1.)Hand brushing and wide tooth combs are better than brushes!
Especially for women with curly or wavy hair and anything in between. Brushes, the finer they are can be a nightmare to wavy, tasseled or curled hair and a lot of girls are clueless that the fine brushing brings out the frizz- not the bigger waves. As long as you condition your hair well frequently you can easily hand brush it, if it has too many tangles go for the wide tooth comb with a bit of conditioner
2.)Squeeze your curls in biggish bunches with your bare hands.
Start from the bottom up and get your locks in thick-ish bunches. Gently squeeze the tips in your fists yet slowly applying deep squeezing pressure and gradually grab more and more hair to squeeze until you have reached your roots. This is a safe and fast way to bring out natural curls and volume without applying heat.
3.)Tie your hair if it feels like it’s thinner on top.
When we haven’t tied our hair in a while we can feel some strain on the roots of the front and top part of the skull covered with hair. The weight of your hair is distributed unevenly and you have to tie it up for 1 hour or even nearly half the day. If your hair starts to feel like it wants to be free and hang low you should probably listen to the sensations of your body.
4.)Do not shampoo everyday.
Unless you need to or you feel like you do because you sweat or went out in the sun to do errands. I avoid shampooing everyday unless you do not shampoo very heavily and you use organic products along with moisturizing after. Shampoo strips away the hair’s natural oils so easily, you do not need a lot every time. You can heavily shampoo twice a week if you are not very active and shampoo lightly 2-3x. It depends on the person, their smell and how fast their hair gets greasy. Some only wash their hair every 4-5 days, though that is a little extreme- but a lot of wildly curled people claim its benefits. Wavy hair is not meant to be shampooed all the time for it shows its true beauty when aged a day or two. Conditioner can also be used every other day so you do not over soften your hair proteins.
5.)Try to use shampoo and conditioner more separately.
Shampoo can wash away too much of the conditioner’s effects too quickly if your timing is wrong. Some people do it both at the same time with no real intense lathering and their scalp is not totally clean and the conditioner did not really latch on to full moisturize your roots. You can start with shampoo first and scrub away all the collected dirt thoroughly, wash thoroughly, squeeze out as much excess water as you can and then apply the conditioner for better results. You can also start with conditioner, leave it for 5-10 minutes and then wash with shampoo, but I like the first method better.
6.)Restrain from coloring your hair as much as possible
Especially with bleach or highly chemical products, and anyways a lot of organic hair color is out in the market. Highlights and lowlights can look sexy and subtle but one-colored heads are more in now. Bleach especially on long hair can be regretful of a decision if you do not take care of it well or go to someone who does not really know what they are doing.
7.)Leave a little extra hair cream or conditioner on your tips on nights out.
Doing this to healthy hair is just as important to prevent split ends and when you already have split ends you help prevent them from getting worse. Also split, dried ends can ruin the shape of the rest of your healthier hair and can be very irritating to the neck, chest and shoulders.
8.)Get trims regularly.
Depending on your hair health, you should get your ends at the least, cut off every 3-4 months. Perhaps every 2 months for people with dryer, more damaged hair and around 4-6 months for people with very healthy hair.
9.)When brushing of any kind, start from the tips- and with a bit of conditioner
Even if you happen to be cursed with a morning of tangled hair, do not fret. The more you panic the more you will break your locks. For extra difficult situations grab a little handful of damage repair hair cream and thoroughly later on your tips. Then gently and slowly comb with a wide tooth comb until you have reached the roots with no tangles. Olive oil or coconut oil works too.
10.)Use cool air on your dryers.
If a salon asks you if you would like your hair blow dried again for the 2nd or 3rd time it is wise to refuse. Heat is very drying and damaging to the hair especially when applied so directly, good thing that dryers now have the cool air feature.
11.)If your hair is straight, strive for natural curls so you wouldn’t offend us.
Important curling tip: leave the bottom unwrapped. Do not be too curling iron- eager because such curls can look fake and over puffed so easily. It also helps to not let the curlers reach all the way to the roots but it is more important to leave the bottom uncovered for a more natural look. Also when you take out the curling instruments, for goodness sakes…comb through and merge those separated curls or you will look like a cartoon.
12.)For curly and wavy people who want to try the straight do.
Do not get too overzealous with such instruments that rain direct heat on your hair and very drying air- even if it is cold. Getting very, very straight hair is difficult for some and a certain amount of damage has to be dealt. But I think to go through such a process right away is unwise. You can try some straightening shampoos and conditioners to help tame curls. When your hair is nearly fully dry just keep combing it well until there are no tangles and it is neat. Then grab a flat iron and make sure you do not see or just see as little smoke being emitted, as little as possible. You do not need a whole lot of heat just to get a more natural, straight look. Even using a brush to straighten out your hair onto a hot dryer current works. After this apply some hair wax to keep some of the straightness.
