The Beauty Files: share the beauty (week two)


So last week was the jump start to a Beauty Party that I'm co-hosting with Lauren & Leonora, we asked you to post about your favorite hair styling tools, and this week its all about Hair Health.  Most of us are better off working from recommendations, rather then blind trials.  So if you love love love a product that you know helps promote the health of your hair then we would love to hear from you!  If you are a blogger just write up a post and link up below, if you aren't a blogger leave a comment (I read every single one of them!) and tell me some of your healthy hair tips & tricks!


Although I feel like I've been trying to grow my hair out for years (true story), and since I know how to color it I tend to do it quite often.. I still know the do's & don'ts of healthy hair!  I am a licensed hairstylist, but please note that what I state is my personal opinion.

First a couple of tips & tricks:
  • If you are going to color your own hair at home DO NOT USE BOX COLOR, please!!! Seriously just head over to Sally's or whatever beauty supply and purchase the correct volume developer and the appropriate color.  I cannot stress this enough & I will share a color post with you later this week!
  • Hormones & Diet play a huge role in hair health, drink lots of water and invest in either Pre-Natal vitamins, biotin tablets or my personal favorite Ultra Nourish-Hair <-- its amazing!!!
  • If your hair is insanely damaged and you just need a quick fix (professional hairstylists, please hold back any negativity in what I'm about to say!) use Pantene.. seriously no joke.  It has an insane amount of wax that will coat your hair -not permanetly- and will make it at least feel better for a quick fix!
  • Invest in good bands if you are going to put your hair up. I love these bands for style, comfort and no breakage!
  • If you don't need to brush/comb your hair then don't!  I actually don't even own a brush, and the only reason I have a comb in my house is for when I still do hair for friends.  I can easily shoot a little leave in conditioner in my hair and just finger through the tangles.  It creates more body and less pull.  If you do have to brush/comb try doing it in the shower while the conditioner is in your hair, and preferably with a wide tooth comb!
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Today instead of sharing with you three products I love because let's face it I use about 50 different things, I'm going to share with you 3 things I always keep in mind for having healthy hair. 

My 3 Healthy Hair tips all start with the letter H and are easy to remember!


Notice how the word healthy has the word heal in it? That to me is the first step in loving your hair. If you have neglected getting a trim (cough cough Leonora, 400+ days?! lol) then get one! Also over-styling and under-conditioning weaken your hair's cuticle, or outer layer, making hair dry, frizzy, dull looking, and vulnerable to more damage.  Let's heal that hair!


Like noted above hormones and diet can contribute to your hair health, but there are some on the hair  treatments you can do to start healing.  Besides getting trims I love deep conditioning treatments, even simply leaving your own conditioner on longer helps.  Take your conditioner add in some oil (natural oils or even alcohol free frizz fighting serum), mix it all up put on towel dried hair and put on a cap -seriously even a plastic grocery store bag works- wrap up in the towel like a little turban and chill out.  You can easily do this while painting your nails, while blogging, while packaging orders <-- work and pamper?!.. any free time you have just do it.. and try to aim to do this once a week, just be careful not to over-condition!  You can also try food for healing, yep avocado, mayo, eggs and beer all help your hair.. just google some recipes.

Deep conditioning treatments whether at the salon or at your home will do amazing things!  Don't have it in your budget to get nice treatments?  Buy a one time use packet from the beauty supply shop, some of my favorites or Henna&Placenta (yeah gross name) and Dr. Miracles.  Going to the market?  Grab some Aussie 3 minute miracle or Neutrogena Triple Moisture.  Do you have a local beauty school near by? Go get a conditioning or shine treatment on the cheap and feel pampered at the same time!



Obviously healing your hair is helping it, but what other things can you do to for your hair to restore health or prevent damage?  First look at the products you are using. What opacity is your shampoo? Did you know that if it is clear it means it cleans more, which potentially could dry hair or strip color more?  If its more of a milky/creamy color it means its more conditioning.  Do you color your hair if so, is your shampoo sulfate or paraben free? Those help too and not only with the health of your hair, but your pocket book since you won't have to color so much because you aren't striping it!  Ok what about your actual styling products, go look at the ingredients.  Is alcohol on that list or one of the first three ingredients? Well believe it or not some alcohols are ok, but if you have the bad alcohols in your products you are not helping your hair at all. I love this article that explains the difference and honestly all of Tonya McKays articles are great- a chemist talking about hair + lots of curly hair advice? heck yes!  


