Well-groomed, well-groomed hair works wonders to make your appearance more attractive and any look more glamorous and aristocratic. We checked with ABhair experts to find out what it takes to take good care of your hair and how to choose the right hair care products.
Table of Contents
Why is proper hair care important?
Before we get into the basics, let’s explain why we put together this hair care guide.
Every day, our hair takes another beating from sun and rain, hot dryers and freezing temperatures, chlorinated water and seawater, colouring and perms. These and other factors can cause an imbalance in hair: it can lead to hair changes in texture, loss of volume or, conversely, frizz, dryer or oilier scalps.
The visible part of the hair shaft, the hair shaft, can be subject to external stress. Up to 90% of hair consists of keratin protein cells, which are not alive but keratinized. This means they cannot regenerate on their own.
If the cuticle (the outer layer of the hair shaft) gets damaged, hair starts to lose lipids and moisture. If the cuticle gets weak, the cortex, the middle layer of the hair shaft that gives hair its strength and resilience, dries out. The familiar split ends come to mind: this is the ‘denuded’ cortex, which has lost its protective outer layer and is split.
Stay tuned for further explanations on how to properly care for your hair and why formulas are crucial.
How do I care for my hair depending on its type?
It’s no secret that hair needs the attention and care that best suits its needs, which vary depending on your hair type and scalp. The experts at SalonSecret tell you how to properly care for your hair.
Dry hair care tips
Those who have dry, brittle hair need a holistic, nourishing hair care regimen.
Shampoo your locks gently with an oil-based shampoo that not only cleanses but nourishes them as well.
A choice of SalonSecret. L’Oréal Professionnel’s Mythic Oil shampoo, for instance, contains argan oil and myrrh extract, which soften dry locks and, importantly, neutralise common tap water hardness.
An effective dry hair care plan should include a nourishing balm. This might come in the form of a conditioner or a leave-in cream, whichever works best for you. Glycerine, hyaluronic acid, panthenol, lipidic complex, natural oils or silicones are good ingredients to create a film that retains moisture under the cuticle.
Abhair’s choice. Kérastase Magistral Hair Milk works wonders with dry curls, containing Irisom intensive nourishing complex, dewy frankincense, xylose and glyco-active complex. The latter component is responsible for preventing the hair from drying out.
Indispensable aid in the care of dry hair, the hair mask has a nourishing, moisturizing and smoothing effect. It restores your strands’ hydro-balance: electrification, dullness and frizz are quickly and permanently alleviated.
Abhair’s choice. Redken’s All Soft Heavy Cream is a great hair mask, leaving hair incredibly silky thanks to its argan oil and protein complex.
How to care for oily hair
Oily hair and scalp are often the result of stress related to hormonal imbalance, improperly chosen hair care products, or frequent washing of the hair. Intensely moisturizing, nourishing products and hair-strengthening products do not behave optimally on such hair, since they significantly increase sebum secretion and make it look heavier. That’s why it’s important to read the label carefully – look for the words “for an oily scalp. Our top tips for oily hair come down to just cleansing your scalp properly.
A shampoo that’ll solve the problem of greasy scalp should contain ingredients that help control sebum production. So long as it cleans perfectly, without drying out your scalp.
Abhair’s pick. Kérastase Divalent Bath Shampoo normalises the skin and leaves hair cleaner for longer, thanks to a combination of salicylic acid and vitamin B6. The Kérastase Equilibrante Clay Mask is a more intensive product that replaces shampoo once a week. It has the pleasant bonus of a long-lasting feeling of freshness and an increase in hair volume of 74.3%. Biolage ScalpSync Shampoo with menthol and peppermint also has a cooling effect.
If you find your hair very oily, it’s best to use a scalp scrub periodically. Our scalp scrub experts recommend using a scrub once a month, at any time of year. It’s designed to cleanse your hair until it squeaks, leaving it feeling clean, light and flowing.
