Have you noticed that your hair seems to be suffering from the effects of the harsh winter weather? It’s common to experience winter-related hair problems at this time of year, with dryness, breakages, and static sitting at the top of the list.
The good news? There’s plenty that you can do about this. Keep reading as HerStyler shares some top tips for maintaining glossy, gorgeous hair throughout the winter months.
Cut Back on How Often You Wash Your Hair
In many ways, the winter months mean that you’ll need to pay extra attention to your hair, which can often take longer. However, one way in which the cold weather can actually help you to save time is when it comes to how often you wash your hair. Simply put, you won’t need to, and shouldn’t, do this as much in the winter as you do in the summer.
Why? Because in the summer, your scalp produces a large amount of sebum. Heat and humidity stimulate sebum production, which is why your hair gets oilier in the summer and also why your hair needs to be washed more often. However, the lack of heat and humidity in the winter months means that sebum production slows down. If you continue to wash your hair as often as you did in the summer, your scalp and strands won’t have enough sebum to keep themselves moisturized.
So, how often should you wash your hair in the winter? There’s no hard and fast rule – everyone’s hair is different. Rather than sticking to a set schedule, pay attention to your hair to see if it actually needs to be washed.
Add Extra Moisture to Damp Hair
One of the biggest problems that your hair has to deal with in the winter months is dehydration. This is down to how dry the air is in the winter. The drier the air, the faster your locks will lose moisture to evaporation. It doesn’t help that indoor air is so dry either due to artificial heating. This means that there’s really no getting away from the dryness!
This is why it can be helpful to give your hair some extra moisture in the winter, and hydrating hair serums are a great way to do this. If you’ve used hair serums in the past and haven’t noticed much of a difference, your application method could be to blame. While serums can work well to smooth and de-frizz hair when it’s dry, they need to be applied to damp hair if you want your locks to fully soak up their hydrating capabilities. Damp hair is more permeable than dry hair. This means that the serum you apply will have an easier time hydrating your strands.
If you don’t yet have a hydrating hair serum that you can turn to, check out the HerStyler Advanced Argan Oil Hair Serum. Not only is argan oil incredibly hydrating and packed full of hair-loving fatty acids but it also helps to keep the appearance of heat damage at bay. The addition of vitamin E and aloe vera extract ensures that your strands feel stronger and more elastic with regular use.
If your hair feels particularly dry and damaged, the HerStyler Castor Oil Hair Serum would be another good option. This one features a combination of argan oil and castor oil to provide maximum hydration!
Deep Condition Weekly
A conditioner is an essential part of every hair care routine throughout the year. However, the need for a conditioner becomes even greater in the winter months. Why? Because as we mentioned earlier, the lack of sebum produced by your scalp in the colder season can leave your hair feeling dry and brittle. This is exacerbated each time you wash your hair since you’ll be removing the small amount of sebum that’s currently coating your strands. Shampoo without conditioning in the winter and you’ll be leaving your hair prone to breakages and damage.
With that said, sometimes, a regular conditioner isn’t enough. If your strands seem to be suffering from the winter weather, it would be worth treating them to some extra conditioning.
There are a few different ways in which you can do this. Deep conditioning treatments can be used weekly, as can hair masks. These products will be brimming with moisturizing ingredients and are usually much more intense than a regular conditioner.
Leave-in conditioners work well too. Again, just like when it comes to hair serums, apply a leave-in conditioner while your hair is damp. Since these products can have quite a thick texture, avoid applying them to your scalp. You don’t want to end up with clogged pores! Instead, focus it on your mid-lengths to the ends of your hair.
Learn How to Dry Your Hair Properly
One of the worst things that you could do to your strands in the winter is take them outside while they’re still wet. Even if they’re only slightly damp, the cold temperature outdoors could cause that moisture to freeze. This will make your hair even more brittle and prone to snapping.
With that said, spending too long under a blow dryer can be harmful too. Excessive heat, which we’ll soon discuss, should also be avoided in the winter, hence the need to perfect your drying techniques.
It all begins as soon as you step out of the shower. Rather than roughly rubbing your hair with a regular towel, use a microfiber towel to gently wring out excess moisture. The super-absorbent properties of microfiber will get you through this initial drying phase much faster.
After this, have some patience and allow your hair to air-dry for a while. This is also when you could apply a hydrating hair serum. Then, once your locks are about 80% dry, reach for a blow dryer and finish the job. Studies have found that in order to minimize the appearance of heat damage, your blow dryer should be held about 15 cm away from your hair and should be continuously moving around.
Turn Down the Temperature
Excessive amounts of heat spells bad news for your hair, making this something to avoid at all costs. This applies to any form of heat, be it from a steamy shower or a sizzling flat iron. Hot water melts away the sebum that coats your strands, leaving them vulnerable to damage. Meanwhile, the high temperatures produced by heated styling tools will burn your hair. The damage will be even more severe if you’ve recently washed your hair with hot water!
To get around this, start by making an effort to take cooler shower in the winter. Don’t worry, this doesn’t mean that you have to shiver your way through your shower routine. Instead, aim for a lukewarm temperature rather than hot.
Turning the temperature down on your heated styling tools can really help too. If your styling tools don’t offer this option, it’s time to invest in some that do. The HerStyler Colorful Seasons straighteners all come with an adjustable temperature dial, allowing you to choose from a range between 180-460°F. While you may need the highest heat level if your strands are particularly thick and coarse, everyone else should experiment with lower levels of heat to find their optimum temperature. Ideally, you need a middle ground that’s going to style your strands without leaving them feeling damaged!
Regularly Trim Away Split Ends
While split ends can occur throughout the year, they form much faster when the hair is dehydrated. As you know, dehydration is common in the winter, meaning that split ends become more prevalent too!
Although split ends themselves aren’t dangerous, they’re a sign of damage. Not only do they leave your hair looking rough and frizzy but if you ignore those frayed ends, those splits will only end up traveling up your hair shaft. After a while, it won’t just be the ends of your hair that have split – your mid-lengths will start to fray too.
Unfortunately, split ends mean that those split hairs have broken. There’s no way to fix these breaks, although using a hair serum to seal those split ends can make them temporarily look less noticeable. The only way to get rid of your split ends and stop the damage from spreading is by trimming them away. This is why regular trims every 6-8 weeks are recommended. If you struggle to stick to this, try booking your next appointment before you leave the salon rather than waiting until the damage becomes apparent.
Experiment With Protective Hairstyles
Protective hairstyles can be a game-changer in the winter months. There are plenty out there to experiment with but they all share common ground in terms of minimizing the surface area of hair that’s exposed to the winter elements. Sure, some of your hair will still be subjected to environmental damage. However, the majority of your strands will be safely tucked away.
Want to give a few protective hairstyles a try? Here are some to play around with:
- Braids – whether you go with French, Dutch, or anything else, braids are one of the best ways to keep your hair safe. They also happen to look pretty trendy! The only downside is that some braids can take a while to create. However, if you’re in a rush, you can always opt for a simple three-strand braid.
- A top knot – this is a great hairstyle to go for when you don’t have much time to style your hair. Simply gather your locks into a ponytail and then wrap it around into a bun.
- Twists – whether you go for regular twists or mini twists, this style works particularly well with natural hair.
Summary
Although the winter months can be a difficult time for your hair, there is plenty that you can do to help your locks make it through the season with minimal damage. Start with the tips that we’ve shared above and you should soon find it much easier to maintain hair that looks strong, healthy, and shiny, no matter how cold and bitter the weather around you may be!
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