I have struggled with hair management for years. Naturally I have mousey brown, frizzy, dry hair. It is so not ideal or glamourous. I long for silky smooth healthy hair. But alas I have a very love/hate relationship with my half frizzy half curly long hair.
I didn’t help myself when I dyed my hair blonde and carried on having it highlighted for 4 years. This ruined my hair completely. It was breaking all the time, I was malting everywhere and I feared brushing it, let alone styling it for fear of more falling out.
So I decided to detox my hair. I wanted to try and get it back to being as healthy as it could be.
I started this detox by saying goodbye to the blonde and stopping with the obsessive highlighting. It was a hard decision. I loved being blonde. But I have been growing out the blonde for about 14 months now. It has finally past the horrendous stage where it looked like I just couldn’t be bothered to re dye my roots (it was painful to look in the mirror) and now it just looks like I have intentionally dip dyed it.
I miss being blonde all the time but when I touch my hair and see how much better my it feels – it is completely worth it. Plus I still have the blonde on the ends to make myself feel part blonde.
However, my hair still needed some TLC. And so here are my essential hair care products that I am now using to get my hair back to full health.
Now these aren’t cheap. But if I am happy to spend £40 on Topshop items, I am silly not to shell out for products that make my hair look and feel healthier.
Shampoo and Conditioner
After living off Herbal Essences and Pantene for my entire life, I was recommended that if I wanted to help cure my locks, I would have to invest in some better, less chemical products.
I tried lots of different products. Some gave my hair so much moisture and conditioning which was initially great, but they was impossible to rinse out fully so my hair was constantly greasy and felt heavy and pretty gross.
I was then using a shampoo and conditioner that made my hair feel lovely but I noticed that the blonde ends of my hair were getting really coppery/orange and I panicked.
I went to talk to my hairdresser and she recommended using a purple shampoo which should keep your blonde blonde and stop it the colour going a copper colour. She recommended Philip Kingsley Pure Silver shampoo and conditioner (confusing that it is called silver, when it is actually purple but nevermind)
I am loving it so far. However, as I said before it is expensive. It is so posh you can even buy it from net-a-porter for £17 a bottle. I picked mine up from my hairdresser but there are other brands that make purple shampoo and conditioner for much cheaper I am sure – but I want good quality at the moment so don’t mind spending the extra pennies and buying one less coffee a week.
Plus you should only be using a small amount of each. I have always a big fan of cheap bottles from Boots, and would pile on masses of shampoo and conditioner as I thought this would help my hair be extra clean and extra conditioned. Actually, the opposite is true. You should use no more than a 50p coin size of both (maybe a bit more for really long hair but not much). Just apply the shampoo to the roots of the hair not the ends as otherwise it can dry out and damage the ends of the hair. And then conditioner just on the ends, to make your hair less greasy. So, because you using such a small amount it lasts longer, and is more cost efficient.
It also looks pretty and purple!
I have been using for it just under a month and my hair is noticeably softer, shinier (I have also started rinsing it with cold water as it is meant to make it shinier) and substantially less orange. It is actually back to being beautifully blonde on the ends – and it doesn’t make any difference to my natural hair colour – I panicked that the purple shampoo would make my brown hair orange but it didn’t at all.
I highly recommend it for any one with dry/damaged/dyed hair. For any non dyed hair, I would still recommend the brand even though I haven’t tried it myself!
Frizz preventer
Another hair care product that I absolutely can’t live without is Moroccan Oil Treatment. It works MAGIC. Remarkably soft and smooth. It almost totally banishes frizz.
Towel dry your hair well and pour a little bit of oil into your hands (about the same size as 10p coin) and put it in the ends – you don’t want too much towards the roots as again, its an oil and will make your hair greasier quicker. Leave your hair to dry naturally or blow dry it – it makes hair look incredible for a blowdry.
You can order one for about £14 from Beauty Flash or they sell them in loads of hair salons
Conditioning Treatment
Now for hair treatment – I use Moroccan Oil Intense Hydrating Mask. I use this once a week and I usually leave it in for 20 mins (it says 5-7mins but I never listen to that) just to keep my hair as hydrated as possible. As the quality of my hair improves, I will be able to use this less and less but at the moment it is working wonders and I am really loving sitting in a bath for a long time, nursing my hair back to health, watching an episode of “Friends”.
I use a little handful of the treatment – and then I slather it on. I make sure it is evenly spread through my hair and then I put all my hair into a bun on top of my head to keep my hair out of the water, let it all sink in while I relax in the bath. Make sure you rinse properly.
Hair Brush
My last hair care essential but by no means least – is my Tangle Teaser. These bad boys changed my world. No more crying trying to break through knots, or pulling out clumps of hair, or one stroke of a brush and my hair is instantly static – no no, this teaser of tangles is so gentle on the hair, gets out any knot and can be used on wet hair, dry hair, in the shower or whilst blowdrying. If you haven’t brought one yet – definitely get one.
If anyone has any other hair care essentials that I need to invest in – I would love to hear from you
Lots of Love
Cocoa Chelsea x