Proper care for coloured hair
How do you care for coloured hair? Looking after colour treated hair essentially boils down to two main things: colour protection and deep conditioning.
The former is easily accomplished with pretty much any professional colour treated hair product. The antioxidants in the product are a bonus, as they protect the pigment from fading and washed out.
Abhair’s choice. The Serie Expert Vitamino Color line by L’Oréal Professionnel, enriched with the antioxidant resveratrol, a compound extracted from grape skins, provides colourfastness and protects against colour fade for up to two months.
To refresh your colour and discard imperfections, a neutralizing shampoo can be helpful: Redken Color Extend Blondage Violet against yellowing in blondes or Color Extend Brownlights Blue against rust in darker shades.
The rules for bleached or bleached hair need to focus on deep conditioning, so here, too, a specialised treatment is the answer.
Your choice of Abhair. The Matrix Unbreak My Blonde range is created just for the targeted repair of bleached hair. It is a sulphate-free formula with citric acid, a component that strengthens the structure of hair. It is dangerous to use citric acid alone, because outside of balanced formulas, it can be drying.
If possible, coloured hair owners should avoid using pigment-destroying stylers. If this is not possible, a heat styling product such as L’Oréal Professionnel ‘s memorable Blow Dry Cream should be part of your arsenal. When bored, simply create another style without wetting the hair strands – the cream can sculpt the shape and hold for up to four days.
The steps of a complete haircare at home
The haircare routine consists of cleansing, conditioning, nourishing and protecting hair. Let’s explore each step in detail.
Cleansing
The step-by-step hair care routine begins, of course, with cleansing. Something as simple as washing your hair is, in fact, essential to its beauty. The wrong action, whether it’s using too hot water or the wrong cleanser, can lead to serious problems. So what does SalonSecret’s expert advice include?
- Wash as often as your hair and scalp need, as and when it gets dirty, not as a general timetable.
- The water should be pleasantly warm, at around 34-36 degrees – too warm a wash might trigger oily sebum production. A douche to strengthen the circulation of the hair follicles will also help the scalp.
- Shampoo should be applied to the scalp in a massaging motion, covering the entire length of the scalp with the resulting foam.
- The foundation of any haircare routine is shampooing with the right shampoo. For fine hair, for example, Biolage has the ideal volumizing shampoo, VolumeBloom. Start the treatment of damaged hair with a revitalising hair treatment like L’Oréal Professionnel’s Absolut Repair.
- Sensitive scalps require gentle cleansing. Sulphate-free shampoos can be found in the colour-affected, very damaged and curly hair lines(Kérastase Hydratation Douceur is a prime example of a cleanser that the brand’s technologists recommend, not only for curly-haired women).
- For quick shampooing and those times when you want a quick hair refresh and volume boost, use a dry shampoo like Matrix Total Results High Amplify. Don’t forget though that these sprays are inherently styling products so they need to be washed out the next day.
Conditioning
It’s hard to imagine a classic haircare routine without a lightweight rinse-off product. Stylists and trichologists agree that leave-in conditioner is a must-have part of any haircare regimen, and popular 2-in-1 products work well for healthy-looking, no-nonsense locks.
The conditioner smoothes out the cuticle scales that are broken up by shampooing, preventing tangles and static, leaving hair smoother, softer, shinier and more manageable. To avoid weighing down hair, it’s better to use conditioner only on the length and not on the roots. The product should be chosen based on the characteristics of the hair. For example, to restore the hydration balance, you can use the moisturising conditioner Biolage HydraSource, while the nourishing Redken Curvaceous is suitable for curly hair discipline.
That’s interesting! The easiest way to get all the benefits of conditioning without weighing hair down: apply conditioner from mid-length to ends before you wash, not after.
Nourish and moisturise
One of the key ingredients in haircare is a hair mask. In the case of long, damaged hair, this is not, as many people assume, an optional extra but essential. They contain the highest concentration of beneficial ingredients and can provide deeper hydration and nourishment than shampoo and conditioner combined.
