Colette de Barros
From Health magazine
Want to wake up each morning with shiny, thick, full hair? Stop dreaming and start using these expert tricks to get gorgeous hair 24/7.
Some mornings your hair gets performance anxiety, and no amount of gel or mousse will get it to do what you want. When that happens, you probably pull it into a ponytail or hide it under a hat, wondering why you can’t tame it. Your styling skills aren’t to blame. Misbehaving strands may be the sign of a hair problem—one that is totally fixable with these expert tips.
Bad Hair Day Symptom: Frizz
Diagnosis: Hair goes haywire when its cuticle isn’t lying smoothly. This tends to happen more frequently with curls, but any texture can get frizzy with the slightest weather change. “You may not notice an increase in humidity, but your hair will,” says Chaz Anderson, owner of Dragonfly, a top salon in Atlanta. Moisture in the air works its way into your strands and causes the cuticle to plump up and out instead of lie flat. Frizz also happens—even in the desert—when hair is damaged. “I see a lot of women whose hair has become rough and frizzy because they use heated styling tools frequently,” points out Paradi Mirmirani, MD, a dermatologist at California’s Vallejo Medical Center.
Good Hair Day Rx: Get your hair’s cuticle to lie down and play nice by limiting heat styling and using a weekly mask, such as L’Oreal Paris EverPure Moisture Deep Restorative Masque ($8.99; drugstores). “When your hair is hydrated from the mask, it won’t need to pull in moisture from the air and puff up,” Anderson says. If frizz is still a problem once you make these changes, apply a styling product with silicone, which helps to seal the cuticle.
Bad Hair Day Symptom: Color Fade
Diagnosis: Your hair color (whether natural or dyed) can fade when exposed to the elements, but it also changes as you get older—and not just because of those inevitable grays. “Hormonal changes throughout your life can decrease the amount of sebum your scalp produces,” Dr. Mirmirani explains. And without a protective coating of sebum, hair becomes drier (so it looks duller) and more susceptible to color killers like sun and salt.
Good Hair Day Rx: Use a clear conditioning glaze like Clairol Natural Instincts Shine Happy Clear Shine Treatment ($8.99; drugstores) once a month; it seals strands with shine-enhancing ingredients that add life back to your color, much like a clear top coat makes the color of your nail polish more vibrant.
