I love Summer!

Sweet Summer HAIR Tips:

♣    Wet your hair and pull some conditioner through before taking a dip. This will help your hair from soaking up the chlorine.

♣    Get fun beachy waves by sleeping in braids overnight!

♣    After taking a dip, rinse hair, use a  nice leave-in conditioner, and detangle. The sooner you help add moisture back into your hair, the better.

♣    The sun can be your friend! If you want to lighten up your highlights skip the hat and let the rays lighten hair up naturally. But don’t forget to always add TLC back w/ good conditioning products after your days out in the sun.

♣    Add fun and flirty highlights around your face for a beautiful sun-kissed look that looks totally natural.

♣    Braid or twist bangs out of your face and secure with a bobby pin or cute clip. Perfect after taking a swim!

♣    Use a wide toothed comb on hair after getting out of the pool/lake/ocean. Will be easier to detangle and also is more gentle on your hair.

♣    Spruce up a basic ponytail by adding a fun summer scarf or headband.

♣    Chlorine can make hair brittle so always rinse right after going swimming. Using a clarifying shampoo can help remove chemicals. Then follow up with a creamy moisturizing conditioner.

♣    On a swim team? Dampen tresses and put a light conditioner in your hair before the swim cap. Hair won’t absorb as much chlorine and will also help with removal after your workout.

♣    More Swim Team tips: Go underwater to take your cap off instead of when you get out of the pool. Cap can slip off easier & reduce breakage. Then go rinse in the shower!

♣    Skin and hair can dry out easily after meets and workouts. Make sure you stay hydrated with moisturizing conditioners and lotions.

How to Wash Your Hair

Ready? Set? Rinse and Repeat!

1. Shampoo your hair

Before you set foot in the shower to wash you’ll need the right products. Think about what’s important to you and what your hair needs. Moisture? Protein? Volume? Curl enhancement? Clarifying? Get the most out of your time in the shower by using the proper strategy. Different shampoos offer different benefits so read the bottle carefully before you buy. You may be surprised at what a difference the right shampoo makes. (Ask your own happy hair stylist what they would recommend for you if you get stuck.)

I personally prefer to encourage clients to wash their hair every other day. If you over wash your hair, your scalp will try to compensate and produce more oil. Natural oils are good for you so every other day is a good balance.

Once in the shower shampoo with about a quarter-sized amount of product. Maybe more or less depending on how much hair you have. If your hair doesn’t lather, rinse and repeat until it does so you know your hair is clean. Always make sure you rinse out the shampoo completely before moving onto conditioner.

Using moisturizing shampoos everyday can sometimes cause build up on your hair so use a Clarifying shampoo about once a month to break up oils and deep clean your cuticles.

2. Condition your hair

After a thorough rinse try to squeeze as much water out of your hair as possible. It’s amazing if you leave a towel over the shower and dry it a little, too. Apply conditioner to midshaft and ends of hair. Comb through with your fingers to disperse the conditioner through all of your hair. Keeping a wide toothed comb in your shower is great too for an even more thorough saturation. 

Warning! Don’t just slap a lump of conditioner right to your head. This can cause your scalp to become oily. The ends of your hair have been with you the longest and are what need the moisture the most.

Leave the conditioner in your hair while you shave, wash your face, and/or loofah it up. This gives your strands a couple of minutes to soak up the nutrients in the conditioner. Once you’re ready to rinse, turn down the water temperature a little to help seal your cuticles. (A refreshing way to wake ya up in the morning!) Make sure you rinse hair well so it is not weighed down when you get out of the shower.

Follow these conditioning steps for daily washes or weekly mask applications.

Remember, your hair is an extension of you, so take care of it.
You deserve to look and feel beautiful inside and out.
Love, The Happy Hair Stylist

The LONG & short of it...

Want beautiful long hair and don't know how to get there?
Here are some tips to help you achieve long, fabulous looking hair:

-Use good products! Shampoo & Conditioners with the right ingredients really do help! Your hair is an investment so why not use good products every day in the shower to keep hair soft and silky.

-Extra TLC goes a long way. Deep conditioning masks and leave-in treatments that have both moisture and protein help keep hair shafts strong and lessen split ends / hair breakage. In salon treatments also help customize what extra boost your hair needs taking into consideration the existing health and texture of your hair.

-Get it cut. People always ask me why they need to get trims when they're growing their hair out. The answer is, cutting off weak split ends while they are just starting helps the problem from getting worse. Hair shafts can split up and out of control causing straggly ends. Getting mini trims every ten weeks or so really helps.

-Have patience. The average person has a 1/2" of hairgrowth per month. So depending on what length you're starting from it can take awhile to reach Rapunzal status. So have patience and enjoy the growing out stages you go through.

Before you know it you'll be chopping your hair off and starting all over again!