10 Habits For Better Hair in 10 Minutes for $10 (or less!)

We all wish our hair could be better, and luckily for us, we *can* have better hair! Here’s to a good hair day, every day.

1. Be healthy

This one seems obvious, but it is true – what you put in, you get out. Drinking eight cups or more of water a day, and eating your fruits and vegetables really makes a difference. Plus, dermatologist Jessica Wu, M.D. notes that when you consume sugar, your blood sugar rises, and your body creates more insulin in response. Your body increases its production of androgen, a male hormone that causes hair follicles to shrink in both men and women.

2. Prep the night before

Proganix Repair Oil, $8, drugstores

If you usually take a shower in the morning, consider applying a reparative oil to your ends before going to bed and wash it out in the morning. This helps to prevent split ends and breakage. If you’re not the “shower in the morning” type, consider applying it one to two hours before showering at night (or longer if possible) and applying to ends and your ponytail line (the area of your hair where the crease from a ponytail comes from) before working out.

3. (Hot Oil) Treat Yo Self

Hask Argan Oil Hot Oil Hair Treatment, $3, Drugstores

Once a week, ‘treat yo’ hair to a hot oil treatment. Place the tube in hot water for one minute, and then apply the product generously from roots to tips. Massage the oil in and leave in for four to six minutes before showering! The results are almost as satisfying as the process!

4. Avoid unnecessary washing

Animal Showercaps, $4, Amazon

If you don’t need to wash your hair, then don’t. Shampooing your hair strips your hair of the oils that *naturally* keep your hair strong, and over-washing can lead to dry, brittle hair. Bonus: If your hair is dry but clean, consider skipping shampoo and only conditioning. Plus, having cute shower caps is a pretty good motivation to skip shampoo..

5. Use a pre-wash

Burt’s Bees Avocado Butter Pre-Shampoo, $6, Drugstores

Pre-wash shampoos are applied shortly before shampooing and increase the benefits of your shampoo and conditioner. Shampoo is more gentle on hair, and conditioner softens and strengthens hair more!

6. Pick the right shampoo

L’Oreal Total Repair Extreme Reconstructing Shampoo, $5, Drugstores

Pick a shampoo that focuses on strengthening or repairing, rather than a clarifying shampoo for regular use. As mentioned before, the point is to make our hair stronger, not to remove our natural oils that aid in that. Clarifying shampoos tend to weaken our scalp and follicles by over-cleaning them.

7. However, you should clean your scalp too.

Head and Shoulders Smooth and Silky, $4, Drugstores

There are all kinds of scalp treatments that thoroughly clean your scalp and follicles while conditioning them, but have not proven to be any better than anti-dandruff shampoo. Having a clean scalp and follicles allows your hair to be stronger from the second it comes out of your head, as well as allowing for better volume and less frizz! Pick an anti-dandruff shampoo with other benefits, such as Head and Shoulders Smooth and Silky for optimal results.

8. Condition better

L’Oreal Total Repair Reconstructing Conditioner, $5, Drugstores

Pick a conditioner with not only better ingredients, but with better ingredients that don’t wash out. Products that contain variations of glycerin, silk proteins, Cetearyl Alcohol, coconut oil and jojoba oil have elements that condition your hair even after you’ve rinsed.

9. Use heat protection spray the right way

TRESemme Keratin Smooth Flat Iron Protection Spray, $4, Drugstores

If you’re going to use heat on your hair, be smart about it. Heat is almost never good for your hair, but applying it correctly can lessen the damages. In order to use heat protection spray properly, divide your hair into one to two inch sections before spraying two to three times, and then comb through and allow it to dry completely before using heat.

10. Skip the shine sprays and serums and pick up dry oil finishing spray

Psssst! Rejunevating Dry Oil Spray, $6,

Skip the shine sprays and serums and opt for a dry oil finishing spray, which delivers these benefits in a more natural looking way. The dry oil seals in frizz and shine without looking greasy.

• hair
• healthy