my hair is straight, fine, isn’t dyed, I rarely do any hairstyles that involve more than a hair band or a few bobby pins (getting your hair dirty the day you wash it gives me the creeps), and it has always been very oily, until I “educated” it.
after educating my hair – which is a process that takes time and resilience – I went from washing it daily (and looking disgusting by tea time) to washing it only twice a week. if you want to know more on this process of educating your hair, let me know, I’ll gladly do a video about it for you.
because I stopped washing my hair so frequently, it does’t fall or break as much, and the ends stay healthier for longer — which is something this fine-haired girl appreciates greatly.
I also found out that, just like with your skin, using very abrasive products on your scalp will make it dehydrated, and your skin will over-produce oils to compensate — enter the vicious circle. so I started paying more attention to the ingredients of the shampoos I used on my regular washes, and decided to eliminate sulphates (SLS — sodium laureth sulphate and sodium lauryl sulphate are the most common). sulphates are widely used by the cosmetic industry to make some products more foamy and have better lather, but these ingredients can dry immensely your hair roots, scalp and skin.
I also found out that that dehydration made my scalp start to flake — enter dandruff. oh, joy.
it is easier to find sulphate-free shampoos on lines dedicated to colour-treated hair, but I find these products to be too rich and heavy for my fine and not-colour-treated hair. sulphate-free shampoos are a bit more expensive, but you can always aim for promotions and sales opportunities.
because my hair gets too used to products and they stop working if used time and time again, I have a few shampoos on rotation:
Dr. Organic Virgin Coconut Oil Shampoo
L’Oréal Hair Expertise EverStrong Shampoo
L’Oréal Hair Expertise Pure Rich Shampoo
because I only wash my hair twice a week, I can afford to use hair masques instead of conditioner, although there’s one I can’t live without.
Macadamia Deep Repair Masque
L’Oréal EverStrong Nourishing Intense Mask
Lush American Cream Conditioner
a Coconut Oil masque is also something I do once in a while, when I have the time.
on the ends of the hair I always use a hair oil that deep conditions them, leaves my hair shiny and, if applied to wet hair, has some heat protection qualities and cuts down the drying time to almost half.
Macadamia Healing Oil Treatment
obviously, my hair doesn’t stay looking amazing every single day, so when it starts to feel a bit limp I use a dry shampoo that doesn’t leave any white residue or grittiness on my hair, just to absorb some oils. leaving it overnight before brushing it out enhances the oil-absorption properties. this can give you an extra day or two without needing to wash.
CoLab Sheer + Invisible Dry Shampoo
a more expensive alternative if you can’t get hold of CoLab is Klorane Gentle Natural-Tinted Dry Shampoo with Oat Extract
so these are my routinely-used products.
every once in a while (a couple of weeks or so), I dare using a sulphate-based shampoo and conditioner as kind of a volumising treatment. I really like the inverted system of the Irresistible (or Beauty-Full) Volume line from Tresemmé. it actually delivers in the volume department.
if I, by any chance decided to plaster my hair in styling products, then I go for the Big guns (see what I did, there?). this Lush shampoo is great for a deep cleanse, and the sea salt in it really makes sure you massage it thoroughly before you can rinse it off. it is so deeply-cleansing I can only use it once in a full moon…
I brush my hear with the Tangle Teezer — it doesn’t break my hair as much as any other brushes I’ve tried and detangles it beautifully.
I don’t usually detangle my hair when it’s wet, but if do I use either the Tangle Teezer or some wide tooth comb.
when blow-drying, I usually put my hair down and use a round brush from H&M to give some volume to the roots and soften the ends.
after it’s dry, then I brush it starting from the ends, working my way up to the roots.
on special occasions, I have these products stashed in case I want to do some hardcore styling
Beauty-Full (or Irresistible) Volume Mousse by Tresemmé gives quite some volume and thickness to the hair without any grittiness, crunchiness or weighing it down
Tresemmé Heat Defence Styling Spray is quite effective if I’m using styling tools
Surf Spray by Bumble&Bumble is a safe bet if I’m aiming for heatless beach waves
Elnett Hairsprays are a classic when it comes to holding your hair in place.
the freevolous 