We all love a good hair day, but sometimes dryness and brittleness get in the way. 😞 This can happen for many reasons, like using products that don’t suit your hair type or frequent heat styling. The good news? With the right care, your hair can look soft, shiny, and healthy again. Here’s how:
1. Understand Your Hair Porosity
Understanding your hair porosity (how well your hair absorbs and holds moisture) makes product choosing so much easier. If your hair takes forever to dry after shower and hair products often make your hair feel ‘oily’ or ‘heavy’, you likely have low-porosity hair. On the other hand, high-porosity hair absorbs moisture quickly but also loses it just as fast, leaving strands to be frizzy, rough and tangled.
To care for your hair effectively: high-porosity hair benefits from rich, moisturizing products that lock in hydration, while low-porosity hair works best with lightweight formulas that won’t weigh it down.
2. Use a Conditioner/Hair Treatment
Use conditioners and hair treatments with nourishing ingredients like argan oil, avocado oil or aloe vera. For extra hydration, do a weekly deep conditioning or hair mask for 15-20 minutes after shampooing. This would help to restore moisture and shine to your hair.
⚠️ Avoid over conditioning as it can cause buildup and make your hair feel greasy.
3. Apply Leave-In Conditioner or Hair Serum
Leave-in conditioners lock in moisture after washing, making hair feel softer and more manageable. Hair serums function as a protective barrier around each strand to protect against environmental damage (an essential for the humid Malaysian weather!).
4. Trim Off Your Split Ends Regularly
Treat split ends like treating your bad lover. You must cut them off! When your hair is too damaged, it is visually unpleasant and hard to style. Plus, you’ll not get shiny and healthy-looking hair no matter how hard you take care of them when they’re damaged.
⚠️ Note: Always use hair cutting scissors. Regular scissors might cause more harm than good.
5. Take supplements
Healthy hair starts from within. Look for vitamins like biotin as well as minerals such as zinc and iron, which play key roles in promoting healthy hair growth. Supplements rich in omega-3 fatty acids nourish the scalp and improve elasticity, making your hair stronger and more resilient over time.
6. Don’t over-wash your hair
There is a misconception that the more you wash your hair, the cleaner and healthier it will be. Frequent washing strips away natural oils your scalp needs. When this balance is disrupted, the scalp may overproduce oil to compensate, leading to more greasiness.
7. Lower the heat styling
Styling causes brittleness. Lower the heat setting or keep your hair at least 6 inches away from the dryer to reduce the damage. If your lifestyle constantly needs that extra glam, you should apply a hair protector before styling your hair.
