Maintaining gorgeous, healthy hair can be quite time consuming. Trips to the salon, styling, shampooing, conditioning and weekly hair masks can all add up, and often fall by the wayside when we are super busy. This month, the lovely Team at Travel Beauty have asked that I put together a list of my top quick fixes for keeping locks in great shape. I hope they help you as much as they have helped me!

Quick Moisture Surge

I try to use a pre-shampoo conditioner, such as PK Elasticizer, at least once a week. It helps to keep my hair elastic and minimizes breakage, so I need fewer trips to the salon to get trims. However, setting aside the time to let it work its magic can be a bit of a challenge. To get around this, I apply it before bed, sleep with it in overnight and then shampoo and condition in the morning as usual for maintained hassle–free healthy hair.

Salon Saver

As just mentioned, using a weekly pre-shampoo conditioner will help keep your hair in better condition so you’ll need to get it cut less often. However, daily environmental weathering and tearing a comb through tangles can also break your hair at different lengths, making it unmanageable and styling more time consuming. My top tip for warding off these unruly, split and uneven ends – and subsequent salon trips  - is to use a daily protective detangling spray, such as PK Daily Damage Defence. It helps to keep your cuticle intact and also guards against damage from UV rays.

Dry Shampoo

Sometimes there just isn’t time to wash our hair every day…or an extra 30 minutes of sleep is seriously needed. Invest in a well-formulated dry shampoo with scalp benefits, like PK One More Day. It soaks up excess oils from the hair, but also soothes the scalp to prevent that tell-tale itching between washes.  That said, try not to leave more than a day between washes – your hair gets just as dirty as your face and infrequent shampooing can lead to dandruff and an imbalance of scalp flora.

Dandruff

The best way to soothe and clear dandruff is to shampoo daily with an antimicrobial shampoo. However, if you simply can’t fit this into your schedule, apply a flaky itchy Scalp Toner to the affected areas on the days you don’t wash your hair. Re-apply as necessary throughout the day as itching and/or irritation occur.

Fast Food

If you’ve read any of my blogs, you’ll know I’m a huge proponent of a healthy, balanced diet. Hair is the second fastest growing tissue your body supports, yet it is also non-vital tissue, so it needs the right hits of vitamins, minerals, proteins and energy at regular intervals to stay healthy. Breakfast is the most important meal, as that’s when energy levels to your follicles are at their lowest – but it’s also often the hardest meal to get right as we’re often rushing out the door or simply too sleepy to think straight! My tip is to boil 2 eggs the night before and slice them up onto whole wheat toast when you get into work, or with your morning coffee. This gives you a great protein and complex carbohydrate boost, and takes no time at all.

Most women with curly hair seem to feel societal pressure to straighten it. It’s as if a message has been communicated- if only subtly- that straight hair is preferable. Is curly hair not good enough? I have observed this phenomenon in all types of woman: Caucasian, Afro-Caribbean, Asian, Hispanic- the list goes on.

Strong Anti-curly Cues

This message is so strong that demand has created not only straightening balms, industrial strength blow dryers and flat irons, but also more permanent solutions, like hair straightening processes – some taking 6-7 hours.

I’m OK, You’re OK

As a curly cue myself, it took me a long time to accept my curly situation. I realized I needed to commit to who I was and let my hair be. Who I was was good enough- great, even. All I needed to do was find the right products.

It’s All About the Products

Finding the right products for curls can be akin to a science experiment. You have to be patient and willing to try different combinations of products to see how they work together with your hair. I have tried so many different products in so many different categories! To some extent, I tweak my regimen depending on the weather or season and occasionally due to new product finds.

Here’s my current regimen:

Shampoo Daily

I either use Caretrico’s Type H Shampoo or Philip Kingsley’s Re-moisturising Shampoo. This shampoo can be found in PK’s Smooth & Shiny Jet Set. I recommend trying both for a period of 4 weeks each to see if one is better for your hair. If you like them both, rotate seasonally. You may find that one works better for you in colder weather, etc. Also, depending on where you live, one may react better with your water supply. Here in New York City we have hard water, which is tough on dry, curly hair. In the Caribbean, or other parts of the world where the water is soft, you may find that your hair dries nicer, softer and/or shinier.

Use a Leave-in Conditioner or Leave Your Conditioner In

This particular step is one that many hair care professionals will not advise. But if this is wrong, I don’t want to be right. It works! My favorite, absolutely can’t live without hair product is Caretrico’s Moist Bounce Treatment. Ishi introduced this product to me. It is meant to be used as a conditioner or 10-20 minute hair treatment. Since there is not enough moisture for my hair (my hair is coarse, curly and bleached), I actually leave it in, and once applied, run my Du-Boa’s Scalp Massager through my hair to distribute the product.

