Winter can be among the most exciting times of the year if you don’t mind a little cold weather. A festive spirit is in the air. People want to gather and celebrate, enjoying each other’s company along with good food and music. This is also the time when people go the extra mile, decorating their homes and workspaces to amplify the holiday cheer. Probably few other times of the year are more about socializing than the winter holidays.
Chances are good that you will want to look your best as you visit with family, friends and co-workers over the coming weeks. You might even invest in a new outfit or two just for your social engagements and begin taking better care of your skin as they air becomes drier. But what about your hair? Your hair deserves just as much attention during the winter holiday season as other aspects of your look. With healthy hair, you can truly feel ready to meet the holiday season with confidence and joy. Here are a few tips designed to help your hair look its best as the temperatures drop, and your social life heats up.
1. Don’t Wash Your Hair With Hot Water
Few things probably feel better than a hot shower on a cold day, especially in winter, but hot water can do serious damage to your skin and hair. Hot water can actually dehydrate your hair, ridding it of the oils and moisture it needs to look and feel healthy and stay strong. When you shampoo with hot water, you can do even more damage since even more of these healthy components will get washed away by the shampoo. You can avoid these problems and keep your hair healthy by showering with warm water even as it gets colder. You might also find it helpful to keep your hot-water heater at a constant temperature year-round rather than raise the temperature as it gets colder.
2. Don’t keep your home too hot, either
Just as you might face the temptation to increase your water or shower temperature as it gets colder outside, you might also feel tempted to set your thermostat a few (or more than a few) degrees higher. But just like hot showers, excessive air temperature is bad for both skin and hair. Hot indoor temperatures can dry out your hair, and coming into a hot environment from the cold can also shock your hair and cause damage. As much as possible, keep your indoor areas heated to reasonable temperatures.
3. Don’t Over-wash Your Hair
This tip applies year round. Don’t over-wash your hair. If you wash your hair when you need to, your hair will look great and you will minimize the damage that shampoo can cause, such as dried out hair strands; when stripped of moisture, hair strands become more brittle and prone to breakage or split-ends. You’ll also save a little time and money.
4. Oil Your Scalp and Hair if it Gets dry
It has probably become clear from the above tips that dry hair during winter is a major problem that can affect both your hair’s look and health. One way to combat this is through hair oil treatments which directly restore this crucial component back to your hair, keeping it looking fresh and maintaining its stylability. You can use oil treatments that you can find in any drugstore or use olive oil or coconut oil, instead. Simply massage the oils into your scalp, leave in for 20 minutes then wash out gently with shampoo and conditioner.
5. Don’t Skip Conditioning
Another important component of any hair care routine — which all of us may feel tempted to skip at one time or another — is conditioning. Conditioner closes the scales of the hair which shampooing opens. This locks in what your hair needs and blocks out what your hair doesn’t, leaving your hair looking smooth and glossy and preventing breakage. As the weather becomes more intense in winter, this step takes on even greater importance. In fact, winter calls for deep conditioners which will do more for your hair. Also, consider using a leave-in conditioner occasionally for longer-lasting benefits.
6. Dry Your Hair With Care
How you dry your hair matters, too. Hair dryers will save you time and help you style, but they can they can be extremely harmful to your hair because they apply direct, high heat to your hair. If you feel really attached to your hair dryer, though, you can buy hair protectants designed to minimize the effects of the hair dryer’s heat on your hair. Gently towel drying your hair is still one of the safest ways to dry, and safer still is allowing your hair to air dry if you can. Also, avoid going outside in extremely cold weather with wet hair; your hair could freeze and break.
7. Keep hair trimmed, so it looks fresh
Split ends can make your hair look unhealthy and less than stylish, and this problem affects both men and women. There’s an easy solution, however. By keeping your hair trimmed, you eliminate split-ends, keep your hair looking fresh and healthy and keep damage at bay.
8. A Hat Can Protect Your Hair
Need a quick and easy way to protect your hair from the harsh winter elements? Grab a hat, and you have cold-weather protection and can mix-up your look, simultaneously. It’s an all-in-one solution and a great way to expand your personal style.
9. Healthy Hair Requires a Healthy Diet
There’s still no substitute for a healthy diet and exercise. Your hair, hair follicles and scalp all require plentiful vitamins and minerals to grow, repair and replenish themselves. Staying active also helps improve your circulatory system, bringing these necessary nutrients to your scalp and hair follicles.
Call Hair by Robotics at 1-844-HAIR-BYROBO to learn more about the best ways to care for your hair!