog of you doing either the or both of the these and I will give you a pile of free samples of Pureology Shampoo and Conditioners!