haircaresolutions

Here is an assortment of ideas to get you through all kinds of bad hair days or months.

Holding On to Long Hair
If your hair hangs down to the middle of your back or longer, consider cutting it to shoulder length. Those ends you think will get healthier if you just cut off an inch every now and then are not going to heal. The damage is more than just at the very ends. Hair becomes damaged just from being around a long time. Cutting off several inches will give you great volume and make your hair look incredibly healthy. It really will look like new.

Battling Fine Limp Hair
Struggling with fine, limp hair isn't easy. It turns out the less you do to fine hair, the better off it is. Anything that contains conditioners or styling agents just adds weight that drags things down. Consider a shorter cut and then color it. Hair color adds thickness to thin hair because it roughs up the cuticle, which creates artificially induced, but natural-looking, volume. Then all you have to do is use a gentle shampoo, period! The slight stiffness you get from not using a conditioner can also give you all the body you need. Give it a try. If you need to smooth things in place or reduce fly-aways, take an anti-cling sheet from your dryer and rub it over your hair. You can also spray a tiny bit of hair spray on your fingertips and work them through the ends of your hair. This may be just what your hair is looking for.

Thick, Coarse or Damaged Hair
If your hair is thick and coarse, or chemically treated and damaged (which is really the same thing -- chemically treated hair is always damaged), you may want to add moisturizing ingredients to your conditioner. Take your regular conditioner and mix in a drop of Citre Shine Miracle Laminator, a silicone serum, and a drop of safflower oil. Rub this into the ends of your hair and not the roots--unless you have a dry scalp or very full hair you're trying to control--and let the mixture soak in for a while. Depending on your hair type, you can either wash this mixture out or just rinse it off.

Fast Fixes
No time to style? Try a tousled look. Use your fingers to separate your hair as you blow it dry. Lift at the roots and apply the heat there if you want more fullness. (I don't -- my hair is full enough on its own -- so I lightly tug downward on my hair to make it lie a little flatter.) Add a little bit of mousse when you're done to keep things neat. It took me a while to get used to this look; but now it is my favorite hairstyle when I want to get out of the house fast.

A hairdresser friend gave me a great idea for when I notice fly-aways. Rather than applying hair spray or more mousse, which can make hair sticky, she suggested that I take a tiny amount of moisturizer (which I always keep in my purse), spread it all over my hands, and then use the little bit that doesn't get absorbed to coat the ends. She was right: voila, no more frizzies.

Styling Tricks of the Trade
Tension and heat are the keys to straightening hair. The tighter you pull your hair and the more direct heat you apply to it, the straighter it will be. The reason stylists get your hair so straight is because they are in the perfect position to create the necessary tension to make hair behave. Another trick stylists use is to keep the blow dryer moving instead of leaving it in one spot. Aiming the heat at the roots and making sure the roots are going in the direction you want -- up for more fullness, down for straightening -- is the best way to gain control of your locks. Make sure you move the blow dryer down along the hair shaft instead of back and forth. Anything you can do to encourage the cuticle to lie flat will make your hair look smoother and shinier.

For coarse hair, the best styling help you can get is from hair serums. Those pure silicone, oil-like products that add unbelievable shine and a silky feel to every strand. For thin or fine hair, the less you use, the better.

Dry, Flaky Scalp
A dry or flaky scalp could be caused by a variety of things. Changes in weather can affect scalp moisture and cause flaking. Winter produces a dry climate in houses, and the cold air outside can chap the skin. Overwashing in the summer from after swimming can also cause a change in the scalp. Some medications, such as Accutane, can cause surface dryness. Shampoos with strong detergent bases can dry out the scalp, as can plant extracts like peppermint or menthol.

The cause determines the course of action. If the products you're using are causing problems, stop! If you have to wash your hair frequently, don't lather more than once and try to massage the scalp as little as possible. If the environment in your house is a problem, put a humidifier in your bedroom, which can help the skin all over your body as well. If you still are struggling with a dry scalp and dandruff isn't the culprit (dandruff would not be affected by any of the things I'm suggesting), don't forget to massage a small amount of moisturizer into your scalp the night before you wash your hair.

By the way, the notion that drugstore dandruff shampoos are too harsh on the hair and that salon brands are gentler is blatantly false. The active ingredients in salon brands are identical to those in Head and Shoulders.

Static Electricity
A standard hairstylist trick for dealing with static electricity is to spray a small amount of hair spray on your hairbrush when you are done styling and brush it through from top to bottom. This one works for most of the day.

Breakouts Along the Hairline
If you've been having problems with breakouts along your hairline, you need to be sure they're not caused by your shampoo or conditioner. Change to a shampoo with no conditioning agents (such as protein, silicone, quaternium, or polyquaternium) or thickening agents (such as cetyl alcohol or stearyl alcohol), and use only the smallest amount of conditioner on the ends. If you do this for a few days and the breakouts seem to start clearing up, you'll know you were using products that were too emollient for your scalp. Also, be sure the styling products you use, especially hair sprays, gels, and mousses, don't come into contact with your skin. Styling products are a sure way to encourage breakouts, as the film-forming ingredients are great pore cloggers!