How to Care for Long Hair

Shiny, lustrous, long hair is beautiful. Long hair is fashionably popular now, and it is important to treat your hair well if you want it to look good. Whether you currently have long hair, or have a desire to grow the length of your hair out, follow these tips to help your hair remain strong, shiny, and gorgeous.

Start with healthy hair. If you want long, healthy hair, you have to start off with healthy hair. This means cutting off all hair that has been previously damaged by coloring, perming, or any other hair treatment.

Wash your hair as infrequently as you can. This may sound absurd, but the longer you can go between washings, the healthier your hair will become. When you wash your hair, you strip it off its natural oils. When you decrease these oils by frequent washing, your hair will become dull and limp. Your scalp naturally produces oil to coat and protect the hair, and the production of these oils will adjust as you lengthen the time between washings. Even those who consider yourselves to have 'very oily' hair will benefit from this tip. Start off by washing your hair every other day, then gradually increase the days between washing until you are only washing twice a week.

In college, I would wash my hair and wear it down the first day. On the second day, I would braid my hair, or pull it in an updo. The third day, I would wear a hat, bandanna, or head scarf to allow myself more time between washings. My hair had brilliant shine during that period of my life.

Wash only the roots. When shampooing, take care to apply shampoo to the roots only. Allow the shampoo to suds on your scalp and roots, then rinse the shampoo out of your hair. Do not wash the ends intentionally. Of course, shampoo will run through your ends, but this is not as harsh. When rinsing, count to 100 to make sure all of the shampoo has been washed out.

Rinse with cold water. This is difficult, especially in the winter, but rinsing with cold water-or as cold as you can stand-will protect your hair leaving it thicker and stronger. The cold water also acts as a detangler. A cold rinse will close the cuticle, and light will reflect off of the hair shaft easier.