In our Self-Love series, we hope to help everyone to take care of and take pride in their hair. And all of this begins with truly knowing your hair type, understanding the ins and outs of your hair, and then accepting and loving it for what it is. At Hairloom, we know that empowerment goes hand-in-hand with knowledge, so we want to share our expertise with you here!
To many ladies, their long hair is their point of pride. Long hair is often seen as a symbol of femininity, and a long, lustrous and healthy mane is something that is aspired towards. Yet, we’ve realized through the years that many busy ladies often neglect to take proper care of their long hair. Even though long hair doesn’t need to be cut as often, there is still an amount of attention and effort that’s necessary in order to keep it healthy and beautiful, enhancing your overall glow and confidence.
Have Long Hair? Here’s how to love it!
Avoid:
1. Not trimming hair regularly
Even long hair needs to be trimmed regularly. Just because you want your hair to grow out, doesn’t mean that you just leave it alone. Hair might grow at different rates, leaving your hair uneven and out of shape. So even while you’re growing it out, remember to go for a trim every 3 months to prevent split ends!
2. Sleeping with wet hair
Often, when we encounter a client with hair that’s frizzy or damaged, a common culprit is their habit of sleeping with wet hair. When you sleep with wet hair, the cuticles of your hair get damaged. That’s because when your hair is wet, the cuticles are soft and open, and the pressure of sleeping on them, tossing and turning through the night, messes them up and bends the cuticles out of shape. Over a prolonged period, this can cause lasting damage on long hair, resulting in frizziness, split ends and dry hair.
3. Tying hair with rubber bands
Similarly, tying your hair tightly and regularly with tough rubber bands can also cause damage to the hair shaft. Have you noticed the mark that the rubber band leaves on your hair? Tying your hair too often could result in lasting damage to your hair. Instead of using rubber bands, use gentle hair ties, or no-crease elastic hair ties that do not leave marks on your hair.
Brands such as Emi Jay provide soft & stretchy hair ties that won’t leave marks on your hair.
4. Letting hair air dry
Sometimes on the morning commute, we spot ladies who leave their homes with dripping wet hair. Ladies, we know that your lives are super busy, but leaving your hair to air-dry is really a big no-no! Letting hair air dry leads to hair frizziness (something we’ve covered in this post), and will lead to dry, lifeless hair in the long run.
5. Using styling tools without heat protectants
Ladies with long hair often love to style their hair with flat irons or curling tongs. However, some use improper tools, or go without heat protectants. Heat protectants form a layer around your hair, acting as a barrier between the intense heat and your fragile hair shaft. Without this layer, daily exposure to heat styling tools will damage hair and lead to long-lasting damage that even intensive treatments aren’t able to save.
Instead, try this:
1. Get the right cut
We’re like a broken record on this matter, but even when you have long hair, it’s still super important to get the right cut for you! Having an expert advise on your parting, fringe and ideal length for your face shape and hair type will go a long way in helping you to have the best style for your look. There are many benefits to having a great hair style – it can mean taking years off your age (some women artificially age themselves with certain hairstyles), to reducing the amount of time it takes to style your hair in the mornings, to even helping you to get healthier hair and scalp as a result.
2. Use the right tools
The right tools reduces the chances of you damaging your hair, especially if you tend to use them daily. Remember – for daily combing, use a brush instead of a sharp-toothed comb. And don’t brush your hair when it’s dry, only when it’s still damp!
Getting the right hair dryer and flat iron (that can also double up as curling tongs) will also mean an easier daily routine, and ensuring that you are taking proper care of your hair at the same time. Hairloom doesn’t often align ourselves with any one product, but one that we do have full confidence in is the Glam Palm flat iron. What we love about it is that it glides over hair smoothly, doesn’t pull or tug, and is very easy to control, even for a total newbie. You can read more about it here.
One particular model we recommend is the Glam Palm GP501 – it’s great for those with long and thick hair. With its thermal protection technology, no heat protectant product is necessary. Usually retailing at S$269, from now through the end of June 2015, we’re having a special promotion – get it directly from Hairloom at only S$200! Plus, get a free Goldwell miniature shampoo and treatment set with every purchase. While stocks last.
3. Choose the right products
It’s also important to pick the right products for your hair – for example if you need to repair your hair ends, pick a nourishing shampoo. After shampooing, use a hair conditioner or hair mask to recover hair elasticity. And for a finishing product, use a hair serum like argan oil to apply to hair ends. And if you’re using scalp shampoo, avoid using it every day.
Need some help in picking the right products? Here are some products we recommend:
1. Goldwell Sleek Perfection is a great product to protect your hair and maintain your hairstyle for up to 48 hours. Spray it on before using your flat iron. As a bonus, it also helps to keep your hair straight in humid weather!
2. Shu Uemura Ultimate Remedy works well as a hair treatment mask.
3. Exence Vital Shampoo helps to remove toxin build up from synthetic hair products and excess oil on your scalp. It purifies and nourishes your hair, giving it vitality – it’s also great for thinning hair and works on any type of scalp.
Remember, for beautiful hair, taking care of it will really pay off – because healthy hair is beautiful hair, at any length!