Another way you can help your hair is to cut down on everyday washing & heat styling.  Sure you can take a shower, and even get your hair wet.. but unless you have an oily scalp that baby powder or dry shampoos can't help then you really don't need to suds up so often!  As far as heat styling goes, keep your hair wrapped in a hair safe towel to absorb that water or use a product (like pm super skinny) or invest in an Ionic dryer to cut down dry time.  And what about styling? Well say you wash and flat iron today, tomorrow try dry shampoo and pony tail it!  Just cutting out a day here and there of wash/heat will help tons!


This is the easiest one to remember since most of the things I just mentioned take place in your home, so what else could I add?  Well your actual residence (& the climate you live in) contributes to things too!  First what kind of air is in there, is it dry or humid?  Are your air filters clean.. How about your water?  Do you have a well, do you get city water.. is it soft, filtered, even hard water?  These all are important things to consider!  Check your fridge, what types of foods do you eat?  Yep that makes a difference, did you know that what you eat can make or break the health of your hair?  Here is a quick guide to 10 super-foods for gorgeous hair & skin.  



NOW ITS YOUR TURN!

PARTY RULES
Make sure you link to your Share the Beauty Post NOT your blog domain
 Please have the post you link up to be about "Sharing the Beauty" 
not a giveaway or a product promo. 

Please do not post anything that is unrelated to this weeks topic of:
 HEALTHY HAIR.

Anyone linking posts that are not related to our party will be deleted.
You can link up here, with Leonora or Lauren and your link will show up on all of our blogs!
You can also grab this button and share the love!






NEXT WEEKS PROMPT
If you missed this weeks linky then no worries! 
Next week (Monday) we are talking about "HAIR BEAUTY PRODUCTS"
 So what hair products do you use to help style your hair and make it all beautiful?
Some examples are: Hair spray, Mousse, pomade, hair ties, bobby pins etc 
Share your routine and favorites with us.

17 comments:

  1. Love these tips! I never brush my hair...I also rarely wash it. I know not everyone can do that because it gets greasy, but I can go 4-5 days without washing. I hate my hair after I wash it.

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  2. So I went to sally's yesterday to get help with coloring my hair (I had the intentions to buy all the separate little pieces in order to "do it right"), and I asked the lady what the difference was between this and a box, and she said the only difference is that the box stuff is already mixed, and their stuff is separate.

    So can you explain why box dyes are so dreadful and off limits? Before I bleached my hair, that's all I ever used, and hair stylists would always comment on how healthy my hair feels and looks (not an easy task for fine straight hair).

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    1. Personally I have seen beautiful box color, but honestly its like hitting the lottery! First you are buying a box and that box doesn't know the quality of your hair and what you need on it, are you trying to lift color out (sketch!) or deposit color in? A stylist or an employee at a beauty shop would be able to help you better then you just seeing a pretty color on the grocery store shelf!

      The stuff that you can purchase to mix yourself is usually a better quality, some are safer versions with ammonia free colors and are truer to the color you are seeking then the side of a box. One danger is that not everyone needs the same level of developer to put that color in, so how can one box work for everyone?

      When coloring your hair you need to decide what mixture to use based on the colour of your hair naturally and artificially, is your hair damaged or chemically enhanced with a perm, keratin treatment or permanent straighter, whether you need to lift the color, what filler to use (if your darkening), the texture of hair, whether or not you need to do roots first or do the strands in sections.

      When you buy a box color most of this is not recommended to you. Most have an innacurate color chart showing what finished colors may result, but did it take into account the colors you may pick up such as gold or ash? Another thing is that color doesn't lift color safely, so technically you won't always get good results by trying to go lighter if you already have color on your hair (unless pre-lightened).

      If I walked in with blonde hair and you walked in with brown hair and we both used the same box color how in the world could we get anything accurate using the same box when we both need different levels of developer? I seriously could go on and on and on about this, and thats why I'm publishing a color post later this week =)

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    2. and real quick, I don't think they are dreadful lol just not always accurate or healthy is all! on a side note i wish that the conditioner they put in box color would come in a bottle, i love that stuff!!!!

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  3. Do you have any tips at all for growing hair, I had mine cut short about two and a half years ago on a complete impulse and I've been growing it ever since and I'm not very impressed with my hair's effort to grow.
    Beth
    xox

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  4. Great post, I always love to get new hair tips!
    I had very dry and frizzy hair, it looked awful! Making an avocado hair mask regularly has helped a ton! My hair looks a lot healthier and is no longer super dry. I also put my hair up with a hair clip under the shower after I put the conditioner in, so that the ends get enough of the conditioner as well.

