Today a dear friend of mine asked me a hair question, and my explaination ended up being pretty long so I thought it was something I should blog about for you guys! This my hair routine, hair history, and hair future (hopefully)!
History of my hair:
First off, let me say my hair is EXTREMELY curly. With curly hair, comes a different texture than most other hair types. Rougher, thicker, and frizzier are the words to best describe a curly head. Along with my curls, my natural hair color is a light ashy brown I would say. Nothing too exciting there.
My freshmen year of college, I decided to chop it all off and go blonde. Now, let me just say I foiled it to close to bleach blonde in stages, which was the healthiest way to do it at the time. I absolutely loved it. But, coloring your hair blonde consistently every month or so for 3 years really takes a toll on the texture, ends and overall strength. Though I loved this color, I lost 70% of my thickness, my ends were horribly broken, and my hair overall was just not doing super well.
I think we all have that crazy spur of the moment LET’S DYE MY HAIR TODAY moment, and last year, I sadly had that and dyed it dark brown from my bright blonde, single process. Needless to say, the terrifying term single process ended up looking as scary as it sounds. I hated it, missed the blonde immediately, and went back for foils 3 days later. The hair looked better and felt better, but was still very damaged. Luckily in my spur of the moment idiocy I dyed it a demi permanent, so it lighted a little, and with the foils was ok.
Since then, I have been growing my hair out, not coloring it, and letting it get healthy again. I eventually would love to go blonde again, but it’s just too damaging for my hair right now. The color I have is growing out giving me a semi ombre effect, or balayage as my hair friends would say. In the mean time to keep my hair looking good, feeling good and on the road to recovery, these are my every day/every week products.
I wash my hair every other day. I have oily roots, so it is a must to keep me from looking ratchet. But, if you can go longer between washes, DO IT! The less washing the better. When I do wash my hair, I get out, let it towel dry for about 30 minutes, and then apply the following:
- It’s a 10 Leave In Conditioner Plus Keratin. *note, keratin can be very bad for the hair if used too often. It can overly protein the hair and cause MORE breakage. MY hair soaks it pretty well without breakage, but that’s just mine! Be careful with your keratin amounts!
- Aveda Color Conserve Daily Color Protect. I don’t use this everyday cause it’s expensive, but I try to throw it in 1 to 2 times a week or every few washes.
- An oil of some kind. This is essential for curly headed people like me to smooth things down, help soften ends and give them a better look, and moisturize the hair. I like using Biosilk or Moroccan Oil. Biosilk can be used on dry skin as well, so though it’s expensive, it’s worth the price!
- Redkin Anti-Snap. This was recommended to me by my BFF and Aveda graduate Erin, and I use this every few washes to help with the breakage or more commonly when my hair is going through a rough period.
- For days when I want to use a mask, I usually lean towards Lush Handmade Cosmetics products, or a coconut oil and egg white mask.
That is my normal hair care routine to help my hair recover enough to color it again! In March it will be a year since my last color, and it still has a long way to go but is starting to look and feel 10 times better than it was. I try to get my hair cut every couple months as well, but let’s be real, who has time for this every 2 weeks crap? No one. No one I know at least… :]
There you have it friends! I hope you found it helpful.
Have a wonderful Tuesday!
The Lifestyle Rookie 