If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you may be pretty familiar with my hair journey. It’s certainly been a long one, it's easy to damage the hair but hair growth and hair strength certainly do not happen overnight. If you read about how my hair destroyed my confidence, you’ll know that for so long, I had unhappy hair, an unhappy scalp and hair that just refused to grow. This was all down to me damaging my hair and not treating it properly, usage of extensions and too much bleach. For years now I’ve been trialling new products, going to the best hairdressers (Lee + Louise at Sassoon) and ensuring I’m treating my hair like silk. Years on, I finally feel confident with my hair again, I finally dare to go for blow-dries and actually style it myself too and finally, feel like I’ve got to a point where my hair is growing *a hairdresser told me this week that my hair isn’t damaged which made my day* so please know I only recommend brilliant hair products that work for me. Today I want to talk about some spring hair care and some salon professional products plus give you the low down on things I’ve learnt on this hair growth and hair care journey. See this as a bit of an updated hair growth tips post too.
Things I’ve Learnt With Haircare/Hair Growth Tips:
First things first, I’m often asked how I managed to eventually get my hair to grow after years of damage and bad treatment so here are a few of my top hair growth tips if like me, you weren’t too kind to your hair or if you’re wanting to take more care of your hair and grow it.
Treat your scalp like a flowerbed + your hair like silk - No, really! Look after it properly. I didn’t use heat on my hair for a whole year. I regularly go for scalp treatments or use products that clean my scalp and I try to 'treat it like silk' as much as I can.
Regular trims - Why should you have regular trims? If you leave your hair to grow and grow for months and months, when you do eventually get it cut, you’ll end up having to get loads cut off as you’ll have split ends. It's better to go for small trims often so that when your hair growing, it's growing thick and healthy. I go to Lee at Sassoon for my cuts and try to go every 7 weeks. It means we’re working with the growth and cutting in the way my hair is growing. I often don't have the time to go to Manchester to get my hair cut though so sometimes leave it a little longer.
Treat the hair - As I said, I have used so many hair care products and found such epic ones that work for me. No-one uses just one haircare brand, we all have different favourites. You may love a shampoo from one brand but a treatment from five brands and a serum from two other brands. I'm obsessed with so many epic hair products and switch them up when my hairs getting used to them or if I'm doing another hairstyle or, just depending on how my hair feels. I like to sleep in treatments when I can (or just pop one on in the bath and let the steam work wonders). I also ensure I’m using a deep treatment at least once a week and ALWAYS use heat protection when using heat and then a UV protection when in the sunshine. I’ve been using the Paul Mitchell Super Strong Treatment, not only is the packaging really pretty with it’s pop of colour, but this treatment rebuilds and restores hair. It's specially designed for dry, damaged hair and deeply penetrates to strengthen and rebuild, improving elasticity and protecting from further damage which is so important - we don't want to damage the hair more! Perfect for my blow-dried and bleached hair. There’s also a liquid treatment which is epic, pop it in after you’ve washed your hair and let it compliment your blow dry as it strengthens and repairs your hair up to 60% plus seals and strengthens the cuticle.
Be cautious of snagging - There are certain hair bands/bobbles that snag the hair, as well as certain hair brushes too. Be gentle with the hair and use soft hair bobbles and hair ties too when tying up. You can also snag the hair when brushing so be gentle with it, I'm so cautious with hair brushing. I was always told never to brush the hair when it's wet unless there's lots of conditioner in there. I also always sleep on a soft silk pillowcase (Slip are meant to be the best) as apparently, they stop creasing/bed head meaning you don't have to continue to blow dry your hair. I always make my blow dries last at least two days and I'm sure it's because I put my hair above my head on a silk pillowcase! No creases in the hair!
