As many of you already know, my hair is very important to me. When I first thought about writing this post I was sure I had already talked about haircare, but going through my old posts I realised that wasn’t the case. So, now I am going to talk about my haircare routine and the specific things I have done over the last few years to keep my hair healthy and repair it as much as I could.
Back in 2014 I decided to grow my hair out. It had
been seriously damaged by a year of constant dyeing to almost black at times,
and then being stripped of its colour by colour removers and bleach. My hair
felt like straw and it was breaking off at the ends. It looked awful as well
and I was willing to do anything to fix it.
The first thing I did was read as many blog posts as
I could about damaged hair and then watch YouTube videos on how to get healthy
hair. All of them recommended taking supplements, which I did, and I also
started a plant-based diet and drank at least two and a half litres of water
every day. The reason I started these things was not mainly for my hair, but it
did help it. The supplements I took regularly were Biotin, Flaxseed Oil,
B-Complex and later a hair, skin and nails multivitamin.
Another thing that was highly recommended was washing
your hair only every two to three days, which was something I was already
doing, but what I wasn’t doing was washing my hair correctly and with the right
products for my hair and its problems. The best way according to the many
articles I read is to only shampoo the roots, and only condition the mid to
ends. Leaving conditioner in for at least two minutes is something that makes a
big difference too, along with avoiding brushing your hair while it’s still
wet.
TK Maxx has some of the best natural hair products around, they tend to stock shampoos with no parabens or sulfates which are great, and my favourite products by far, Sukin’s nourishing conditioner. As well as these products, I like making my own hair masks, mostly using plain coconut oil and applying it evenly through the mid to ends of my hair and leaving it in overnight. The oil can be difficult to wash out so shampooing your hair twice is always a good idea. One non-natural hair mask I have relied heavily on, though, is Bleach London’s Reincarnation mask. I got this in the boxes of hair bleach I was still buying for my hair up to 2016, but I think they saved my hair from a lot of damage, so they deserve a mention here.
At the moment I’m satisfied with my hair routine and
the condition of my hair. Recently, I bought a new shampoo (which I mentioned
in my july favourites), the Charles Worthington radiance charcoal shampoo, along
with Sukin’s nourishing conditioner. I don’t use a lot of heat on my hair, all
I do is dry the roots with a hair dryer and apply Toni & Guy’s Radiating
tropical hair oil to the ends. I have a wide-toothed comb and a paddle brush
but I don’t use either while my hair is wet, letting it air dry wavy is much
easier for me. This routine is just what works for me, but I would definitely
suggest trying new things to help your hair and slowly incorporating them into
your current routine. It all takes time but you will start to notice an
improvement in the quality of your hair.
If you’re looking for tips to manage your hair
better, I hope this helped you and if you have any specific questions leave
them in the comments or talk to me on twitter!
Much love,
Jessica. xo
