I’m ashamed to say that despite dubbing myself a beauty blogger and owning around 67% of the haircare from Boots, I have been neglecting my hair.

“Neglect”

Almost as strong a word as “hate”, neglected is what my stylist at Toni & Guy told me I’d been doing when when I went to have my hair cut last month.  My hair hadn’t been feeling itself for a while but having frizz prone hair + the cold and drizzly weather I just put the fact that my hair felt like rubbish down to the weather and continued to shampoo, condition and apply any old hair oil as I would usually.

I was sat there, as unamoured by attending the hairdressers as can be and I found myself being shamed into admitting that I hadn’t been taking care of my ginger fro.  The ability to buy products which fake shine, volume and texture had long disguised my tired and lucklustre hair which has obviously been screaming at me for some attention:

“LOVE ME MUMMY, NOURISH ME, CONDITION ME, TAKE CARE OF ME.”

After leaving the hairdressers clutching two pots of hair masks, an appointment card for 5 weeks time and an instruction to try and give my hair TLC I vowed I would spend more time trying to nourish my hair back to health rather than spend excessive amounts on lipstick.  That needed to start with a change in how I viewed haircare as a step in my beauty routine – lets just say that it wasn’t so much a step in my routine it was more a hop.

Layered Online is an online magazine dedicated to hair and I don’t mean in a “naff magazines which have been in your hairdressers reception are since the 90s” kind of way.  Featuring “how to” style guides, latest product releases and saviors and it’s fast become my new go to guide (and source of much hair envy!)  With hair advice from the beautiful and hair crushable Meg from Lip So Facto and How To’s from Percy & Reeds Lacey Hawkins I’ve found myself poring over the articles with my hair soaked in a hairmask and wrapped in clingfilm (the things we do for sexy hair!)

One of the articles which jumped out at me following my hairdresser scolding *gulp* one was about vitamins/supplements or herbal remedies which help with hair woes. Sure, there’s no cheating pill on earth which you can pop for a few days to give you flowing Rapunzel style locks strong enough for your prince to climb up but there are certain vitamins you should be looking out for. This article left me logging onto Holland and Barrett and filling my shopping trolley with goodness.

“Step away from the heat!” my stylist said to me when I told her I had to use a combination of a hair dryer AND straighteners whenever I wash my hair – I’m extremely frizz prone and my hair drying naturally = bird nest in a tornado.  Despite being an adamant heat protection spritzer, heat is still damaging for hair, we all know that, so limiting how much we use heat on our hair is key to achieving healthy hair and happy visits to the hairdressers. The trick? Updos, updos, updos. Whether you’re going for Heidi braids or a windswept bun the lack of heat styling really is kind to your hair and looks really pretty and “undone” – it also keeps your hair from frizzballing out of control in the heat we’re currently experiencing.

I’ve also been building a list of “must have” products from the reviews section and product directory including the Schwarzkopf Professional
Repair Rescue Deep Nourishing Treatment (also dubbed the “damage controller”).  Following my stylists advice to follow 2 weekly hair masks and the fact that I’m already running low on masks and the rave reviews on this pot of promises, £13.25 seems like a small price to pay to try and get inject some health back into my locks.

What products/tips do you recommend for damaged hair?  Is there anything which I *need* to be doing – I once read that using raw eggs on your hair can work wonders.  Can anyone testify for this?

*collaborative post