BEING NICE TO MY HAIR

I haven't been so nice to my hair in years past. In fact, it started breaking off because I had not been careful about how I was taking care of it. Excessive heat, styling and coloring on my fine, dry hair caused my hair to become weak and break so much so that I chopped it off. 

My hair is in a fragile state at the moment, but I'm being mindful of it and treating it kindly. I'm starting to see improvements to the texture and quality in just a short few months too. I thought I would share what I'm doing to keep it healthy and happy. 

1. Weekly hair masques - I alternate between different ones, but I'm mainly focusing on putting moisture back into my hair and strengthening it. I really like these from Aveda (damage remedy, dry remedy and color conserve).

2. Washing it every three days - I've been doing this for a long time now, but I'm being extra mindful to do this for the health of my hair. I don't even brush my hair between washes. I simply apply dry shampoo to my roots to keep the oil at bay and work it into my scalp with my fingers. I usually shake my head upside-down to give it a fluff too.

3. I try only to blow drying my hair and styling it once a week - This has been really hard for me because I love the volume the dryer gives my roots, but for now reducing the amount of heat on my hair will help a lot. When I do blow dry my hair I use a lower heat setting as well, which take a bit longer, but I think it's worth it.

4. Once a week I'm letting it air dry natural curly - Since I'm only using styling tools once a week the other time I wash my hair I just let it air dry. I'm learning how to rock my natural texture. I just apply my curl cream and mousse and let it go. It's kind of liberating to my surprise. 

5. I switched my styling tools to ceramic plates instead of metal - I learned that ceramic plates protect the hair more than metal because that heat more evenly. Metal plats can contain hot spots. There are some metal plates out there that are coated, but if the coating wears off it will damage your hair. This is what happened to me. I recently bought Chi Ceramic 1" straightener and I love it. I also purchased Hot Tools NanoCermaic Tapered Curl Wand and that give my hair a nice bend. 

6. I'm going longer between color appointments - This has been hard since I started sprouting some gray hairs, but lightening your hair definitely can weaken and damage your strands. I'm going with deeper roots and touching up with dry shampoo that is for brown hair. I use Salon Grafix for brunettes. 

7. I'm layering products into my hair to protect it from UV and heat (when I use it) - Styling products add a barrier of protection for your hair and many contain UV protectants too. This will help protect from your color fading, as well as damage. 

8. Getting regular haircuts and maintaining short hair - I've always been the client to shop my hair off and then let it grow for six months. I would just get two cuts a year and call it good. That's the worst idea ever because once those split-ends start they will continue to creep up your strands and break your hair to the root. It's more money and time, but cutting my hair every 8 weeks is going to ensure that split ends stay away.

Photos by Rennai Hoefer; this post contains affiliate links

BEST TRAVEL SIZE HAIR PRODUCTS

Keeping your hair looking its best while traveling can be a challenge when you have curly hair. I've mentioned in past posts that it takes about five products to make my curls perfect. That's a lot to bring in your carry-on suitcase though when you can only have products under 3.5 ounces. 

In the past, I've tried to only use the travel size products that I can find at Target out of convenience, but they just don't do my hair justice. It was worth it to me to purchase better products in miniature sizes and store them under my sink until my next trips. Here are my personal favorites:

AVEDA thickening tonic: I have really fine, thin hair. Even though my curls give me some volume, I really need to build volume at my roots. This tonic definitely helps me do that.

Bb Curl Spray: I have talked about this curl spray before (curly hair styling tricks), and it's a favorite primer of mine. While my hair is wet I spray this all over my head. It gives moisture and tackiness to my hair. 

AVEDA Control Hairspray: You have to have a good hair spray when you travel. AVEDA makes my favorite hairspray because it smells SO good. Bad smelling hairspray just lingers everywhere you go, and you want to make sure you always smell good just as much as your hair looks good. Am I right? 

AVEDA Shampure Dry Shampoo: Speaking of smelling good...This dry shampoo is my favorite smelling dry shampoo on the market. It's not an aerosol. It's simply a powder you sprinkle at your roots and it give your hair texture, body and the best smell in the world. 

Bumble & Bumble Surf Spray: I always have to put sea salt spray in my hair. It gives my hair texture and volume like nothing else. This is the best one out there, and I've tried many. It's a bit pricey, but worth every penny.

Photography by Rennai Hoefer

CURLY HAIR STYLING TRICKS

All of my life I wore my hair up or straight because I didn't know how to style my natural curls in a way that didn't make me look like Ms. Frizzle (you know, that lady from the Magic School bus with the crazy red curly hair...). Curls are hard to style, and with so many different hair textures and curl types (ringlets, waves, corkscrews) it's hard to know which products are the best for my hair.

I have thin, fine hair and my curls are kinky with some straightness at the root with the curl showing up at the bottom. It's hard for me to get volume at the root when I using curl creams and anti-frizz serums, but they are a necessary evil to avoid the frizz. I have always had to settle for one and create volume with back combing and hair spray.

I have finally found a system that works really well, and it's the Bumble & Bumble BbCurl line. I use their Curl Primer, Curl Cream and Curl Mousse.

Here's my step by step process of how I create beachy, touchable, no-frizz curls...

1. After you have shampooed your hair, apply conditioner but avoid your roots. Take a wide-tooth comb and comb through your hair while still in the shower. Flip your head over and rinse out the conditioner by scrunching your curls over and over again.

2. Turn your shower off, step out and dry off your body, but AVOID towel drying your hair. Leave it sopping wet by simply wringing out the moisture with those curl scrunches upside down.

3. Layer your product: curl primer, curl mousse and curl cream. Apply to the hair in the continued scrunching motion with your head upside down.

4. Get your blow dryer, set it to the low setting and start drying your hair upside down. Cup the curls gently so that they don't blow everywhere, which can create frizz. It's going to take awhile, but blow drying your hair upside down with cupping the curls and occasionally scrunching them is going to bring out even more curl than you have ever seen before. 

5. Once your hair is all of the way dry, flip your head upside down and shake your curls out. You might even want to bring your fingers to the root of your hair and do a little rub there to separate them a bit.

That's it! Tell me how it works for you and embrace those waves and curls!

Photos by Rennai Hoefer.