6 winter hair care tips for healthy locks

It’s no secret that winter is a beast for beauty. It dries out everything, leading to flaking skin and chapped lips. Winter can also be the harshest on hair, drying out the hair shaft itself and causing breakage, leading to dandruff on the scalp, and contributing to overall frizz. Below are some top tips to help you fight the winter hair beast.

Avoid heat styling tools

This is a must in months when winter hair is already prone to dryness and breakage. Try other styling methods, like going old school with some curlers, or sleeping in wet hair that’s pulled straight to reduce natural curl. Or maybe winter could be your time to celebrate your own natural hair texture.

Dry hair before leaving

This might seem weird after bashing heat styling tools, but leaving the house with wet hair can actually freeze hair and lead to breakage. So when it gets to be the harsh winter months, consider showering in the evening. A warm shower is a great way to finish off a cold winter day. If you have to shower in the morning, remember to use the cool setting on the hair dryer. It takes longer, but it gets the job done without the damage of the hot setting.

Get a humidifier

This is an easy one to forget. No only will a humidifier help nasty winter dry coughing and dry winter skin, but it will also help moisturize winter hair. Either a large one for the whole home or a small one for just the bedroom while you’re sleeping can help.

Get trims

Since hair tends to be dryer in the winter, it can break and split easier. Prevent split ends completely, or splits from running farther up on the hair strand by getting regular trims. These should be done every six to eight weeks.

Remember the hydration

If you’re used to having oily hair in the summer, or at least hair that doesn’t dry out, wintertime may be a whole other story. Depending on how dry your hair gets, you may want to switch to a moisturizing shampoo and conditioner for the winter months.

Another idea is to either start or ramp up deep conditioning treatments during the winter. These are easy to make at home with olive oil, coconut oil, mashed avocado and milk. Simply combine the ingredients until the consistency is to your liking. Leave on for 30 minutes and rinse. You can apply these up to two times per week in the winter.

Wash your hair the right way

You might want to reassess how you’re washing your winter hair. Keeping washing down to a minimum helps your hair moisturize itself, since you’re not stripping it of its natural oils every single day. You can keep roots fresh by using a dry shampoo, if needed.

A daily showering option for oilier winter hair is to wash just the roots in the shower, let the shampoo run down the lengths of the hair and then leave the conditioner on for a couple of minutes before rinsing.