I found something horrifying in my shower the other morning...
The drain was completely full of Andrew's long hair.
We don't have one of those nifty plastic snakes here, so I had to use a fork to get it all out. It was covered in shampoo, and it was pretty gross. Once it was all out of the drain and in the tub, it was about two fist-fulls. Sadly, I remember doing that to my parents' bathroom everyday.
I've dyed my hair black. Then back to brown. Bleached it. Dyed it purple, blue, teal, green, orange, pink, red, blue, purple, green, pink, blue, and teal again. Then back to black. Have you ever seen "coontails"? Mhm, I've bleached my hair from black to blonde and gave myself real coontails so I wouldn't have to clip some extensions in. If that doesn't sound terrifying, keep in mind that I also blow dry and straighten my hair daily. Oh, and after the coontails, I dyed it burgundy and decided I needed to chemically straighten it. Seriously?
My hair was constantly breaking and falling out. Especially in the shower. It was always frizzy and fuzzy looking, and there was a good two years where I couldn't grow it past my shoulders. I learned a lot of little tricks make my hair look and feel better after all the damage I caused. You may already know some of them, but I decided to share some of them here!
DO NOT BRUSH YOUR HAIR WHEN IT'S WET
When your hair is wet, it's weaker than when it's dry. While you're using your normal brush to detangle after your shower, you're actually pulling and stretching the strands until it finally breaks.
Use a comb designed for wet hair!
You can find them in any store that sells hair products. They are often marked as Shower Comb, Detangle/Condition Comb. They have thick teeth and are set further apart than most combs.
I use one like this.
MORE $$$ DOESN'T MEAN IT'S MAGIC
Especially when it comes to shampoo. If you have normal hair, you can really use $0.79 Suave shampoo. I've noticed that as long as I use a normal clarifying shampoo, I only need to worry about the conditioner. Even then I use a regular conditioner. When my hair was still totally fried, the money I was saving by buying cheaper shampoo and conditioner went to all the different serums and leave in conditioner.
HOMEMADE TREATMENTS WORK BETTER
And they're cheaper. You usually have this stuff in your fridge or cabinets. Different combinations of eggs, mayo, yogurt, honey, avocodo, olive oil, lemon, and even BEER work wonders on your hair.
Here are some homemade remedies!
YOUR STRAIGHTENER IS A FINISHER
If you want straight hair, you should be blow drying with a large round brush to blow out your hair before you use the straightener. Wet-Dry straighteners are very damaging to your hair - you're not only heating your hair, but the water is being steamed while it's still in your hair. See smoke? Yeah, that isn't good for your head.
BLOW DRY! DON'T TOWEL DRY!
When you towel dry your hair, you're pretty much rubbing your hair apart and causing knots and breakage. Pat dry your hair with the towel to get the excess water out, and air dry. If you can't air dry (and who really has the time to wait?), blow dry on low or medium until your hair is 80-90% dry before putting it on full blast.
JUST STOP HURTING YOUR HAIR
While all of these things helped me in the past, my hair has been it's healthiest while I was pregnant and ever since giving birth. Some would say it's because of the prenatal vitamins and just a common pregnancy symptom. I say it's because I was much more cautious about what I was doing to my hair so I could stay clear of hurting my baby. I stopped dying my hair until my doctor said it was okay to do so, and even then I only did it twice to fix my roots. Since having Lillian, I HAVE dyed my hair a few times. I even bleached a few parts to dye it purple. It definitely felt healthier than before because of the long break between dye jobs, but I still didn't like the way my hair felt and decided to just let it be. Being pregnant also made me eat healthier. Honestly, that was more because I couldn't handle sweets or greasy food instead of a 100% conscience decision. But what we put in our mouths effects everything in and on our bodies, including our hair.
I hope you found something that will help your hair on here! What do you do to make your hair feel healthier?
- Bethany
