Let me start off by saying ALL hair is different. There is not one category that you can put your hair type in and define. The quicker you know that, the quicker you will get to healthy hair.
From someone who has experimented with their hair more times than I can count, I have learned some things that damage your hair. So I am here today to hopefully give you some helpful tips and tricks when it comes to hair health.
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Healthy Hair Myths
1. Expensive Products For Healthy Hair
The first Healthy hair myth is that it has been rumored that you need expensive products for healthy hair and that is a lie!
I have tried MANY products all ranging in price and I am currently using Shea Moisture as one of my go-to products. Shea Moisture is one of the most affordable products among the ones I’ve tried. Most of the expensive products you find today are just charging you for their packaging and marketing.
However, you should stay away from some products due to the ingredients inside them. Some ingredients can be harmful to you and your hair.
If you want to check out what products I recommend you can find my blog post at the bottom of this post.
2. Washing your Hair Often
I want to go ahead and bust this myth. Yes, it may work for some people but it doesn’t work for everyone. I know someone who washes their hair every day once or twice a day and they have beautiful long, healthy, shiny hair!
It all depends on how your hair responds. I will say that I go 2 days without washing since I have bleach in my hair. Washing your hair often with bleach has its downsides so I try to prolong washing my hair.
At the end of the day, you pay attention to how your hair responds and then you can adjust. Hair training is a thing for those who don’t have an overly oily scalp.
For me, I have a normal amount of oil on my scalp but after 2 days my hair just looks gross and dry and it needs a refresh.
Healthy Hair Tips
1. Heat protectant
In middle school and high school, I straightened my hair every day with no heat protectant!
I went through a stage where I didn’t like my waves or the few little ringlets that I had underneath.
At first, I saw no damage because I was blind to it, after years of using no heat protectant my hair became so thin and fragile, I had spots that were thinned out from constantly using heat with no protection. The waves and curls in my hair were so damaged that they didn’t even show.
Now I rarely use heat, and I always use a heat protectant! I have noticed such a difference in my hair health since doing this. I know it’s hard not using heat, trust me I’ve been there. Anytime I have flyways, bumps, or flaws, I just wanted to fix it with my straightener.
Please take it from my experience that it will be worth it to cut back on heat styling, I promise once you start taking care of your hair, you won’t even need to use heat.
2. Protective Hairstyles For Healthy Hair
Claw clips are making a huge comeback and I am all for it! Claw clips are the easiest and most protective hairstyle to wear throughout the day.
Those tight hairstyles and braids are temping sometimes, I know all about those. I use to play Softball for years and my go-to hairstyles were very tight and I ended up creating bald spots and a receding hairline because of it!
Ever since using protective hairstyles in my hair, I’ve noticed a difference in where my hair was balding and receding, my hair has come back and thickened over those spots since starting my healthy hair journey.
A few protective styles I recommend are the claw clips during the day or wearing them down . If you want to tie your hair up and back, I suggest using silk scrunchies.
When you tie your hair back try not to tie it in the same place over and over again really tightly.
This will create friction and breakage where you tie your scrunchies at. At night time try not to go to bed with your hair wet. Wear your hair in a loose braid or twist it when going to sleep.
If you want to take it a little further, I suggest using a silk pillowcase. Now using the pillowcase does have it’s benefits but it will not make your hair overall “healthier” if not used with other techniques that I’ve mentioned.
Related: How To Create Your Healthy Hair Care Routine 2023
3. Skip the Bleach
Now when I say skip the bleach, I don’t mean to totally get rid of it. I still bleach my hair but there are some tips to keep your hair healthy while using bleach.
Natural hair is always going to look best on you, it was how you were born! I get it though, I love to have different styles and looks which is why I still use bleach.
I used to use bleach almost once a month! That is HORRIBLE for your hair and I have pictures to prove it. When bleaching your hair you want to find a hair stylist who cares about the integrity of your hair and not just about getting paid the big bucks.
Be patient when trying to go lighter, if you go too light in one sitting, you can really fry and damage your hair even if you don’t see it to begin with.
I would say wait at least 6 weeks before getting bleach again. Now going 6 weeks is hard when you have a hairstyle that has a lot of upkeep.
That’s why when I get my hair done, I opt for hairstyles with low maintenance levels. With low maintenance, you are not having to go back to the salon as often depending on what you get.
4. Your Diet
This last tip has been the most beneficial to my hair health journey. I would not skip this step because it is so important.
Before I took my overall health seriously, I ate out at restaurants almost every day! I didn’t care what I was eating and it definitely had a toll on my hair.
Related: Clean Eating Tips For Beginners
This past year I have watched how my diet including my other healthy hair tips transformed my hair. My hair started getting thicker and naturally wavy again!
If you want to learn more about what I did to change my eating habits that transformed my hair, go ahead and click on my blog post How To Start Eating Clean where I go in depth about what clean eating is and how to do it.
5. Hair Trims For Healthy Hair
I know, I know, for those of you trying to grow your hair out, I know that this is the last thing that you want to do, but it is also one of the most important things to do when striving for healthier hair.
Some of you may be wondering how trimming your hair can make your hair healthier. When you don’t trim your hair, you are leaving your split ends on your head.
When you don’t cut the split ends off, they will travel all the way up your hair strand and the longer you go in between trims, the longer your split ends will keep traveling up and damaging your hair all over your head. You can tell if you have split ends if your hair gets tangled really easily.
When you have dead ends, it is harder for you to grow your hair long because your hair will just keep breaking off. There is not one product that will get rid of your split ends or damaged hair completely so you should be trimming your hair every 6 – 12 weeks to maintain healthy hair.
Related: Healthy Hair Products 2023
6. Microfiber Towel
If you’ve never heard of a microfiber towel, this is something that I would invest in to have healthier hair. A microfiber towel is a towel with microfiber material designed to help prevent any breakage or extra friction when drying your hair.
When your hair is wet, your hair is at its most fragile state, so if you were to use a regular towel roughly, it would create frizz, breakage, and split ends over time.
7. Brushing
Brushing hair is one of the most common causes of hair breakage, especially when using plastic brushes. Before brushing your hair, try to detangle it with your fingers the best you can. Adding a leave-in conditioner will help with this step tremendously.
When brushing your hair, be sure to start at the bottom of your hair and work your way up, gently detangling the knots as you go. The faster you brush, the more friction you will cause, and when using a plastic brush creates even more friction and static.
8. Water Temperature
When washing your hair, using hot water can do more harm than good to your hair. When I started using lukewarm/ cool water to rinse my hair, I noticed how much more hydrated, shiny, and smooth my hair was!
Using cooler water to rinse your hair prevents frizzy hair and helps lock in moisture which is important for your hair health.
9. Protein vs. Moisture
When looking for products make sure you have a balance of products that are to repair your hair and to moisturize your hair. If you have too much protein in your hair/products, it could cause your hair to dry or break.
If you want to read more about this topic be sure to check out my blog How to Create Your Own Hair Care Routine.
Conclusion
Today we busted some healthy hair myths and talked about my 9 tips that will transform the health of your hair drastically! Above I also included links to some of my other blog posts Clean Eating Tips and Products For Your Healthy Hair Journey 2023.So go check those out if you are interested in taking your healthy hair journey to the next level!
Right here is the right blog for anyone who would like to understand this topic. You realize so much its almost hard to argue with you (not that I actually will need toÖHaHa). You certainly put a brand new spin on a subject thats been discussed for years. Wonderful stuff, just great!