Most of us have a hair care routine. We spend ages finding the right shampoo, conditioner and deep conditioning treatment that suits our hair type, leaves it lovely and clean and luscious and shiny. But did you know a post wash routine is important too, and makes a huge difference to how your hair feels and behaves?
Table of Contents
- What To Do With Wet Hair
- When and How To Brush
- Drugstore Hair Products
- The Blow-Drying Technique
- How To Brush (Properly)
What To Do With Wet Hair
When your hair is still wet, what you do at this stage can have a real impact. Take the time to gently press the water out into a towel instead of roughly rubbing the water out into your towel. If you’re too rough, you can damage the surface of the hair shaft and worsen split ends. Also, don’t spend too long with your hair wrapped in a towel as it can flatten your hair – by the time you come to creating volume, you’ll be fighting against all the squashing you’ve already done.
When and How To Brush
Brushing your hair when wet should also be done carefully with a wide tooth comb. It will take a bit longer, but is definitely worth making sure your hair suffers less impact from harsh brushes. Our hair has more elasticity when wet, and knots and tangles should be gently teased out. If you have hair that is prone to tangling, brushing it before you rinse off your conditioner is a top tip – much kinder and softer to your tresses.
Next, the absolute best thing to do is to let your hair dry 80% naturally. Yes 80%! If you can’t quite do that much or just can’t spare the time, any time you can try to invest in letting your hair dry in the air is worth it (but we know not always practical).
Your tools matter too as different hair types benefit from different brush sizes and bristle textures. The length and thickness of your hair is also a consideration. Try to identify if your hair is fine or thick; thin or full bodied; straight, wavy, loose curls or tight curls; or short, medium or long? As a general rule, natural bristle tufts are good for fine to normal hair, natural bristle and nylon tufts work well with normal to thick, or long hair; and nylon bristle tufts actually are the best for thick and wavy hair. Generally, the longer the hair the bigger the brush should be.
Drugstore Hair Products
Product wise, as well as choosing something that offers you the styling power you desire, try to choose something that also cares for your hair too. Think smoothing, moisturizing and taming. If you’re going to be putting it onto your hair every day, you need it to work hard for your money. We all have things about our hair we’d like to change, so the last thing we want to be doing is have extra ‘problems’ to fix caused by our chosen styling products.
The Blow-Drying Technique
When it comes to blow-drying, a great blow dryer is so important. A bad one won’t give you the results you want and will just damage your hair over time. There are some amazing models on the market today, so try to go to the top end of your budget and your hair will thank you!
Many of us use the technique of power blasting our hair randomly with a blow dryer until it’s not wet anymore. Eek! It’s easy to do that yes, but perhaps won’t give you the best results.
Top hair dressers recommend the best way to give yourself a great blowout is to make sure your hair isn’t too wet (see our earlier tips) and then make sure you work some volume in. It’s as simple as using your hands to comb your hair up whilst directing the blow dryer’s blast upwards to your roots.
How To Brush (Properly)
Also, it’s important how you use your brush. Put your brush up against your roots and move the brush down to the ends, then take it back up to roots again. Concentrate your blow dryer on your hairline first, then the roots will dry much quicker as well. If you spend more time getting this step right, you’ll need to spend less time using heated straighteners or curlers. And use your nozzle! Yep take it out of your draw and use it. The nozzle helps to direct the heat and get a smooth finish, otherwise the blow dryer tends to just splay the hair out all over the place.
Ta da – you’re awesome. Just finish with heated straighteners or curlers if you feel you need it, and perhaps a spritz of finishing spray or lacquer. Then go knock em dead gal!
Let us know what products you use to get your hair lookin’ fab!
