I dont know if you are like me missing your hair stylist the most. I miss her so much. Butt, at the same time, I honestly cannot go to the salon every other week even though my hair grows super fast because my bank account cannot afford it and its really not feasible practically. Now, during these times when we are in desperate need of some TLC for our hair because honestly, that is the only thing that keeps me sane.
Not sure if you have already read my previous post about hair care guide for busy women, so I will link it too where I went in depth about a lot of products and why you should use it. But in this post, I will focus on more color treated hair since a lot of us women somehow fall into that category, and if you have gray hair, then probably you definitely color your hair like me. Honestly, I had never envisioned myself as the coloring type till I got grays and since I have black hair, you can imagine how I would look when my roots show up shiny silver. And isn’t it funny, that gray hair always seems to pop out in places which has the highest visibility. Does someone have a scientific explanation for this. I have always wondered about it. If you do, comment below and please share the knowledge with the rest of us.
As a blogger, it is even more imperative that I show best self and hair plays the most important part. But, at the sometime I feel like women in general have a deeper relationship with their hair than men, I mean I think when I look at my husband I do doubt that sometimes, but the point is that we do take care and spend more time and money on our hair and value its importance isn’t it. Since Salon treatments are actually a distant memory for most of us and I so wish that I was a hair stylist myself so that I could do all the magic that they do, but thats not really practical. So, I just thought I will share some products and tips that are currently helping me keep my hair intact and a camera ready.
Cleansing
I have always been a big believer of clean hair and I cannot emphasize more during these times, I feel like because of minimal exposure or being indoors all the time, my hair definitely feels greasier quicker. DO YOU FEEL THAT TOO? So, for me keeping my hair clean is so very important. But at the same time we cannot wash it everyday, and there are scientific reasons for that for sure, I prefer still washing my hair twice every week which has worked for me for most of my life. Right now, its important to focus not on the timing but on the health of the hair, if your hair feels greasy in the roots and you think that it has lost its bounce, its time to give it a clean.
Since our build up is not as much compared to going out, its mostly scalp oil and that can be cleaned easily by focusing on the roots and not at the ends, Try this trick, use shampoo only on the roots, massage it thoroughly, and let the foam wash your ends by itself. This way you focus on the root cleansing and your hair follicles retain the oil to keep them shinier.
Its been a decade that I have been using sulphate free shampoo because my hair is naturally frizzy and this is completely honest opinion, I haven’t found a better shampoo than Pureology. I have tried every other possible sulphate free shampoo, but I always go back to the Pureology Strength and Cure shampoo and occasionally use the Clean volume one when I need give my hair a detox session. All of Pureology’s line are for Color treated hair, so no matter which one you pick, it caters to your hair.
Just using Shampoo is not important, you absolutely need to condition your hair as well, which would make your hair shiny and softer but you probably already know that so I wont go deep into it a lot.
A lot of my Indian friends use hair oil treatment before shampooing and even if you do that you still need to condition, because shampoo strips of all the hair oil and protective layer from your hair so, a conditioner adds that back to the hair. Its like primer for your hair.
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Hair Treatment
This is so very much important if you have color treated hair because you know how that damages your hair even though its just root coverage. And Hair masks definitely help. They are like Facial for your hair ( I love the analogy and I am more of a visual person so giving an example is my way of understanding things). You absolutely need it, But there was a big piece that I was missing for the longest time and I am so glad to have found it and I have already wrote about it. Its the Olaplex No. 3 and if you use it, you know why. Even if you don’t color your hair, its still beneficial to you because you still use styling products. Something that my hair stylist told me here that I will share and that is use the Olaplex No.3 and then add your favorite mask to it. Olaplex No, 3 is a hair bonding product. It redefines and restores your hair’s composition, but it does not give you the visual effect you are looking for and that your hair mask can provide that.
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Gray Coverage
Well, if you are one of the lucky ones that dont have grays, you can skip this one and I am so jealous of you. But, if you are one of me, who has to color her roots almost every other week (I try to drag it to 3 weeks, but it gets really bad), then you need the products. If you have no experience whatsoever with hair coloring then just use the WOW Root Cover Up. Its like and eyeshadow texture and it stays. The best thing about this product is the ease of use. I have used spray and mascara style wands, and all of them are super messy, but this product is super easy to use and you can actually keep it in your handbag to use at anytime (when we come out of the lockdown).
If you are used to color, let me give you a piece of advise that my hair stylist gave me after she got super frustrated with my color not lifting the way it should on my hair. Please dont use box color, because they are not a concentration of color and they kind of dont color your hair evenly, so when you do go to the salon after all of this, you will probably hear the same thing that I did, you wont be able to have the desired hair color thanks to the box color.
After that session, I literally stopped using the box colors after that. I use the Loreal Excellence Creme Gray Coverage permanent hair color which gives you perfect coverage. I use the Loreal Oreor 20 Volume Creme developer and its so easy and effective. You would need a bowl and color brush with some latex gloves and your hair will thank you trust me. You need to keep it on for 30 minutes and then wash your hair the regular way.
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Brassines
No matter if you are blonde or brunette or you have black hair, brassiness is one of the biggest problem when you want to lighten your hair. You come out of the salon with perfect hair, but after 2 washes you are back to what you looked before. I know the solution to that is purple or blue shampoo, but gosh, I rather have brassiness in my hair, because its so messy and clearly, I prefer my shampoo over that, so for the longest I really resisted it. But after I spoke to a sales associate, I miss the good old days, who recommended these blue drops from IGK, I could not be happier. All you need to do is mix it with your conditioner and keep it for a few minutes and gosh, I love the result. My hair looks shiny too. Now the recommendation is around 10-16 drops, but I honestly am pretty generous with it since I do have black hair. Trust me ladies, this will become your next best friend, hahaha. IGK is a sulphate free brand which I already knew since I use there dry shampoo, so it was a win win for me.
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Protection
The final and actually most important step is always use protection products that will keep you hair ( yeah, I was talking about hair) healthy and reduce any kind of damage. You can use any heat protectant, I honestly feel that they all work well, but wanted to mention these two that I have been using for quite sometime and have really made a difference in my haircare routine. First one is Amika’s heat defense serum, it is a bit oily, so if you have oily hair then please dont go overboard, but you hair absorbs it and again a natural and cruelty free product which is worth the mention.
I have been using Gisou’s hair oil for quite sometimes and cannot live without it, its the best lightweight product for your hair. I actually use it at night, as a repair serum and I feel like between tossing and turning on the pillow, it kind of protects my hair and nourishes it. Its a bit pricey, but guys the bottle will last you forever because you only need like 2 drops depending on your hair thickness.
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Hopefully, all these products or tricks that I share will be helpful for you. If you have any haircare routine that you will like to share with my readers, that would be amazing.
