The Art of Hair Care: Steps to Maintain Beautiful Tresses
Overview
What defines our face? Our hair! We all love our lovely tresses more reason why we should take good care of them. Looking great makes us super confident. It is not just our sense of dressing but how we style our hair, that makes us complete. We all want to look our best at work, college, social gatherings, or even for a walk. Looking presentable always is good for us and we should be able to carry ourselves with poise and confidence.
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A hair care routine is what keeps our hair clean and manageable. Let us see the various steps of a good hair care routine.
Steps for hair care routine
Basics
The basic hair care routine is oiling the hair, washing hair with lukewarm/cool water, using a conditioner after the wash, combing the wet hair with a wide-toothed comb, letting it dry normally without the use of a hair dryer or any other heating tools, and getting it trimmed every six months. These are the basic steps that can be practiced by one and all.
- Identify: Identifying our hair type makes us manage it easily. Observe what your hair quality and type is. Is it straight, curly, oily, dry, normal, wavy, thick, fine, or colly? Just avoid any hair products for a few days and you will learn about your hair type.
- Oiling: Oil your hair with warm oil thirty (30) minutes before you shampoo it. This will help to retain the moisture in your hair and prevent dullness.
- Hair wash: How often should you wash your hair? Well, different hair types warrant different ways to manage it. For example –dry hair, can be washed every third day. For oily hair, it can be washed every other day. For normal hair, it can be washed every three days or every other day. It all depends on your hair. If you feel it is dirty, then just wash it. Another tip is to use a dry shampoo in between washes, as this will soak up the excess oil.
- Temperature of Water: Always wash your hair with lukewarm or cool water. Avoid cold or hot water as it strips off the protective oil in your hair, which naturally conditions your hair.
- Brushing: After washing, always brush your hair with a wide-toothed comb, when it is wet, to detangle it and get rid of any knots. Using a brush may cause hair to break and cause hair damage. Always start combing from the bottom of your hair in an upward direction.
- Drying: Avoid the use of heating tools to dry your hair. Instead, let it dry naturally. Blow dryers emit heat which can damage your hair follicles and make your hair dry and damaged. opt for a cool setting in your blow dryer, if you must use it to style your hair.
- Trimming: Skipping haircuts may make the hair prone to split ends or make it look shapeless or dull. Try to get it trimmed once in six months to protect it and avoid split ends. Shorter hair can be trimmed every four to six weeks and long hair every three months.
- Touching: Try not to keep fidgeting or touching your hair often. Your hair and hands have natural oils in them and touching your hair ever so often may make it appear greasy. A manageable haircut will prevent us from constantly touching or patting our hair.
- Dyeing: Hair Dyes contain chemicals that may harm your hair or make it brittle. If at all you want to dye your hair, do not dye it regularly and use a color that is three shades of your natural hair color. It is best to dye it fewer times. Though we may not like how we look with undyed hair, in the long run, you will have a better head of hair. Frequent dyeing will damage your hair and its growth. Who knows, maybe you will have a colored head but hardly any hair on it!
- Protection: Protecting our hair from the sun’s rays is important. Too much sun can make your hair drier and damaged. Always opt for hair covering when moving outside or use a hairspray with SPF protection. Again, too much hair spray is damaging. So, stick to the hat or scarf to protect your hair from the sun, heat, and pollution.
- Tying: Always opt for loose hair ties to prevent damage to your hair. Tying your hair in a tight ponytail, bun, or braid may cause hair breakage or damage. So, avoid ponytails or braids every day. Keep your hair loose/free-flowing at night, before bed, to protect it from damage.
- Natural: Avoiding chemical-containing hair products will keep your hair strong and nourished. Some natural ingredients can be used for effectively moisturizing our hair.
- Olive oil: Massaging warm olive oil to your scalp will moisturize your dry hair. Leave it for 45 minutes and then rinse your hair with shampoo. This will protect your hair from getting too dry.
- Tea: Black tea, sugarless, when applied to your hair makes it shine and enhances your natural color. After shampooing your hair, rinse it with this tea and see your hair shine!
- Honey: Honey is a natural moisturizer and it strengthens the hair follicles. You can mix honey and shampoo in equal proportions and rinse your hair with it.
- Coconut oil: Coconut oil is another natural conditioner. Apply warm coconut oil to your hair thirty (30) minutes before washing it with shampoo.
- Food: Healthy food is what keeps us in good health and it is beneficial for our hair health too. Eating a balanced diet with the essential nutrients for good hair strength and growth is also important. Consume a diet rich in proteins (fish, chicken, eggs, soy products), folic acid (fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, lentils), Vitamin B6 (Bananas, potatoes, spinach), essential fatty acids (flaxseed oil, salmon, tuna, walnuts, almonds). Lastly, you may consult your medical practitioner for OTC supplements like MSM (methylsulfonylmethane) for hair growth and strength. However, if your diet can make your hair strong and healthy naturally, supplements are best avoided. But it is your call, at the end of the day.
- De-stress: Stress is the root of many health complications, including premature greying/dull hair. So, keep stress at bay. Learn to sit back and relax. Meditate, exercise, practice Yoga, make time for your family, laugh out loud, spend fun times with your family and friends, eat mindfully, sleep soundly, stay hydrated, and travel, in short- do anything that makes you happy and stress-free. This will give you time to take care of yourself, your health, and your grooming habits. Happiness can do wonders for your mind, body, skin, and hair. Â Â
What hair care products to use
- Shampoo: Select a shampoo that is made for your hair type. E.g. For greasy hair, choose a clarifying shampoo. If you have dry hair, choose one with argan oil. Â Â Â Â Â
- Conditioner: Conditioners keep the skin moisturized, restore natural oils, and prevent hair damage and breakage. E.g. For dry hair opt for a hydrating conditioner. For oily hair, opt for a lightweight conditioner.
- Heat protectant: There may be times when you must use some heat tools to style your hair. In such times, always use a heat serum or heat spray before blow-drying, straightening, or perming your hair. This will limit any damage to the minimum.
- Deep conditioning: You may use a deep conditioner once a week, with your regular conditioner. This helps to repair any hair damage. There are hair masks available for such deep conditioning.
- Volumizer spray: Occasionally you can use a volumizer spray for that added bounce to your hair. Spray the roots and hair and then blow dry or scrunch your hair, and see the volumetric effect.
- Dry shampoos: Regular shampooing can make the hair dry. So, you can always use a dry shampoo alternately. Dry shampoos just need to be sprayed on the roots, rubbed in by the fingers, and brushed out. This absorbs the oil without using any soap or water and retains the natural oils. And it is so easy to use.
- Elasticity: Toners produce collagens that make our skin look younger and firmer. It improves skin elasticity.
- Reduces oil production: Toners should be used by persons with oily skin. It controls the excess sebum production and alleviates the greasiness of our skin. Thus, giving our skin a matt look.
- Irritation: Toners can be used by men to soothe and calm irritation or redness caused on the face due to shaving.
Conclusion
One important thing to remember is that choose your hair care products after studying the label/ingredients and select the one suited to your hair type. Do not purchase cheap products as they may do more harm than good. Â So, what if the products are expensive, if they are herbal/natural/ without harsh chemicals and safe for use, you need not look at the price tag. Give yourself some importance and choose what is best for your hair. Sometimes we must look at the quality of the product and not the depth of the hole it will make in our pocket.
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There are ‘n’ number of hair care products available nowadays. So, we have a substantial range to choose from. It is your judgment that will play an important part in the correct selection of your hair care products.  The salons/spas also sell such hair care products. Be selective before purchasing them whether online/offline. Choose well. Choose wisely.
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Informative!