One of our experts’ favourites is the revitalising Kérastase Régénérant with hyaluronic acid, abyssin molecule and vitamin E. Your hair is silky, dense, voluminous, shiny and looking truly flawless.
The mask, like shampoo and conditioner after washing, is a washable beauty product. Leave-in conditioners, which nourish, protect and moisturise your hair, are designed to last and keep it looking fabulous all day (or overnight). Today they exist in a variety of formats: sprays, creams, serums, ampoules and so on. Experts of SalonSecret recommend professional products with smart formulas that work in complex: simultaneously struggle with the problem of power and moisture deficiency, simplify brushing, prevent tangling, give a healthy shine to hair.
Among such universal “helpful sticks”, L’Oréal Professionnel Mythic Oil cream with argan and sweet almond oils, and Kérastase Cicanuit Serum with hyaluronic acid and Edelweiss extract. Their peculiarity lies in their ability to turn over-dried and simply “killed” hair into silk fabric.
Protection
What else do you need to take care of your hair? If you have short hair, a shampoo and maybe a lamellar water, a lightweight version of a conditioner, are the basics. Otherwise, it makes sense to assess the impact of negative environmental factors on your strands.
Every day we have to deal with these conventional “enemies”. You have to agree that it’s really hard to give up hot styling. And yet even an inoffensive hairdryer can dry out your hair and damage its structure. It’s the same with ultraviolet light. The sun can’t just turn off the heat, and without it, the human body is less able to synthesise vitamin D. You know how your hair looks after a holiday in the active sun. Sometimes it’s easier to cut it off.
As mentioned above, while thermal protectors can help prevent the heat from frizzes, curling irons and blow-dryers, sun-kissed hair products with UV filters can. There are some great all-rounders too: Matrix Keep Me Vivid is formulated with both UV filters and components that help protect against the heat of the styler.
Daily hair care
How else can you keep your hair looking after itself and looking after its natural state when it is literally one step short of perfection? Here are some everyday beauty tips and tricks.
- Detangling hair in the morning and at bedtime should be a gentle, lightweight activity that starts at the tips and progresses to the roots.
- Excessive use of ponytails and other styles that place too much tension on your hair will weaken it and can cause it to fall out, so try to keep it loose during the day.
- To help prevent split ends and breakage, try applying a nourishing oil like L’Oréal Professionnel’s Absolut Repair a couple of times a week to the bottom third of your hair.
- Don’t go to bed with a wet head because rubbing wet hair against the pillowcase is guaranteed to damage the outer cuticle layer.
- Remember that a good night’s sleep and a healthy diet have a direct impact on the vitality, shine and overall condition of your hair.
- If looking after your hair at home isn’t enough, turn to a professional. Your professional will find the best salon treatments to solve any hair problem.
Summary
How does haircare affect my hair? Why wait?
Hair is under daily stress from many external influences such as hot water, heat, UV damage and more. All of which can cause a negative impact on the hair’s appearance. We learned more about the importance of proper hair care here.
How do I Care for Dry & Brittle Hair at Home?
You’d need a nutrient-rich formula that couldn’t be replaced by shampoo and conditioner alone. See what the Abhair experts recommend in this section.
Which haircare steps are a must and which are optional?
The sequence depends on the length and quality of your hair. For short, uncoloured hair, a shampoo will suffice. Once you add colouring into the equation, you can’t do without conditioner. Lengthen the length by 20-30 centimetres and the mask and indelible care move to a shelf in the bathroom. You can read more about the stages of hair care here.
Where does the daily hair care routine begin?
Loving your hair. It’s important to understand their needs and not neglect them. Here are some general hair care basics for your daily hair care routine.
One last very important detail: Holistic hair care is always based on the principle of regularity. Each step, each product, is part of a global, regular beauty routine. What hair care routine do you never want to skip?