Limit heat - Styling the hair is addictive but to get mine back to health I didn’t use any heat on it for 1 whole year, it was awful but it worked. Hair growth isn't something that happens overnight and sadly, it does take a lot of time and perseverance. Use good products. Find a good hair dresser. Be kind to the hair. Now I’m quite savvy with using heat and will only blow dry my hair once or twice a week and then make it last. I often let it dry by itself when I don't have plans or I'm just at home. It means less damage on my hair. Obviously, my hair looks way better when it's blow dried so it's all about ensuring the blow dry lasts longer so you can minimise heat.
Look at what’s in the bottle - I was told a long time ago by a hairdresser to stay clear of shampoos that are just full of silicone so now I really research products and look at what’s behind the bottle before buying and using it on my hair. Paul Mitchell’s new campaign is all about what’s behind the bottle. Our hair care routine is such a huge part of our life and, as I saw, having damaged hair ruined my confidence so for me, good products are important. I’m someone who takes a lot of pride in looking for good hair care and it was only when certain products weren’t working that I realised it’s important to actually understand hair products better. In 1980, Paul Mitchell and John Paul DeJoria, were inspired to create a company that would support the success of hairdressers and provide luxury hair care at an affordable price. Paul Mitchell was the first professional beauty company to become cruelty-free ever since it was founded 38 years ago. The product development process happens in a state-of-the-art Product Innovation Centre, products are researched, formulated and tested (on humans!) to ensure they have the most scientifically innovative hair products for every hair type. Do some research on the products you are using, are they good? Are the ingredients good? Don't waste your money on products filled with nothing basically.
Kind colour - I try to leave my hair at least 12 weeks before getting it coloured. I quite often have liquid hair treatments or Smart Bond with my colour too, to ensure my hair is in better condition. The reason I leave my hair to grow out is because it gives my coloured hair a better chance of being in good condition rather than colouring it every single month as tempting as that is. My colourist Louise is amazing at still using bright colours without damaging my hair.
Spring Haircare:
Today I thought I’d run you through a salon professional range by Paul Mitchell. I actually first met the Paul Mitchell team at Clothes Show Live years ago, I fell in love with the stylists when they taught me about the importance of wearing a style out. They explained you should make your hair look beautiful on Monday but do it in a style that gradually gets softer and still looks great as the week goes by so you’re not having to style the hair and use heat every day.
Super Strong Range - I've been using the Super Strong range by Paul Mitchell over the last few weeks so thought I'd talk you through it if, like me, you're trying to take care of your hair. First, the shampoo will protect the hair while preventing damage from everyday causes. Second, the conditioner is colour-safe (you don't want something that's going to make your colour fade as it will only mean having to get it coloured more) so I do try to look for shampoos and conditioners that will help make my colour more vibrant too rather than the opposite. I find this shampoo and conditioner gives my hair a soft, smooth look. The products are designed to rebuild the internal structure of the hair whilst ingredients like canola, soybean and cornstarch provide extra softening... hello smooth hair. I know I've talked about treatments quite a lot and the Super Strong range are famous for their treatments. If you're looking to restore the hair from inside and out while sealing split ends, the Liquid Treatment is amazing. It has marine extracts and vegetable proteins inside plus helps to replace lost minerals and replenish hair leaving it strengthened up to 60%. Last but certainly not least, I have extremely dry hair so the Super Strong Treatment is epic for those nights I can sleep in a treatment. It's designed for dry, damaged hair and deeply penetrates to rebuild hair. It works to improve elasticity and protect from further damage with wheat proteins and amino acids. I do find styling my hair is easier with this range too as it's soft and almost moisturised. Shop the Paul Mitchell range online here.
So there we have it, I hope you liked this blog post with a little update on my hair care journey. I hope it helped you!
So there we have it, I hope you liked this blog post with a little update on my hair care journey. I hope it helped you!
Do leave a comment below and let me know if you have any hair care tips. Let's care and share the love!
You might also like:
How my hair destroyed my confidence
Best beauty brands of the year
The best autumn beauty products
Lots of love, Em x
*This blog post is sponsored by Paul Mitchell but as always, is my 100% honest opinion.
*This blog post is sponsored by Paul Mitchell but as always, is my 100% honest opinion.
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