HAIR!!! Most of us love it, some of us hate it, some of us aren't really bothered, but if you're a girl chances are you care about your hair! I know I do!
I've always had something I don't like about my hair. When I was younger it was incredibly curly-but all my friends had straight hair. When I was about 12 I started getting some white hair-I was told it was genetic, yahoo! NOT! I will never forget a girl telling me in highschool one day that she thought I had cool hair, and asked me where I got it streaked. Back then I didn't know much about hair, or dye, I didn't even know what streaking hair was! Then I went through several years of being in between ringlets and straight-pretty much just this big boof around my face. Now years on I have decided on a radical change. I have been ill so have lost a lot of my hair and now have a LOT of white/grey, and since the water got changed where I live I have had scalp issues. Something needed to give. I needed to change something. I needed a big change with my hair for me, and with my birthday coming up, I started to think about a new look.
I decided to go blue. Not your average dye job lol I could just stick blue dye in my hair and go ta daa! But that wouldn't work out very well on my dark hair. So of course, I need to bleach it.
The big B word when it comes to hair. Everyone thinks "bleaching! No! That'll kill your hair!" so many people think it'll all fall off, you'll get chemical burns etc etc... while we can't say that's never happened, it's not what happens all the time, and it won't necessarily happen to you. Here's the thing about bleaching hair... if you do it right, you can get really good results... if you don't, things could go very wrong. I suggest if you are thinking about bleaching your hair, do your research-a lot of it. You need to know if you hair will withstand bleaching, if you will be able to bleach your hair effectively, and if you have any colour in you need to get rid of it.... get a good bleach-not a cheap one, it'll be worth it.
So I had decided on bleaching. Problem was I was worried that it might not go well, that the condition of my hair might not be so great due to everything that has happened to it over the last six months.
I spent days reading up on hair tips, what's good for your hair, what you can do to help your hair, and what is bad for your hair. There were two things that stood out the most:
GOOD: Oils. Sunflower oil, argan oil, coconut oil etc and for dry and damaged hair natural things like nettle, aloe, silk extract, and horsetail...and pH balanced
BAD: SLS/ALS or Sodium Lauryl Sulphate/Sodium Laureth Sulfate/Ammonium Lauryl Sulphate
What does SLS/ALS do? Basically it's what cleans your hair. What we don't get told though is that it's a harsh surfactant (cleaner). Why are they putting something used in cleaner for rockets into our shampoo? It's something that is not being widely addressed and I'm hoping it changes because these chemicals COULD be the reason for some scalp issues or even damaging your hair-it's stripping everything off it.
But what does this have to do with hair dye and bleaching? We all know bleaching hair does damage it to an extent, but there are ways you can minimise the damage. You can start by using shampoos free of things like sulphates so that your hair is as pH balanced as possible and as healthy as possible-you want it to keep all those good things. Also, we all know that hair dye fades. Always. And we all know that the more you wash your hair, the more the dye will fade. BUT did you know that part of that reason is because of sulphates? They are stripping the colour bit by bit every time you wash your hair with those shampoos. Switching to sulphate free products will help prolong your colour.
I went down to the local wholefoods store to get some sulphate free shampoo and conditioner-I got a pH balanced shampoo with things like sesame oil, sunflower oil, horsetail, essential oils, and many other good things in it, and I got Sukin conditioner from a pharmacy.
The first time I used them I noticed a difference. I had less scalp irritation, my hair felt cleaner and softer. I didn't need to use much of either - probably about half the usual amount (which I was pleased with because they are not your cheap $5 a bottle hair products). It came out almost the same as what I would usually get with having to have two lots of mixed shampoo and two lots of mixed conditioner. So if you're having scalp or dry/frizzy hair issues, I would definitely look at getting a more natural sulfate free shampoo.
Which brings me to the shampoo brush.
I never knew this thing existed, in fact when I won it from something quite a long time ago, I thought it was a pet brush! (google it I'm too lazy to get a picture of mine lol). The shampoo brush helps work shampoo and conditioner into your hair and scalp so you get a better distribution of product and not too much in one place, and it gets right down to your scalp. It also helps remove all the stuff you don't want sitting on your scalp so you get a really good clean. I have had more success with this little hand held brush than I have with ANY anti dandruff shampoo. Put down your head and shoulders, your garnier, your prescription shampoo -all of which have SLS by the way- and find yourself a shampoo brush! You may still need treatment of some sort-it won't "cure" anything, but give it a go, you might be suprised!
This weekend I will be bleaching my hair and giving a review on Hairquip's "In Vision" dust free blue bleach power and their developer.
Remember-if you're going to dye your hair do a strand test and a patch test! It might seem annoying and a waste of time, but it's better for something to go wrong on a few strands of hair, or that tiny bit on your arm, rather than your entire head of hair and scalp!!
~^_^~
No comments:
Post a Comment