Harsh winter weather and indoor heat can play havoc with the look and feel of your hair. To ensure vibrant, healthy hair all through the winter, it’s essential to make these four simple steps part of your regular routine: cleanse, hydrate, treat and protect.
Cleanse: To keep hair nourished and in its best state during the winter, it’s essential to cleanse your hair with a gentle, moisturizing shampoo cleanser every other day. Yes, I understand that some of us are used to washing our hair daily. But keep in mind, over washing the hair in winter can dry the hair shaft, causing your hair to become dry, brittle, and dull.
Hydrate: To minimize breakage and to keep hair soft and manageable, use a hydrating conditioner directly after cleansing. Don’t be afraid to leave the conditioner on your hair longer than the usual five to ten minutes.
Treat: For the treatment of hair, I like to use a hair mask at least once a week. Hair masks are like hero treatments for the hair. They work to strengthen, moisturize, soften, repair, and add shine. And because hair masks are composed of heavier, richer ingredients such as oils and butters, they play a wonderful role in strengthening the overall structure of healthy hair, providing extra hydration where hair needs it most. According to Advanced Hair Specialist and Peter Coppola Educator Dana Powell, it’s equally important to use extra conditioning masks such as Peter Coppola’s Total Repair Mask along with frequent trims to keep hair looking and feeling healthy.
Protect: We must protect our hair from heated elements such as flat irons, blow dryers, and yes, the sun. Because winter is so cold, heated tools such as flat irons and blow dryers become our best friends, leading to split ends, shedding, and dryness. To protect your healthy hair, don’t be afraid to skip the flat irons and go au natural. However, when you must use heated tools, the application of a heat protectant spray and a light mist of argan oil will help moisturize hair while also reducing your chances of heat damage and hair breakage. Just as the sun is capable of burning our skin, it can do the same to our scalp. Using an SPF hair protecting spray such as Banana Boat’s Quik Dry Sport Body & Scalp spray will be beneficial in protecting your scalp from the sun’s harmful UV rays.
Also be sure to pick up my FREE Gift special report: Five Secrets to Vibrantly Healthy Skin on our website.
Cheers to healthy and happy skin!