Hair Moisturizer: Essential Tips and Products to Fix Dry Hair
Some of us seem blessed with hair straight of a shampoo commercial. Others have to work a little harder to hydrate our tresses and keep our manes looking shiny and nourished. Dry hair is a common problem, and the cures involve both using the right hair moisturizer and adopting healthy-hair habits.
Finding the Best Hair Moisturizers: Products to use regularly to ensure that your hair is hydrated include everyday conditioners, deep conditioners, and leave-in conditioners. It’s all about reading ingredient labels instead of falling for fancy packaging. Look for moisturizers that are water-based; water should be high on the list of ingredients. Avoid high alcohol content, though. Curly hair responds best to protein-infused moisturizers, fine hair loves volumizing ingredients like biotin, and normal hair benefits from nourishing vitamins like A, C, and E.
Counteract the Effects of Heat Styling: Blow dryers and hair irons can take a toll on your strands, damaging the cuticles and zapping them of essential moisture and natural oils. If you’re a die-hard heat-styler, make sure to use a thermal protective product regularly and consider ionic heat tools, which are somewhat gentler on your tresses. Also, give your hair a break every few days; daily heat-styling is like riding an express train to parched-town.
Don’t Shampoo Daily: If you have greasy roots, you may be compelled to wash your hair with shampoo every day. But the large majority of hair professionals advise against this habit, which robs much-needed natural oils from your hair. Instead, try dry shampoo every few days, and condition more often than you shampoo. Feel free to skip your roots sometimes if you’re prone to a greasy scalp, but don’t starve your scalp of conditioning hydration completely. Your scalp is skin that needs to be moisturized, too.
Protect Your Hair from Sun Damage: Treat your hair as you would your skin, and get into the habit of wearing scarves or hats when you anticipate prolonged exposure to UV rays, which can dry out your mane. Look for products that provide the same UV protection as the sunblock you use on your skin, and condition a bit more often in the hotter months.
Do you have a favorite hydrating product or dry-hair hack to share? Tweet us at @BritandCo!
(Photo via Getty)
