Easy Tips for Hydrating Hair and Preventing Dryness

While every weather brings with it different kind of hair woes, it is not difficult to tackle any of these if you know how to. Winters might be stripping your hair of natural oils and making your hair dry, so do monsoons by making your hair frizzy and oily. Summer has its own woes for making hair greasy and dry, thanks to the scorching sun. It is essential to understand your hair and its health so that moisturising your hair becomes as easy as brushing your teeth.

Before going into the care for dry hair, one needs to know why the problem of dry hair curls. There can be two reasons for dry hair- either your scalp is not producing ample natural oil for moisturization of hair or your natural structure of hair is allowing excessive moisture to escape thus leading to dry hair. The cuticle of the hair, which is the outermost layer might be loosening, thus creating gap and tending all the moisture from the inner layers to escape.

Causes and solutions for dry hair

The foremost cause of hair dryness can be attributed to thermal abuse. Today's generation has been increasingly using thermal products such as flat irons, curling rods and so much more to make the hair stands weaker and dryer. High temperatures from these heat-emanating gadgets are stripping the natural oils and causing the hair to become dry and brittle.
The best way to minimize the damage is to limit the use of such heat tools Choose buns and other hairstyles that do not need heat styling.
If you have to use heat tools, invest in a good thermal protective formula before applying heat to your strands. This will create a protective barrier between the hair and the heat from the tools, thus minimizing the damage.
Consider using ionic thermal products as these allow the water molecules to deeply penetrate into the hair shaft, thus re-hydrating the hair.
Another cause for dry hair is excessive shampooing and under conditioning. Too often, we wash our hair with chemical laden shampoos almost every day of the week. This leads excessive natural oil loss from the hair. The shampoo strips the dirt and grease along with the natural oil. To retain the moisture, a diligent use of a good conditioner is necessary.
The solution to this issue is to use a shampoo that is specifically designed for dry hair. These cream based shampoos help in retaining moisture.
Rather than washing your hair daily, do it only twice or thrice a week to maintain a healthy scalp, without over drying.
Use a good conditioner after every shampoo. This helps in locking the moisture washed away by shampoos. On days when your hair feels dry but you cannot shampoo, just wash with plain conditioner and you are good to go.
Avoid using too much of chemicals on your hair. Colours, perming, straightening and nay another chemical treatment creates havoc to the hair structure.
Instead, choose ammonia free colour that are demi-permanent colouring solutions for hair.
Try the bayalage technique for highlighting, if you want to go for one. This ensures that the highlights are done only on the mid length and ends of hair rather than near the roots. These are more forgiving to dry hair.
Many non-chemical procedures for straightening and curling the hair have come in the market. Explore these options to retain moisture.
Too much exposure to sun, wind, chlorine-rich water or salt water can dry the hair.
If you have to spend time outside, try covering your hair with a small scarf or a trendy hat.
Just like our skin, our hair needs UV protection too. Apply a generous amount of leave in UV conditioner.
Before plunging into the pool, apply a thick layer of heavy cream conditioner and cover with a cap, to waterproof your hair.
Harsh and drier weathers call for heavy conditioners and weekly deep conditioning treatments.
The wrong choice of brushing and wrong brushing technique can cause your hair dryer.
Never brush hair when wet since it is at its weakest.
Opt for wide-toothed comb and gently work from top to bottom, to detangle. Use a good boar bristle brush to distribute the natural oils through dry hair.
There is a lot you can do to moisturise your curly or thick course hair. Apply a good amount of water and spray on conditioner mixture to your damp hair. To seal in the moisture, apply a rich conditioner oil or serum.
Before any heat styling, apply a leave-in or a heat protective formula.
Go for weekly hot oil or deep conditioning treatment to give relaxation time to your hair.
Daily supplements of vitamins rich in folic acid, B vitamins, sulphur, magnesium, beta-carotene, silica, and zinc are essential for healthy hair.