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  5. Do you take any supplements? Check out the link I provided for the Ultra Nourish-Hair! Although vitamins haven't been proven to actually grow hair, nutrient deficiency can affect it from growing so getting the supplements balance out the natural growth cycle. Also you can do the castor oil grow (google it and search for the Caucasian reviews) another great product is Mane n' Tail Maximum Herbal Gro! Keep up with trims occasionally as it keeps your ends healthy and prevents splits, if you have one healthy hair strand it can split if not cared for and turn into 2-3 strands that are thin, weak and fragile.

    Your hair grows from the scalp so keep that part healthy by trying to do the treatments mentioned above (caster & mane n tail). Keep your scalp clean and free toxins and dead skin cells by really massaging your scalp when washing! Hope these little tips help =)

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  6. Thank you so much. I had a dream the other night where I had long beautiful hair, it was so depressing when I woke up.
    And no, I don't take anything, my mum is a nurse so won't let me, thinking I'm going to overdose or something.
    Beth
    xox

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  7. I also had short, shoulder length hair for what seemed like an eternity.. wasnt my hairstylists fault, I just had lots of crazy ideas during that time (hehe Heather!). But after trial and error and figuring out what worked for me, I now have the long beautiful hair that I had been working on for all those years! Firstly, I take a prenatal every day, $4 for a bottle @ Walmart. Second, I wash my *fine blonde hair* every 2-3 days and dry shampoo in between (love the stuff). And third, when I DO shampoo and condition I use expensive Pureology hydrate for shampoo and GLOB on the cheap conditioner from the grocery store! I love the 'for colored hair' Herbal Essences conditioner and the Dove nutri oil conditioners. I leave my hair saturated with the thick stuff for most of my shower and dont rinse completely out, it seems to leave a managable layer of protection for the days that I do style. Oh, and lastly.. if your hair gets *tangled easily or stringy looking* by mid-day (like mine did) invest yourself in some It's a 10 spray leave in conditioner! It's a miracle, and for reals I could not live without it.

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  8. I was so excited to see knotieties were the hairbands you linked to! I just won some from a giveaway recently, and they are my absolute favorite, and are so soft on my hair!! Definitely recommend them!
    xo Heather
    http://ahopelessnoteboo.blogspot.com/

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  9. what great tips! I always buy just the cheapest rubberbands for my hair...but maybe i should try getting those ones you posted!

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  10. I have white hair. My hairdresser said I wouldn't like it when I was thinking of going natural. I used washable rinses and would have my hair trimmed a couple inches every 6 weeks. When it was all grown out and the rinses washed out, I loved it. I get alot of compliments on it. I use Pantene 2 in 1 and wash it every couple of days. I hardly ever use a hairdryer or curling iron (have enough curls naturally). My hair is soft and shiny.

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  11. I don't know if you're going to address this or not, but I've been having major issues with my hair feeling all greasy and like I didn't get all of the shampoo out lately. I was using Pantene, then my hair was breaking really bad, so my hairdresser recommended I use Dove Intensive Moisture. But, ever since I started using that, I've had these issues. I stopped using the shampoo and bought an Aussie clarifying one and just use the Dove conditioner on the ends of my hair and not on my scalp...but I'm still having these issues. Do you have any suggestions on what I should try or be using instead? And, thanks for these tips! I've been wanting to try dry shampoo because my hair is oily and I wash it every day. xoxo

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  12. Eek I'm guilty of the box dye job! I died my hair for the first time last year (just to lighten my roots) and ended up with lilac hair. Too much ash apparently! I have to wash my hair everyday as it gets very greasy at night. I also have to comb it as it looks like an afro when I wake up! But I no longer use irons and leave my hair to dry naturally for as long as possible before user the dryer. I may have to try some home made masks - my hair needs some love :)

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  13. My hair is almost to my shoulders, and I've been a little desperate to have it long again...thanks for sharing these tips! I want to get some of those hair ties now. :)

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  14. I have to share this on Pinterest. Great tips from a professional. I love when a pro is not afraid to mention, huge gasp, drug store brands. It's a reality that people use them so why not share some knowledge so people can make an educated purchase. I am an Esthetician and I do that tons! I just was not comfortable only talking about $60 dollar cream and it kinda became my thing.

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  15. I have featured this post on my blog for Misc. Finds Monday! I hope you come check it out :)

    http://collettaskitchensink.blogspot.com/2012/03/misc-finds-monday-32612.html

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