10 Great Hair Care Tips

If you watch the tabloids, you know that even the stars have bad hair days. It just seems that when the professional stylists are out of the picture, it is inherently human to have a less than glamorous mane. But you can do your part to stay ahead of the battle by following these great tips for hair care.

1. Use a professional conditioner that is formulated for your specific hair type. While you can skimp a little on the shampoo, a good, professional conditioner is a must have. Look for products in salons that are customized for your hair type. For instance: If you have color or a perm, choose a conditioner that is for chemically processed hair. And stay away from those all-in-one shampoo and conditioner combos.

2. Choose a cut tailored to your face and body shape. The number one mistake that people make when choosing a new hairstyle is to pick a style based on popularity rather than how it will enhance their features. Always choose a new cut based on how it will enhance or detract from your facial features and build. If you have broad shoulders, choose a full-bodied cut over a close cropped head hugging doo. 

3. Don’t forget your UV protectants. Just as your skin gets damaged by wind and sun, so does your hair. To combat this, look for finishing products such as mousses, gels and sprays that block UV rays.

4. Keep your appointments. Did you know that your hair will split faster than it will grow? You need to get a trim every 6 to 8 weeks, even if it’s just a micro trim. A good hairdresser makes them good because they know what to leave on the head, not take off.

5. Leave chemicals to the professionals. There is a reason why beauticians need to go to school to learn how to handle chemicals and hair processes. You can do irreparable damage with these products even if the package says that it’s way easy. And even if you don’t make your hair fall out, you could end up looking like a clown and paying a stylist big bucks to fix your mess. (Note: Most stylists charge double the rate for corrective color than they do for normal color processes)

6. Get color for interest and body. Every cut needs a little bit of color to make it truly breathtaking. No matter whether your taste is subtle or dramatic, you can add interest and volume to your tresses with a color process. Highlights, lowlights, all over color, gray coverage, you name it, it’s all good for your look.

7. Do weekly conditioning treatments. Even if your hair is extremely healthy, it is constantly on the attack from wind, sun, cold and heat. During the summer months, your hair is battered even more when it absorbs chlorine and other chemicals from your pool. 

8. Get an ionic ceramic flat iron. Instead of frying your hair with a conventional metal plated flat iron. Straighten your tresses, add shine and infuse moisture with one of the a negative ionic flat irons. We personally use T3 irons for all our work. 

9. Choose your styling products wisely. Avoid products that leave build-up on your hair. If you see white gunk, that means that your product is not water-soluble and may be coating your hair shaft. Build-up causes limpness, breakage and inability to curl not to mention the white flakes.

10. Did you know that if you use a towel after your shower to dry your hair you are causing split ends and adding static electricity to your hair. Don’t rub the towel back and forth over your hair, scrunch the towel around your hair like your would scrunch crackers in your soup.

While all of these tips won’t make you look like you’ve hired a personal hairdresser, they will help you look the very best that you can each and every day. When it comes to hair care, remember that you wear your hair everyday. Now isn’t it worth the time, effort and money that it takes to keep it looking spectacular?

Black Hair Care: How To Take Care Of Cornrows

Cornrows and braids are one of those timeless styles that have crossed all gender and ethnic gaps. In fact, nothing is more beautiful than heedful of intricate braids and rows and no two styles are exactly alike. That is why more and more people are choosing to express themselves and their individual style through braiding and rowing. 

But as with all styles, cornrows come with their own special challenges and problems. One of the most obvious problems associated with any tight braiding technique is breakage. While black hair has fewer tendencies to break than Caucasian hair, it can still take a great deal of abuse if the braids are not done and cared for properly. In addition to breakage, you can also experience dull, frizzy and dry hair as a result of wearing cornrows or braids.

To avoid all of these drawbacks and to keep your braids looking shiny and neat, follow the following care tips:

· Choose your artist wisely – As with any artistic field, braiders come in many levels of expertise. Be sure to choose one that has been in the business for a good while. Also, ask to see sample photos of the stylist’s work. This will give you a good idea about their level of expertise. 

· Grow hair to proper length - In order to get a good braid, your stylist has to have enough hair to work with. A good rule of thumb to follow on length is 10cm for straight hair and a minimum of 5 cm for curly hair.

· Cleanse without disrupting – Granted, shampooing your hair with all of those rows and braids is not an easy task. To clean down to the scalp without disrupting your style you can use a shower massager or dental water pick.

· Wrap to prevent frizz and breakage – When you’re sleeping, your hair comes into constant contact with your pillow and your movements cause friction and tension to be applied to your braids. This can result in fly away hair, frizz and breakage. To avoid this simply wrap your head with a do rag or cloth before sleeping.

· Keep salon appointments – If your braid artist tells you to get a trim every 6 weeks, do so. And if he or she tells you to get your braids redone within a certain time frame, be sure that you do. This will help keep your braids looking neat and fresh.

