Probably one wish that all girls have in common: having beautiful and healthy hair. We do hair masks, condition, use argan oil, and invest in other ‘wonder’ treatments and products that promise to leave our hair looking as perfect as can be, but for some of us, healthy, nourished hair is not just that simple.

Good hair care is essential for healthy and beautiful hair. So how can you make sure you treat your hair the right way and get beautiful and healthy hair? Here are the 5 golden rules for good hair care:

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Wash your hair 2 to 3 times a week.

I personally know a lot of girls that wash their hair every day, which I totally understand. The smell and feeling of having ‘clean’ hair is probably one of the best feelings there is, but there is nothing worse for you hair than being washed, shampooed and conditioned every single day. Instead, wash it 2 to 3 times a week, max! Your hair’s natural oils are made to naturally condition and protect your hair, so if you shampoo every single day, you will damage these oils and therefore, damage your hair.

Also, take in account what type of hair your have. The curlier your hair, the longer time you can have in between washing, shampooing and conditioning. The straighter the hair, the more often you need to wash it, because it will get oilier faster!

Stop over-shampooing

Yup, guilty! I always used to think the more shampoo I use, the better, but I couldn’t be more wrong. Over-shampooing is one of the things a lot of us do, but this is actually doing more harm than good. It dries out your hair and dries out your scalp. The way you shampoo your hair is really important. Use shampoo on your scalp, massage it in there and not on your ends, because of the water, shampoo will rinse down through your hair and you don’t want to scrub the ends of your hair.

And don’t use hot water! Yes, it is really nice and comfortable, but so bad for your hair (and skin). Using hot water will dry out you scalp and hair and can cause breakage to you hair.

Good shampoos

• Fine hair: Muroto Volume – Shu Uemura
• Thick hair: Frizz Control – Clear Scalp & Hair 
• Curly hair: Moisture & Control – Oribe Shampoo 
• Textured hair: Avocado + Quinoa Co–Wash – Be Gentle, Be Kind 
• Black hair:  Hydrating Shampoo – Creme of Nature Eden 

 

Before you apply conditioner, gently towel-dry your hair

This was a new one for me, but apparently, this is also one of the golden rules of good hair care. What kind of conditioner you use and how you use it, is also more important than the shampooing stage. It doesn’t matter what your hair type is, always invest in some good conditioners, hair masks and leave-in treatments to make sure you nourish your hair in the right way. L’Oreal’s Damage Erasing Balm is an amazing product to use if you already have damaged hair.

Next to investing in some good products, towel-drying your hair after washing and before applying conditioner is also crucial for happy and healthy hair. The excess amount of water in your hair, won’t let the conditioner fully penetrate your hair, which means it would not work as well on your hair.

Good conditioners:

• Fine hair: EverPure Sulfate-Free Volume Conditioner –  L’Oréal Paris
• Thick hair: Masque à l’Orchidée Softening Hair Mask – Leonor Greyl
• Curly hair: Super Rich Conditioner – Bumble and bumble
• Textured: Gold Lust Transformative Masque – Oribe
• Black hair: Raw Shea Butter Restorative Conditioner – Shea Butter

Brush your hair twice a day from the bottom up

Brushing my hair is probably one of the things I should do more often and when I do it, I always start at the top. If you want perfectly, healthy and shiny hair, you should brush your hair twice a day. Don’t just tear through your hair mindlessly and be rough on your hair, but be mindful when you do it and make sure your brushes are clean.

When your hair is wet, make sure you comb it and don’t brush it. Start at the ends and work your way up to the top. Be gentle with your hair when it is wet and do not rough-dry your hair with a towel, your hair is weaker when it is wet and gets damaged more easily as well.

Cut back on the heated tools and use lower temperatures

One of the golden rules we all know, but for some reason, most of us choose to ignore it. Using a lot of heated tools on your hair is probably one of the worst things we do to our hair. If you want to prevent dry and damaged hair, you have two options, cut back on the heated tools your are using or use lower temperatures.

Don’t blow-dry or style your hair every day and make sure you use heat protecting serum whenever you use heating tools. Tresemme Thermal Creations Heat Tamer Protective Spray  is a really good heat protector to use.

How do you keep your hair healthy and shiny? Have you ever tried a Keratin treatment or anything similar? Share your stories with us!