Use a Scalp Toner

Right out of the shower, use Philip Kingsley’s Scalp Toner. Healthy shiny hair, starts with a clean scalp.

“Priming” Products

Start with a quick spritz of Vine’s Care Water. This boosts the efficacy of all the styling products that you use subsequently. It also defrizzes and adds volume to fine hair! If its good enough for NASA, its good enough for me!

• Winter Hair Primer: This winter I have been using Philip Kingsley’s Preen Cream. It adds a little extra moisture to my hair, pre-styling product application.
• Spring & Summer Hair Primers: In the summer I substitute this product for Caretrico’s Enrich Milk, and use Arimino’s Bamboo Moisture Veil in the summer.
• After Coloring or Going to the Beach: If you have just colored your hair, or you plan on going to the beach, use Arimino’s Aqua Moisture for this step. (Yes, I am completely OCD about this entire process.)

Styling Products

I use M.O.P. Defining Cream followed by Ouidad Climate Control Heat and Humidity Drops.

Note

All these steps should be done separately and you must flip your head over and scrunch to make sure you coat every hair with product.

For a step-by-step how-to guide, please see the below video.

Hair Care Products

Seasonal changes require us to make different choices for our hair to balance out environmental effects. It is important to keep in mind that one product usually doesn’t work for all seasons. With shampoos & conditioners, you might need an alternative to compensate for the effects of the environment. A mild shampoo that worked wonders in the summer might need to be replaced with something more moisturizing come fall. A conditioner that has a heavier bond may be too much in the summer, but the perfect choice for fall/winter. Caretrico Moist Bounce Shampoo and Moist Bounce Treatment are perfect winter hair care choices. Summer air is moist, and causes many hair types to get frizzy. In the fall, however, the air is dry. Some hair is at it’s best in the fall, while others need to condition more due to drier air, heating systems in our homes and constant blow drying.

Hair Color

As the golden luster that your skin garnered over the summer fades, you will notice a similar phenomenon transforming the hue of your hair. Fear not, this is completely normal. This is nature’s gentle nudge to encourage us to add more depth to our hair color. Richer hues go better with our winter wardrobe palette. This change can be made all at once, or you could add lowlights to gradually return your hair to its richest tones. When these tones mix with your hair’s natural highlights from the sun, your hair color will gain extra depth and dimension.

There is very little difference between caring for your hair at the beach and when skiing. In each instance, your hair is subjected to similar environmental hazards. For example, windy conditions, the sun, sweat, salt or chlorinated pool/sauna water, even hats—be they large rimmed sun hats or snug & wooly ski attire.

The primary consideration is protection from all of these elements, of which I will describe below:

Salt & Chlorinated Water

Salt water has an osmotic effect on the hair, meaning that it leaches water out of your hair. Chlorinated water can be just as damaging. To protect your hair from associated distress, use Philip Kingsley Swimcap. I originally formulated it for the U.S. synchronized swim team in 1984 and it contains UV protectors, moisturizers and is highly water resistant.

The Sun

Have you noticed that the skin on your face burns just as easily on the beach as when skiing? The same applies to your hair & scalp. The sun on both the slopes and the beach can be exceedingly damaging, causing hair to become brittle and dry and any exposed scalp prone to burn. To help prevent this, use my Swimcap Cream (as described earlier), or wear a hat. To re-hydrate and replenish your hair & scalp, apply an intensive treatment twice a week. I recommend using my Exfoliating Scalp Mask and multi-award winning pre-shampoo conditioner, Elasticizer. They both ensure trouble-free scalps and resilient, manageable, shiny hair.

Wind

Apply weatherproof products that counteract dehydration. For example, Philip Kingsley Daily Damage Defence. As an added bonus, this will enable you to have protected and flyaway-free hair when going to social events!

Sweat

The sun, physical exertion and hats can all cause a sweaty scalp. This can result in itching, a buildup of bacteria and greasy looking hair. Apply Philip Kingsley Scalp Toner to your scalp to inhibit the spread of bacteria, clear irritation and soak up excess oils. Furthermore, always shampoo your hair at the end of the day to thoroughly cleanse your scalp and hair. Choose the correct shampoo according to your hair type and follow with the correct conditioner, also according to your hair type.  If necessary – and it won’t harm – shampoo your hair in the morning, too.