Lending life to your hair

With festivities and the party season around the corner, there is a frequent need to resort to extreme hair styling with heated tools and sometimes even putting your hair through chemical treatments. To add to that, the drop in temperature, dust, and pollution can leave our hair severely battered, bruised and damaged.

Damaged hair not only lacks moisture and lustre, but also elasticity, making it more prone to breakage, split ends, and ultimately, hair fall. The thing about damage is that it is a gradual process. You may not see it at once, but over a period of time the quality of hair will deteriorate. A special concoction of keratin and argan oil is the ideal fix to repair your hair and help dry, damaged hair come back to life.

So, just as you cleanse-tone-moisturise your skin, your hair too needs to have a prep-style-transform regime in place. Your scalp is an extension of your skin. The best way to shampoo your hair is to massage the product on to the scalp using a circular motion with the fingers and then sliding the fingers through to the ends of the hair to allow the shampoo and water to flow through. This helps prevent the hair from fusing or knotting. Ideally, if you take care of the roots, the lengths and ends will take care of themselves.

A toner used on our skin works to seals the pores. Similarly, a conditioner closes the cuticle after the shampooing process. Follow this up with a leave-in cream as a hydrating boost and double up the protection while you style as desired. Prepping your hair so will not only tame frizz and ready the hair for styling, but also forms a protective layer against any possible heat damage.

The continuous use of heated tools will damage the hair if it isn’t protected. People often tend to apply heat to their hair without using any styling product before. This is like exposing your skin to the sun without sunblock. So try and limit the use of heated tools. Take a break from hair dryers, hot rollers, flat irons or curling tongs to prevent split ends and hair breakage. However, should you have to succumb to heat styling, use a leave-in cream. This hydrating cream helps replenish overly damaged hair, leaving strands looking supple and repaired without sacrificing their natural bounce and movement. It smoothens the hair, leaving it looking soft, shiny and healthy. It’s SPF properties work as a shield and protect your hair from the harsh sun and UV rays.

As a pro tip, a great, easy-to-do solution which you can try at home is to first cleanse your scalp and hair with a shampoo, then gently towel dry it and apply a conditioner that has argan oil. Starting at the ends, work the product up to the mid-lengths of your hair. Massage or knead the product thoroughly through the hair and wrap it in a hot towel for 10 mins for a quick fix deep conditioning. The argan oil in the products have moisturising and nourishing properties that dry and damaged hair need.

Prevention is always better than cure. So, whether you’re looking to colour your hair, taking a beach holiday in the sun or take to heat styling frequently, it is important to prepare your hair with a range of products developed to tackle any resulting damage.

(The author is founder and creative director of BBLUNT)