New Year, new me. Cliché, I know, but sometimes you need a change and since I can’t rearrange my dorm, I figured I might as well change the color of my hair! I’ve never really done anything crazy with my hair before. It’s always been a dark brown (almost black) and the only other thing I ever did to it was add brown highlights – I know how to live on the edge. This time I decided to dye my hair a much lighter color and as you may already know, dyeing your hair requires taking care of your hair a little more than usual. That being said, here are a few tips about how you should treat your hair that you may not have known.
1. Stop Washing Your Hair Every Day
Washing your hair every day dries out your hair. There are tons of celebrities that go days without washing their hair and have openly vocalized that. It’s not gross to not wash your hair every day. Sure, your hair may get oily but it’s supposed to do that! Not washing your hair every day is also great if you’re trying to grow out your hair. I tried to grow out my hair and became really frustrated when I saw other girls cut their hair super short, only to see it grow back super quickly while my hair only grew three inches in the same amount of time. After I went through a whole anti-hair cleansing phase, I realized that my hair grew so much. I confronted those same girls and asked them how often they washed their hair and my suspicions were right! They went days without washing it. It’s better for dyed hair because it keeps the color, it makes your hair grow faster, and it keeps your hair from drying out.
2. Coconut Oil
Coconut oil is just amazing for everything. There are different ways you can use coconut oil for your hair. You can melt natural coconut oil and apply it to your hair and let it sit for however long you want; the longer the better. You can buy shampoo and conditioners with coconut oil. You can also buy coconut oil serum and apply a small amount to your wet hair after a shower or even to your dry hair later on. For me, my hair is wavy and more times than I appreciate, frizzy. After a shower I’ll apply coconut oil to my hair to control frizz and if it’s still frizzy after it dries, I’ll apply a little more for damage control. I went the whole summer without applying heat to my hair (flat iron, curling iron, and hair dryer) and what I did instead was use coconut oil. I had wonderful wavy hair for the majority of the summer.
3. Use Less Heat
Like I said earlier, I went the summer without straightening my hair, curling my hair, or blow drying my hair. The nation went on a whole “natural hair” spree and still is to a degree. I wanted to embrace my wavy hair. Not only was I less stressed about having to do my hair, but I got ready for things a lot faster, and my hair felt a lot healthier.
4. Brush Your Hair Less
If you’re like me and have wavy hair, you have to stop brushing your hair, like completely. Otherwise, you’ll just brush out the waves. This was weird to me because I’m so used to brushing my hair all the time but the good thing about this was that my hair didn’t fall out as much. I wasn’t going to be bald and there were also fewer hairballs caught on the rug in my room! Even when I did straighten my hair, I brushed it less. And if it was too unbearable, I brushed it maybe once, if at all, and then I put it in a braid, a bun, or the classic ponytail.
5. Moderation Is Key
The main thing you should know about hair is to do everything in moderation. You don’t want to wash your hair every day but you also don’t want to have greasy or smelly hair. You also don’t want to brush your hair a lot, but you don’t want knotty hair. Your hair isn’t just an accessory, it’s like a pet. You have to make sure you’re treating it right, make sure you’re providing it with the right nutrients, and you definitely have to pay attention to it if you want healthy hair. If you love your hair and treat it right, it’ll love you and treat you right back too.