Recently I’ve been making an extra effort to improve the look and health of my hair. If I’m honest, I’d been neglecting it! A really busy summer has meant that I’m rushing every morning to get it dry and into some sort of acceptable state to face the world – and unfortunately a combination of too much heat, too many products and going to bed with products in my hair had caused some damage and my hair wasn’t looking or feeling at it’s best.
As you can imagine, when L’Occitane got in touch I was more than happy to try out their shampoo’s as part of operation Save My Hair!
I’ve switched up my hair routine and made a conscious effort to take better care of it, so I thought I’d share with you my tips so you can do the same if you find yourself in a similar situation!
Tip 1.
Find a good Shampoo & don’t be afraid to change it.
I find that if I use the same shampoo for too long my hair gets used to it and doesn’t benefit as well, so I often switch it up. I picked up a couple of bottles from the shampoo L’Occitane range – the first being the repairing shampoo, which I have been using in an attempt to rectify some of the damage heat has done to my hair. This shampoo is their most popular seller and I can see why. It contains natural oils which smell amazing and turns into a light frothy lather rather than loads of bubbles. My hair has felt and looked so much healthier as a result of using it, and I find that having the pump bottle means I’m not throwing half of it away down the plug hole. (For my hair half a pump is plenty!) I do think the price tag is pretty high for a shampoo, but it does feel like a luxury treatment and if you buy a combination of the bottle and an eco refill it reduces the price significantly.
Tip 2.
Go easy on the heat!
My hair is naturally poker straight so I have to blow dry it to get it into a style that doesn’t resemble a manga character, and too much heat has caused the ends to look brittle and dry.
I’ve found that turning the heat down to a low or medium setting and using a heat protector spray has helped.
Similarly, I’ve also lowered the heat of the water I use on my head in the shower. I hate the feeling of a hot scalp, it makes mine feel itchy and think it probably strips away natural oil – so I keep the water warm and sometimes will have a blast of cold water, and cold air from the hairdryer which makes my hair feel heaps better afterwards.
Tip 3.
Watch out for product build up.
I use products in my hair all the time unless I’m wearing a cap – so pretty much every day! And this can lead to product build up. Signs of this for me are greasy hair with a horrible texture. To combat this I’ll put shampoo straight onto dry hair to allow it to break down the product before adding some water so lather it out. I’ve been mixing in this revitalizing fresh shampoo which reminds me of the of Tony & Guy deep cleansing one. I like the way this one wakes me up in the morning – it contains mint, thyme, grapefruit, cedar and lavender which is really invigorating, yet also relaxing in the evening and makes my hair feel squeaky clean and has an almost cooling sensation which feels amazing!
Tip 4.
Give your hair a day off.
As I mentioned, if I’m styling my hair I need products to hold it in place, so I always give my hair a day off, usually on a Sunday where I don’t wash it and I’ll just throw on a cap! Whilst I’m on the subject of caps (and hats) I always avoid putting them on over wet hair. I don’t think it’s a good idea because the damp hair will fester, so I always allow it to dry before putting on a cap or hat!
Tip 5.
Wash out products before bed.
I wash my hair once a day, apart from the day off – so I’ll either wash it with shampoo before bed, and then just rinse it with water in the shower in the morning, or if I’ve washed it in the morning, I’ll rinse out any products before I go to bed. I’m trying to, where possible not go to bed with a load of products in my hair – but I’m lazy and sometimes I forget!
I hope you have found these tips useful and I can genuinely recommend both of the shampoo’s I’ve featured here. If you are thinking of giving them a go I’d suggest you go into your local L’Occitane shop and give them a smell – the staff are really helpful and they do have samples so maybe request a couple to try out first!
If you have any haircare tips that I haven’t mentioned I’d love to hear them. Thanks for reading!
This post is in collaboration with L’Occitane, all opinions as always are my own! 🙂