How to Avoid Split Ends

Split ends are every girl’s nightmare and are a constant reminder that you are not being good to your hair.  Split ends occur when the bottom of a strand of hair splits into two or more strands resulting in dry, damaged and dull hair, so preventing split ends can save you hours of examining the tips of your hair trying to get rid of those unruly split ends. Keep your hair looking healthy and beautiful this winter and avoid getting spilt ends by following these helpful tips!!

Get Regular Trims. Many hairstylists recommend that you get a trim every six weeks in order to maintain your hairstyle and keep the ends of your hair healthy. Not trimming your hair regularly is possibly the main cause of split ends. So it is important to go for regular haircuts because split ends can continue to split up the hair shaft and cause even more damage. 

Stop Using Heated Styling Tools. If you cant completely avoid using heated hair appliances limit using them as much as possible as they can cause serious damage to your hair. When you do use them, coat your hair first with a protective heat-styling product, and don’t use the hottest setting on your blow-dryer or hair straightener.

Comb & Brush Your Hair Carefully. Brushing your hair gently before you shampoo is a great way to prevent damaging tangles in the shower. When your hair is wet use a wide tooth comb to detangle your hair after shampooing to prevent breakage and invest in a boar-bristle brush to use on dry hair for the best hair care. 

Shampoo Less. Over-shampooing your hair can be just as harmful as heat or chemicals. Unless you have overly oily hair, cut back to shampooing your hair every other day or less.

Deep Condition. To avoid that frizzy tipped appearance that's caused by split ends make sure to use a good hair treatment once a week. These treatments can help moisturize your hair and prevent the ends from becoming brittle and breakable. However don’t rely on products that claim to repair split ends. They can seal the split end to help it look healthier, but they aren't reversing the damage only a haircut will do this.

 
Protect Your Hair From Extreme Weather. This winter remember to keep your hair moisturized in the dry cold months and if your heading off for some sunshine keep your hair covered with a hat.

 

Hair Accessories.The wrong hair accessories can cause hair to become very damaged. Avoid using uncovered elastic bands as they can pull out hair when being removed.  Avoid tying your hair up every day as this can weaken the hair and encourage splits.

Get rid of your split ends now and book your haircut online now at one of SalonAddict's member salons.

Top Tips to make your Blow Dry Last

Coming out of the hair salon with a fresh bouncy blow dry will always put a spring in your step. However as the days go on your perfect blow dry will start to become flatter and flatter. So if you've visited the salon or mastered the prefect blow dry yourself you will want the hairstyle to last as long as possible. Here are some top tips to extend the life of your blow dry. 

• Resist the temptation of running your fingers through your hair, this will minimize the amount of excess grease in your hair.  So keep your mitts of your tresses!!

• The front of your hair gets greasiest first, so try spritzing that area with water and then blow dry it again for an easy and quick refresher.

• Sleep with your head on a satin pillowcase. A satin pillow case will allow your hair to slide while a cotton one will crush your blow dry.

• Invest in a good dry shampoo. Simply apply it to your roots and brush through. It absorbs the grease and will at least give you one more day out of your blow dry.

• Have a bath instead of a shower. This will minimize any damage moisture will have on your blow dry and make sure to cover your hair with a shower cap. 

• Rain can destroy a fantastic blow dry almost immediately. So always carry an umbrella especially with the Irish weather.

If you like to work out make sure to tie your hair up. Sweat is another threat to your blow dry’s longevity.



Want the perfect Blow Dry? Book online now with one of SalonAddict's member salons. 

Lather, Rinse, Repeat: The Art of Shampooing Your Hair!

Shampooing your hair is a fine art. Trying to balance the frequency of shampooing your hair to keep your hair clean, whilst retaining its healthy condition, can be pretty tricky. Shampooing your hair too frequently can strip it of its natural oils. This can make your hair dry and more prone to split ends and breakage. On the other hand, shampooing infrequently means your hair gets greasy and smelly. So, how often should we be shampooing our hair?

Here’s the science

Your scalp produces a natural oil or wax called sebum,which acts to protect your hair and skin and can stop the growth of bacteria. The pores in your scalp are constantly producing sebum which coats your hair follicles. Although sebum is odourless, when it’s broken down by the natural bacteria on your skin, it can produce an odour, hence the nasty smell of greasy hair.

How often to wash your hair?

As a general rule, hair should be shampooed every 2-3 days at most. Some lucky ladies get away with shampooing their hair twice a week. The even luckier ones (usually those with curly hair) can do it once a week. If you find your hair getting greasy in between shampoos at this frequency, I’d recommend trying a dry shampoo. Spraying this powder based aerosol onto the roots of your hair will absorb the excess sebum and freshen up your hair in between shampoos.

Lather, rinse, repeat!

When applying shampoo to your hair, you should work it in from the roots to the tips. Remember that there’s skin under all that hair, so try and work the shampoo into your entire scalp with your fingertips first. On this first round, your shampoo is unlikely to produce a lot of lather – this just means that it’s working.

Rinse your hair thoroughly (for about 30 seconds) to make sure all the built up sebum and left-over shampoo are washed away. It’s good to work your fingers through your hair whilst doing this to get to the hard to reach areas. As nice as it is to just stand under the shower head and let the water do the work, it’s not very effective at rinsing everything away.

           

     The last step in the shampooing process is to... repeat the whole thing all over again. The purpose of the first shampoo is not to wash your hair but to clean your scalp and remove all the sebum and dead skin (gross!) since your last shampoo. The second shampoo is needed to clean the rest of your hair and ensure all the dirt and grime is gone. You won’t need to use as much shampoo the second time around there is likely to be more lather. After rinsing your hair should feel ‘squeaky’ clean.

Swap shop

It’s always good practice to change around the brand of shampoo that you use. This is because different shampoos are made up of different ingredients. Your hair can adapt to the ingredients in your shampoo over time, which makes them less effective if used continuously over long periods.

I often find that after using the same brand of shampoo for about three months, the roots of my hair are still greasy after a thorough shampoo. This can be really annoying, especially when you only realise it AFTER you’ve blow-dried your hair. Rotating your shampoos every three months should help you to avoid this nasty phenomenon, but make sure you’re not wasteful. Don’t throw away a full bottle of shampoo just because it’s not cleaning your hair as well as before. Shelve it for a few months and use a different brand, then swap back when you need to. Waste not, want not, eh???