I have been dying my hair or having it dyed (strong mixture of in salon and at home) for longer than I can remember. In fact, when I was pregnant that was a little bit of a voyage of discovery when it came to my hair because it had been so long since I’d seen my natural hair colour! Up until then Tom had never seen me au natural, so to speak, even on our wedding day I had blue hair.
Despite the never ending torture I put my hair through it’s still in pretty good condition so I thought I’d share with you my top tips on keeping bleached and processed hair as healthy as possible.
Now, I’m not saying this from a professional point of view here and real life hairdressers might roll their eyes at what I have to say. These are just the things that I do to keep my hair from going all brassy and having that scary chewing gum feeling when you wash it. You know what I mean, right?
- Regular cuts – I get my hair cut about once every 8 to 12 weeks. Even though I’m growing it, it’s super important to get the ends chopped off regularly. Those are the bits that are processed the most repeatedly and they need to go.
- Use nourishing products – I always try to pick products with extra nourishing ingredients and once a week use a silver shampoo to remove any brassy tones. The purple in them counteracts the yellow in your hair. My favourites at the moment are A Touch Of Silver Brightening Shampoo and Conditioner and Paul Mitchell Forever Blonde Shampoo and Conditioner*. The Touch Of Silver is the best I’ve tried for counteracting the yellow that can build up in bleached hair. The Paul Mitchell just makes it feel lovely. Some blonde shampoos make my hair feel a little straw like afterwards but this has Keractive protein in it to prevent breakage and safflower oleosomes to restore moisture and elasticity. My hair always feels super soft and swishy when I’ve used it and it smells lovely.
- Don’t use heat – I know it’s not always possible but as often as I can I let my hair dry naturally and try to limit the amount of times I use heat to style it. I definitely can’t avoid it altogether I’d look like I’d been dragged through a hedge backwards but I’ll skip it where I can.
- Limit the amount of products – When I do use heat on my hair I always use a protection spray but I’m not a big styling product user. Maybe a spritz of hairspray to hold it once it’s done. Also, I try not to wash my hair more than twice a week. I know that might sound shocking to some people but it just doesn’t need it on an average week and the less I do to it the better.
- Treat it – Finally, about once a month I like to try to get a treatment on my hair to try to help it on its way. A deep conditioning mask or hot oil treatment if possible. Nothing fancy just one I can do at home. If all else fails and I find myself with the time and no specific product I just slap on a load of my usual conditioner, comb it through and leave it for as long as I can.
There you go. I know there’s nothing groundbreaking there but that’s my usual routine. It’s served me well until now and my hairdresser has commented a number of times about how strong my hair is, particularly after all it’s been through.
If you have any tips to help processed hair I’d love to hear them so I can have a go. Please do let me know.
Kisses,
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