'Ello!
I preettyy much have VERY LONG hair. At least that's what people always tell me and I just look at them like.... hmHmm, I know people with way longer hair but ok. Anyway, I do think that my hair is kind of my pride. I always try to keep my hair healthy and shiny! I've had a few people ask me how I do this. Well I'll try to give you some tips, but mostly I'll tell you my daily, weekly and monthly (more or less) process.
Daily:
Well. I don't do squat daily, except for brushing and styling (I don't mean straightening, I say this because in dutch straightening means "stijlen"). I mostly don't use any products. Sometimes I use a little hairspray but honestly I don't have a lot of time in the moring. I spend that on my make up because I like my hair the way it is.
I think this is exactly why my hair is healthy. It can 'breathe' if that's the right way to say. (Yes as you might have noticed I don't know much about hair or any terms or facts you should use, I just do something and it works! Anyway, let's proceed.) It doesn't have any heat or stress LOL. I used to straighten my hair a lot, but haven't done that in about a year or so. When I curl my hair I also don't heat any heat. (I do use A LOT OF HAIRSPRAY, but I only curl my hair when I have a party and I'm not that much of a party girl.)
Weekly:
I wash my hair every two to three days (just when I notice it becoming greasy) and in between I DO NOT MAKE IT WET because then it'll crash and burn (or rather, it will become like 'hay', very dry and frizzy). A few years ago I learned that the trick to washing your hair is having the right shampoo and conditioner. ALWAYS use the SAME shampoo and conditioner because then your hair can get used to the products, if you keep changing it'll just get 'stressed'. (When I did this, I noticed a change in my hair. Ever since I haven't changed my products.)
And I don't know about you guys, but my most important product is conditioner, if I don't use that my hair will, yet again, turn to hay. I really don't know what it is that conditioner does (lol, I'm such a noob) but my hair gets smooth and shiny just the way I want it to.
I also can't use two in one products... brrr!! I seriously hate those things. It's probably possible to use when you have short hair (but I still think you shouldn't), but with long hair I strongly suggest you stop doing that, and use them seperately. The products I use are:
L'oreal Paris Elvive Nutri-Gloss Pearl and Shine - Light. (It's got green labels on it too) This picture is the normal version, whom I buy whenever I can't find the light ones, however I prefer the light one because my hair will last longer until my next washup. Whatever your shampoo and/or conditioner is, is probably not important. As long is it just works for you. :) I don't recommend using two different brands but whatever you want is fine by me.
When my hair is 'towel dry' (do you also say it like that in english? Cause that's how you say it in dutch) I put a little 'bolletje' (as I say in dutch) in my hair. This little black thing contains some kind of elixer (o.O) which makes my hair veerrryy smooth and shiny. I have to be careful not to put too much in my bangs because it'll make it greasy, but on my frizzy hair it works wonders. I spread it all over my hair and put it in a bun and let it soak in a little. I usually tend my hair right away after hitting the shower, so when I put on my PJs it's still tending the hair really nicely. It's an Indonesian product btw, because here in Holland they pretty much don't have products for my hair... but there are most def. products all over the world that have this effect on your hair, just try to find one that works for you! (Because everyone has different hair... :) thank God!)
Also, I mostly shower in the evening, before going to bed, so I (mainly) won't have to rush in the morning and so my hair can ease up over night... because my hair dryer makes my hair frizzy and it needs some hours to unfrizz. Anyway, like I said, when it soaked up I blow dry it (as thoroughly as possible, I'm lazy and I sometimes have 'wet spots' which cause my hair to frizz SO BADLY... that's why I should not let my hair dry up naturally, but if your hair can handle this than I recommend doing that!! Any heat on your hair is bad bad bad!) and afterwards I use some product that'll make it less frizzy and more shiny, this I only use after blow drying my hair because my hair is very poofy afterwards and I don't like that... So basically I use the ellips for the entire time until my next wash up and the other one for the times it needs extra attention (which is only after blow drying it).
Monthly (more or less):
I cut my hair every six weeks or so... mostly depending on when my hair starts showing split-ends. Back when I had bangs (and straightened my hair) I had to cut it sooner than I have to now. I want to advise you guys to regularly cut your hair so it can (if you want to have long hair) grow faster and stay healthy. No one wants those uuuugly split ends or dry ends. In case you want to have longer hair, this way you can have very healthy long hair without any split ends. It only takes a little while longer.
Around two years ago I cut my hair 10 cm because I wanted a change and I thought my hair was dead at the ends. This was the best thing I ever did for my hair... it's been healthy from top to end ever since. So don't fret when you cut your hair :) It'll grow back anyway! (You're also lucky when it grows fast.... which in my case, it does... but I do think that my attention to my hair works too.)
I also try to use a hair mask every now and then. I mostly do this with my BFF Lin (I like calling her this, sue me) XD because we just love doing stuff like that, but also when I have a lot of hair loss it just needs more attention and a hairmask is very good for that. Someone in Indonesia once gave me this tip because I was in despair about my hair loss. I still have a lot of hair loss obviously because I think that when you have long hair it comes naturally, but it's not that much that I worry about it.
Well, I guess that's my process of tending my hair! Oh and also, try and brush it every day XD... it's nice to brush it more than once a day too. Your hair won't break when it's all tangled up, but since my hair is kinda slippery it hardly ever is the case with me. (On a downside, my hair never stays up very long because it just 'slides' out of its model... boohoo :(!)
Well.... a few examples of my hair XD
Almost washing day
Freshly blow dried (it looked very awesome but didn't last long XD this hardly ever happens tho...)
Curled without heat
Pretty much my daily hair
