If there is something that makes me feel uneasy, when it comes to beauty, it’s the moment I have to pick my shampoo. I just stand there for hours, whether it is in front of the supermarket shelf, at Sephora, online… It makes no difference! Even if my hair is spaghetti-straight, sometimes I wonder if I should be using a product for curly hair. Might seem incredible, but it’s the truth! By now, I know what concealer works for me, I have a favorite foundation, but shampoo…is always a source of drama. Straight hair? Colored hair? Shampoo from one line, conditioner from another? Will I ever find anything that works?
What makes it hard to choose is feeling like I have to check myself into a box, and label myself. My hair doesn’t want to respect any rules, that is clear enough… Otherwise, I wouldn’t look like a scarecrow, with a headful of knots! A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon an idea that gave me a solution, and it really changed my life: I understood I have combination hair. How did that not occur to me earlier? It’s so clear, so crystal clear, actually. Just like combination skin, combination hair doesn’t fall into just one category: it is oily around the scalp, and very dry on the tips.
The consequence of that is that you have to really be mindful of those factors, if you want to take care of your mane the right way. Start by properly using the shampoo and conditioner you already have: don’t use shampoo on the tips. When you are using conditioner, do the opposite, and only apply it on the lower section of your hair and on your tips, without touching the scalp. This is essential to rebalance the health of your hair and scalp, whichever routine you use. Then, take care of your hairbrush: you’ll need one with natural bristles, because these are much better at redistributing the oils and hydration from your scalp all along the hair shaft, and this will further improve the situation.
At this point, let’s move on to the pro stuff. Choose a detoxing treatment for your scalp: you can go for muds, scrubs, or just shampoos. Consider them the same as a purifying face mask, something you do every once in a while on top of your normal routine, to keep things under control. As an overnight mask, try a pure, natural oil: the simpler the product composition, the less likely you’ll be to have useless leftovers on your hair, giving it just the nutrition it needs. Avoid high temperatures when blow drying, as this will dry your tips and it might push your scalp to produce more oil, to rebalance the situation – and we all know that that’s a recipe for epic disaster, right?
As for me, well, I am back on square one. At least I understood one thing: it’s not just my hair’s fault, it’s that I like shopping and I am not a very decisive woman. It takes time and patience to test products until find your favorite routine, but I am pretty sure that now that I know my hair type, it will be a lot easier to have record-breaking hair. In the meantime, you’ll find our list of suggestions in the gallery. 😉
