Tips for Healthy Hair
4/12/24
By: Eleanor McElroy
It doesn’t matter if you have healthy hair or unhealthy hair, all hair needs care. Whether you have curly hair, wavy, straight, or really curly hair it all needs to be taken care of with things that will help it.
If you want to start taking care of your hair then you need to figure out your concerns and hair type. To find out about what hair type you have you can type “hair chart”. It will show you lots of examples, and you want to see which hair type looks like yours. Some examples are: 1a, 2a, 3a, and 4a, but it goes from 1a to 4c. Once you find out what type of hair you have you can get into what concerns you have. It’s different for all hair types. Some examples would be: over excessive dandruff, oily/greasy hair, dryness, or heat damage. Of course there are a lot more that you could have, you could even have multiple, but in order to find out what your hair needs are you need to know the concerns.
These are the hair types. (the last one is 4c)
Curly hair: If you have curly hair it might be difficult to take care of it due to it needing a lot more care than straight hair. If your hair is really oily then you should try using clarifying or purifying shampoo. These shampoos have ingredients like tea tree oil that get out all the excess oil and dirt from the scalp. If you have dry hair you can try hair oiling or using hair masks that help with moisture. Hair oiling can help moisturize the scalp and helps reduce dryness. Hair masks help bring more moisture to the hair and also lock in moisture. They have very hydrating ingredients like shea butter that you may be familiar with. If you have damaged hair, you can also use hair oil, which it’s used for hydration on the scalp, but It is also good for damaged hair. If you have curly hair you can use these steps to help: Wash your hair with a good shampoo and use a good conditioner, let it dry, do NOT brush out your curls, define your curls, and do the rest of your routine.
Wavy hair: While wavy hair is really close to curly hair, it is also close to straight hair. With wavy hair it is similar but not exactly like curly hair. It is basically the same with having oiling hair and what type of shampoos, hair oiling, hair masks, but it is a little different. With full curls you're not supposed to brush them out but with wavy hair you can brush it, but pay attention: only when it’s wet. If you brush wavy hair when it’s dry it will become frizzy and the curls will loosen and lose their shape. If you have wavy hair here are some instructions: Wash your hair, detangle your hair with conditioner, scrunch hair, let air dry, and do the rest of your steps.
This is the difference between damaged, dry hair, and healthy hair. (Left: damaged Right: healthy)
Straight hair: Out of all the hair types straight hair is the easiest to care for, it doesn’t involve as many steps as other hair types. It is still the same with hair oiling, hair masks, and shampoo. If you would want to look at that you can scroll up to the curly hair paragraph. With straight hair you can brush your hair dry, in fact you should brush your hair when it’s dry, why? Well if you brush your hair wet then it will tangle when it dries, and if you didn’t know when the hair is wet it is in its weakest position, it can cause massive damage to your hair if you brush it too vigorously. If you have straight hair here are some tips: Don’t wash your hair everyday, most preferably: every other day. Make sure to look for split ends, if you don’t get them taken care of soon then they will become worse.
Hair product tips: Hair oiling: When you use hair oil you don’t want to drench your entire head of hair in oil, instead put in on the scalp on a small section at a time. Hair masks: If you use a hair mask you should use it once a week, when you use it you should leave it in your hair for 3-5 minutes. Shampoo: use a shampoo that helps with things you're concerned about, examples are: frizziness, dryness, oiliness, hair breakage, unwanted product on the scalp, and much more. Extra tip: if you want to bring more circulation to the scalp then you can try using a head massager with silicone scrubbers. Julia Schliesser says, “When I wash my hair I use this hair scrubber.” (another) Extra tip: If you use heated tools on your hair use a heat protector so it doesn’t cause heat damage! Zoey Carter says, “...and a heat protection spray.” Extra tip: If your hair looks dry on the ends but you don’t want to do much with it you could use a hair cream especially for it.(example products will be listed in the photo).
These are some hair product examples. You can find different ones that suit you better or ones that fit your budget.
After reading this you should have a little more knowledge on hair care. If this helped at all, you have other concerns, or you want to give me feedback fill out the form below to share your thoughts.
Contributor bio:
Eleanor is a 6th grader at EJHS, she likes art and much more.