My 10 Hair Commandments

In a day and age of common artificiality, where hair extensions are getting more and more common, I take pride in having naturally long healthy hair.

I don't spend much on cosmetics or clothes... I will buy make up and skin care off the shelves of watsons... Revlon, Loreal, Olay, ZA, Canmake... they're all fine by me, heck I even buy my eyebrow pencil for $2 at Daiso (and swear by it). I don't need expensive clothes to look good and I'm not brand conscious.

But when it comes to my hair, I always opt for the best. I won't buy regular supermarket brand shampoos. (I am currently using Wella System Professional, and it's pretty good so far)

But I am not here to advocate salon and professional brands. Today's post is on my hair care tips which don't cost money but reap fantabulous results.

So here goes...

Holly Jean's

Top 10 Hair Commandments

1. Thou Shall Rinse With Cold Water

After conditioning, do a final rinse will cold water, this will shrink the pores, and add shine to your hair. Tip: mix in a little lemon juice with the last rinse if you want extra shine.

2. Thou Shall Only Apply Conditioner To Hair

Shampoo is meant to clean your scalp and hair. Conditioner however, is not meant for your scalp, at all. If you rub it into your scalp, there are no benefits and it will clog pores!

3. Thou Shall Get A Regular Trim

If you just let your hair grow longer and longer without trimming, split ends will happen. I trim my fringe every 3 months, and the length every 5 months.

4. Thou Shall Not Brush Wet or Tangled Hair

Before you wash your hair, comb through it to remove tangles when its still dry. Your hair is in its most vulnerable state when it is wet. This is especially so if you have fine hair like I do. If you brush it when it's wet, stretching and breakage will occur. Gently comb through with a wide tooth comb or your fingers instead.

5. Thou Shall Not Subject Your Hair To Excessive Heat

Air dry instead of blow dry whenever you can. Try to avoid daily styling with heated curling thongs, irons and crimpers. If you must blow dry, don't use maximum heat! And don't keep the hot air blowing in one place, move your hair dryer up and down. Keep the hair dryer about six to eight inches from your hair.

6. Thou Shall Change Your Shampoo

I change brands every now and then - hair seems to develop a build up or resistence to certain ingredients after a period of time. It is also good to wash with a clarifying shampoo every few weeks, I use one from Nutrogena ( St Ives has a good one too).

7. Thou Shall Not Bleach Your Hair

Bleach is used to strip your hair of its naural dark colour. In asian hair, we have a lot of dark pigment, and if we want to dye our hair or highlight it, it involves bleaching. Years back, I did some hair modelling, and to my horror, my hair became very dry and damaged whenever chunks of it had to be bleached for a certain colour to hold. All the maroon coloured hair in the picture above ended being dry damaged hair!

Even with treatments and steams, it took a long time to fix the damage. Eventually I had to patiently grow my hair longer, and cut off the damage bits in time(it took me about a year!) . So, I stopped hair modelling, it was just not worth the money!

8. Thou Shall Not Sleep In Hair Accessories

You wouldn't sleep with make up on...(I hope)... so similarly, you should not sleep with stuff in your hair. No bands or clips or braids. This will cause stress on your hair and roots, and result in more hairfall.

9. Thou Shall Wet Your Hair Before Swimming

Yes, this is a great tip. Hair tends to absorb the salt or chlorine in the sea or pool when swimming. So, if you wet your hair in your shower before heading to the pool, your hair will absorb clean water. When it's already saturated with water, when you're in the pool, you hair will absorb less of the chlorinated water since it's already wet. You can take this a step further by applying conditioner to the ends of your wet hair and then going swimming.

10. Thou Shall Get A Stylist Who Treats You and Your Hair With Respect

Your stylist can give you the best hair care tips and advice as he's in direct contact with your hair. Avoid someone who is either pushy, trying to market his salon's products all the time, tries to convince you to take on a style you're not comfortable with, or worst of all, actually knows nuts about hair. Read up on hair types, and hair care and then ask him questions, you'll be able to see if he knows what he's talking about or just bullshitting you.

In my next post, I will list the harmful ingredients you should avoid: Is Your Cheap Shampoo hurting You?!