Healthy Hair at Home
Keeping your hair strong and healthy can often cost and arm and a leg especially when done at a hair salon, and for most of us, this means treating your hair can only happen a few times a year. In order to maintain healthy hair, it needs consistent care. We have some tips on at-home hair care to keep your hair healthy in-between those salon visits.
One method that has risen in popularity lately has been using rice water on your hair to strengthen it and helps it grow much faster. The method of washing your hair with rice water is an ancient practice from the Heian Period where Japanese women had beautiful hair that reached to the floor. There are so many healing properties of rice water that not only repairs damaged hair, but also protects it from future harm. Inositol is the healing ingredient contained in rice water that penetrates into the follicles and treats hair from the inside. According to the Cleveland Clinic, rice water also contains many vitamins and nutrients including vitamin B, vitamin E, fiber, magnesium, manganese, and zinc.
Rice water is also such an easy way to treat your hair at home as it has so few steps!
- Rinse and strain your ½ cup of rice.
- Place the rice in a bowl with 2 cups of water and let it sit for 12-24 hours at room temperature.
- Strain the rice water into a new bowl.
- You can either transfer the water into a spray bottle or a travel sized shampoo bottle or something similar to apply to your hair once in the shower.
- Lastly, make sure to keep the rice water refrigerated until you are ready to use it.
Some other great at-home hair remedies include:
- For boosting shine and combating dryness, combine olive oil/argan oil, avocado, and honey to treat thick or color treated hair. For regular dry hair, mix coconut oil, honey, and apple-cider vinegar.
- For uncontrollable curls, combine ½ cup of molasses or maple syrup, ¼ cup olive oil, 4 tablespoons of honey, two bananas, ½ cup of lemon juice, and two tablespoons of flour. Mix and warm on stovetop. Separate curls into 4 sections and apply the homemade curl enhancer and cover hair with a shower cap for 45 minutes.
- For a flaky scalp, mix one tablespoon of coconut oil, two tablespoon of raw sugar, and six drops of peppermint oil and massage into your scalp for 3-5 minutes.
- For frizzy hair, nourish and soften your hair by mixing 1-2 bananas, ½ avocado, ½ tbsp olive oil, ½ tbsp honey, and 1 egg. Leave on hair for around 20 minutes before washing off.
- For oily hair, combine 1-2 tbsp of baking soda with a little bit of water until a thick paste is left. Massage into damp hair and leave in for 15 minutes before rinsing and shampooing hair.
- For flat hair, pour flat beer (let the beer sit out for a few hours to eliminate carbonation) into a spray bottle and spray onto dry hair.
- You can also make an oatmeal mask as an alternative by combining ½ cup of oats, 2 tbsp of almond oil and ½ cup of milk and leave on hair between 20-40 minutes before washing out.
- For dull hair, brew some black tea and once it’s cooled off, pour the tea onto your hair and let it sit for 10 minutes.
- Another method that’s also great for locking in color as well as enhancing glossiness is using equal parts honey, apple cider vinegar, and coconut oil to create a mask. Leave the mixture on your hair for at least 20 minutes before washing out.
Additionally, there are many daily habits that can be altered to maintain healthy hair including:
- Washing your hair too often can actually end up resulting in more oil production and if you have dyed hair, it can be stripped much faster the more you wash it
- Try to substitute with dry shampoo on day 3 or 4 instead of washing many times in one week
- Always use heat protectant when using hot tools. When using a hair dryer, curling/flat iron, etc., try to use the lowest heat setting in order to cause the least amount of damage. (There are also so many no-heat styling methods you can try too!)
- Try not to brush your hair when it’s wet as it is much more susceptible to breakage. If you do, use a wide-toothed comb and brush from the bottom and work up to the roots.
- Invest in a satin pillowcase. Satin pillowcases work wonders for your hair as they reduce friction when sleeping.
- While it may be more convenient to dry your hair with a towel, a cotton t-shirt is a much better method as the cotton does not break your hair nearly as much as the towel does.