The Disaster of Hair Loss: Take It Easy

Human hair is one of those essential things that form the notion of beauty. Since long time ago hair comprised men power. Everyone knows the sad story of Samson who lost his incredible power after his wife Delilah had cut his long hair off. 

Today it’s more the matter of beauty and looks rather than strength and power. And basically everyone knows why: plenty of ads, healthy lifestyle propaganda and social dimension of human existence. The problem is that the more we care about our hair, the less hairs we appear to have on our head. The world is facing the disaster of hair loss, which means more time and money will be spent on hair in future.

The problem is somewhere between environmental situation, stress, genes and harder brain work. Yet, hundreds of specialists that try to work the problem out are not quite positive about the real root of the hair loss pandemic all over the world. It’s mostly individual and can be either one negative factor or the group of negative factors that contribute to it.

Each hair on human’s body has its own follicle to grow from. The follicles produce cells that eventually turn to hairs. So, hairs are those dead cells that have been pushed out of follicle. It is normal to lose 50-100 hairs daily. If a person loses more, that can eventually lead to baldness.

Baldness is not that much devastating as it seems to be. It can be treated more or less successfully by special drugs like Propecia, and what’s more - it is not dangerous for your health. Still, the numbers show that about 50% of men of the world suffer from slight or severe baldness and the age groups go down averaging at 30-40.

People that start losing hair usually have to follow simple rules to prevent further hair loss. But if the problem grows to real baldness it is recommended that you consult a specialist first. Anyway, preventing methods are also appreciated. Hair needs care every single day. It is generally advised that you wash your hair due to your hair type and if you do that every day, then you have to find an appropriate shampoo and balsam, especially in summer. 

Yet, it is pretty hard to stay cool, when there are so many myths around hair and baldness. Most of them basically touch men as men are considered to suffer from baldness more than women. In fact, men more suffer from the so called horse-shoe pattern around the sides of their head which makes the baldness more visible.

Another matter has something to do with the genetical theory of hair loss attaching a rumor that it is just enough to have a look at a father and you’ll see his son when he gets older, which is not biologically correct as assumes the sole influence of father’s genes in forming son’s cells. 

Popular hair loss myths also include: 

- it is useless to care about my hair as I cannot prevent my old age baldness anyway;

- baldness can be one of the side effects of shampoo/balsam overuse;

- it is harmful for the hair to wear a hat etc.

Shampoo Killed My Beautiful Hair

Hair is everybody's crowning glory.

The previous paragraph is the sole reason as to why beauty salons and shampoo companies have become the "in thing" in the business world. They earn money by caressing vanity, the very grain that is inherent in human nature. They awe us by parading beautiful girls with long, shiny hair. They instill in us the drama, the magic, the beautiful-girl-stories of finding fame and romance by sporting soft and shiny locks.

We buy these hair products. We try these salon treatments. But of course, none that is similar to those shampoo commercials ever happens to us. None ever will. But then we keep buying these products. We keep trying more salon treatments. Until we fail again.

It is sad that we end up forever victims of what we believe as the "great solution." We don't know that what we religiously follow at the back of shampoo bottles is not really a beauty secret, but actually a deceitful commercial script to bring more business for shampoo companies. In reality, constant usage of shampoo actually diminishes the strength and the shine of the hair. But because we have so much faith, we never put the blame on these products. Instead, we use more, buy more, hope even firmer that in the long run, we still will achieve the shampoo-model-type-hair.

The rationale for this is simple. Overwashing the hair rids the natural oil from the scalp, therepy prodding the latter to produce more oil to compensate. This results dandruff and grease. Also there are residues from hair creams and shampoos that accumulates in the hair, making it more difficult to wash.

In an article by Natalie in stretcher. com, she gave tips on how to maintain a less-costly but healthy hair:

1. When you wash your hair, lather once, not twice (like all shampoo instructions suggest!). Wash your hair and scalp thoroughly, and then rinse.. Your hair might not feel "squeaky clean," but it will be as clean as with two lathers.
2. When possible, leave your hair without washing an extra day. Try not to wash your hair every day. Your hair will become less oily over time.
3.Brush your hair and scalp every day (your grandmother was right). This will stimulate your scalp, distribute protective oils throughout your hair, and combat dandruff.
4. Unless you've had your hair colored or permed in the last month, do not condition the hair at your scalp. This will discourage greasiness, and it will also save you money!
5. If you want a fresh feeling but don't want to shampoo, just run hot water over your hair in the shower. This will rinse away some of the dirt and even out your hair, so that it will look clean without having to shampoo.

There we go. There are actually more less-costly but more effective fixes that we can think of than depending on instant treatments. It is never wrong to look for easier alternatives, but hey, a beautiful mane is a treasure unworthy of being gambled. Let’s play it slow and sure.