Building a Great Hair Care Routine

If you've ever built a house you know that one of the first things that happens is laying the foundation. Without a solid foundation to your house you could face a whole host of potential problems. Same can be said if you're buying a house, you'll always make sure to triple check the foundation. Cracks and leaks only mean more time and more money. So what does this have to do with hair? Read on...

The foundation to healthy hair is in your shampoo and conditioner. It doesn't matter how amazing your styling product is, or how skilled you might be with a flat iron, if you have bad shampoo and conditioner your hair just isn't going to work the way you want it to. Period. Yes, I'm serious. I don't mean to beat the dead horse, but this is for real. Its science. Really. Keep reading.

Imagine you have a crack in your foundation. You probably wouldn't just paint over it to hide the crack, would you? I didn't think so. If you said yes, you may as well stop reading now... Anyway, the outside of each hair strand is called the cuticle, and it can go through up to 4 stages of damage, ranging from just a little bit of dryness and fly aways to loss of protein and elasticity. We all have a little bit just from simply washing our hair and stepping outside in the sun. Unless you're a vampire, but hey, that's cool.

So what does this mean? Well, picture the shingles on your roof. Your cuticle looks a little bit like that under a microscope; tiny little "shingles" overlapping each other. With any change in pH, the cuticle can begin to open letting out vital nutrients like moisture and protein. Professional products are pH balanced to make sure that your cuticle stays closed during the shampooing and conditioning process. Over-the-counter (OTC for short) products are not. They are actually very counterintuitive and packed with parabens (cheap preservatives), silicones (liquid plastics), and a whole bunch of other stuff.

Let's picture those shingles again. Let's say that a shingle is loose on your roof and instead of taking it off and repairing it you just ball up a plastic bag or two and stuff it in there. That's essentially what silicone molecules do to your raised cuticle (YIKES!). They make your hair feel good while they're on, but as soon as you shampoo they come out and take your moisture, protein, and expensive hair color with it. Over time your hair will go through all 4 stages of cuticular damage and eventually get to the point of breaking. Ever said to yourself, "My hair just doesn't seem to grow, but I get roots!" This might very well be why.

Okay, okay, I'll get off my high horse (for now). What do you do about it, you ask? Well, talk to your stylist and trust that they have your best interest at heart. The truth is we really don't make that much money off of selling you retail (if anything at all), but we do want the best for your hair. I promise.