A Good Hair Day :: Beauty

A Good Hair Day
by author Erin Coulter

Is your hair doing its own bidding? Are you tiring of the daily tousle with your tresses? With a minor change of style and the use of some effective natural products, your hair will look and feel so good, you’ll find you can’t help but feel good, too!

Try Some of These Simple Suggestions to Lift Your Locks as Well as Your Spirits.

Small Change

For a change of style, have your hairstylist trim your bangs, layer your hair, or simply shorten its overall length a few inches. This will revitalize your hair’s healthy look, and the bounce and swing of a new hairstyle will do wonders for your state of mind.

Colour Change

Take this small alteration one step further with a change of colour. Have your stylist either darken or lighten your true hair colour by two to three shades. This will ensure that the new colour complements your natural skin tone while highlighting your features. If possible, request that the stylist use hair colour products derived from natural sources.

If you want more depth of colour without an actual colour change, try using the herb Cassia obovata, otherwise known as “neutral henna.” This herb, harvested in Egypt, will dramatically increase the sheen and depth of your hair colour while also conditioning and softening it. The result is smooth, full-bodied, easy-to-style locks.

Tend Your Tresses

To keep hair in healthy condition, have it trimmed every four to six weeks. Days of styling, environmental exposure, and product use take their toll, causing the ends of hair to dry and split. As hair grows, nourishing oils from the scalp cannot reach the trailing ends, leaving hair looking dull and limp.

Using natural ingredients and employing a simple hair maintenance routine will not only help you look and feel great but it will also banish those bad hair days!

Apple Cider Vinegar Rinse

Treat yourself to a weekly apple cider vinegar hair rinse to correct the hair’s pH and remove residue from shampoo and other hair products, leaving your hair healthy and shiny.

Mix 2 to 3 Tbsp (30 to 45 mL) of apple cider vinegar with 3 cups (750 mL) of warm, distilled water, and use as a final rinse after shampooing and conditioning.

Choose a Natural Conditioner

Pure coconut oil is excellent as a daily conditioner.

After shampooing, rub a quarter-sized amount of coconut oil in your hands and massage into damp hair, concentrating on the ends and applying little (if any) close to the roots. Keep in mind that with coconut oil, less is definitely more–start with the recommended amount, and then add more as needed.

Opt for coconut oil-based hair products from your local health food store; its molecular structure is ideal for penetrating the hair shaft and smoothing out the cuticles as it works with hair’s natural proteins, leaving it luxuriously soft and smooth.

Erin Coulter is a freelance makeup artist living in Vancouver, BC.

Source: alive #307, May 2008

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