Hot Hair
So you want great looking hair, which means smooth, silky, shiny hair, but not all of us have that gloss naturally and therefore we have to work at it to create it. Hair can be coarse in texture, dry, damaged and possibly split. All of these will rob the hair of its beautiful lustre of natural, healthy hair.
Each hair strand is made up of three layers. It is the outside layer, known as the cuticle, that gives the appearance of shiny glossy hair if it lays flat and smooth. The light will reflect on it to give it a smooth shiny appearance. This is why conditioner and serum helps. It helps by hydrating, nourishing and smoothing down the cuticle. The best way to describe how this works is to try and imagine a single hair strand like a Christmas tree with all its needle spikes. If you put lots of the trees side by side next to each other without them tied up, all the spikes sticking out, they would all get entangled and caught up with one another as they are rough and spikey. So too are the cuticles of hair strands that are not in good condition. The cuticle will lay hap hazard and get tangled with the hair strands next to it. This is what happens when you backcomb hair for volume and styling. It will create a mass as the cuticles react like spikes laying into
each other, all because the cuticles are not laying flat. This will not cause a problem if combed or brushed out correctly. It will temporarily rob the hair from natural sheen.
There are many practical things you can do to maximise potential for growing hair and keeping it gleaming. Starting from within, by eating the right foods with lots of protein and good oil that contains the good fats necessary for good hair growth. Oily fish is a very good source. The next is to make sure any broken split ends are cut off to avoid them working up creating more damage. Keep hair well conditioned regularly after washing out the shampoo. Don’t over wash hair by shampooing every day. It is suggested that once or twice a week is more than enough. Do not rub dry with a towel; instead wrap the towel round your head for a few minutes to absorb the water to avoid disturbing those laying flat cuticles.
Always apply serum to coarse hair whilst damp to help retain some hydration. Always use a protective heat spray before the use of any straighteners, tongs, heated styling tools or dryers. Try and keep this to a minimum and do not over use more than needed. Try and use once a week or when going out rather than every day.
Try not to have your hair frazzled with over processing of chemicals used in chemical straightening, curling or bleaching. Keep with natural colourants or lower peroxide colourants to avoid as much damage. Whenever possible do a thorough deep conditioning treatment using some melted coconut oil with olive oil and massage into scalp and down to ends. Apply a shower cap, allow to sweat and absorb into hair and scalp. Leave for ten minutes or more and then wash off applying shampoo neat first. Use a wide toothed comb on wet hair and use a brush on dry hair unless it is a styling tool brush.
Do not brush hair starting from the top near scalp. Always brush or comb from tips of hair first, gradually working up from a higher stroke each time you brushstroke the hair.
Glossiness!
Love and Sparkles
Samsara x