Hair Care Routine

Monday, March 5, 2018

I've been cutting back on my skincare purchases lately... or so I thought. In reality, I adjusted to the cutbacks in one area of beauty by augmenting another. I've been pretty focused on my hair these past few months, so I thought I would write up a post about my hair care routine.

Hair type: fine, easily damaged (but virgin), limp, straight, and thinning (PCOS hairloss). Very oily scalp, particularly at the top of the head. Prone to scalp irritation.

My hair, before I went to such great lengths to take care of it, was the equivalent of a dumpster fire. Thanks to PCOS, it was thinning on the forward top and sides, my hair was (is) prone to breakage from any chemical treatments. These days I'm pretty strict about my hair - I've turned my back on my warm woolen scarves that wear away hair and turn down any stylist's offer to color or digital perm, no thank you! While I love having vivid hair (I will miss fire engine red and honey balayage), I don't miss how easily damaged my hair can be. There are times I wish I had inherited my mom's hair - her hair curls so nicely (and holds it too), is thick, coarse, and seemingly impervious to heat or chemical damage.

But I've learned to like what I have. My current hair routine helps quite a bit. Shampoo: I'm currently still using up this bottle of Yungo by ReEn First Cleansing Treatment (reviewed here). I've been using this same one for the last seven months, it's very concentrated and I use less of it than any other shampoo I've ever tried, period. I follow up with Briogeo Rosarco Don't Despair, Repair Conditioner. I fell in love with this conditioner after the first use (thanks Sephora for sending me a sample that I actually selected!) because it leaves my hair super silky soft and shiny, but without any weighty residue or slickness. I've gotten so many more compliments on how glossy my hair looks since I started using this. The only drawback is that right now it only comes in 8 oz bottles, I hope that Briogeo will soon make this conditioner in a giant 32oz pump like they do with the Rosarco Repair Shampoo.

Scalp treatments. In addition to an Rx shampoo that I use as a scalp mask, I use these three products on my head to improve scalp health.

/'stemm/ by Deceim is a line of products to improve the appearance of hair density. I picked up the Density Simuli during Black Friday for a steal, and have been using it since the beginning of the year. It's supposed to be used on clean hair, I'm unable to use this during the day as even a few droplets massaged into my scalp makes it look limp and greasy. If your hair and scalp type is different than mine, you could probably get away with using it during the day, as it dries to a slightly waxy, matte feel that I could see being texturizing on other hair types. On me, it just clumps my fine hair together. This is one of those products that I have absolutely no idea if it is doing any thing at all but I'm buying and using because it's good to have hope in your life.

The Christophe Robin Purifying Scrub is a product I first used about two years ago, at my cousin's house. She has quite the taste and budget for some really luxurious products so I tried this scalp scrub while using her shower. I used a huge dollop, sorry cuz. At $53 for the 8.33 oz tub, I don't know if it's something I would have purchased for myself. Luckily it comes in a small 2.7 oz trial size, which is perfect for me because I only use it once a month. It produces a very rich lather (not SLS free) and has large chunks of sea salt to really give your scalp a clean feel. It has a marine, clean laundry sort of scent. I'd be really open to finding an indie alternative to this, because I'm salty that I'm overpaying for a salt shampoo.

Lador's Tea Tree Scalp Clinical Hair Pack is another product that is only used occasionally. It's cooling on the scalp (usually I'm not fond of that kind of sensation) that really helps if I have any scalp blemishes or other irritation. I stocked up when Memebox was closing out (they were like $4 each!) but it can be found on eBay for ~$11 shipped.

I use a hair mask/pack when washing my hair, every single time. I only apply to the last three inches of my hair, and the since sticking to this routine (plus regular trims, you can't forget that), I'm happy to report back that I don't get split ends any more. I'm satisfied with inexpensive, silicone heavy products like Nature Republic Argan Essential Deep Care Hair Pack (~$12) or Mise En Scence Perfect Serum Treatment ($8), but really, any drugstore silicone laden treatment will do.

Hair styling and heat protection:

First, the leave in products. After shampooing and gently towel drying, I hit up my roots with 5-6 spritzes of Briogeo Blossom & Bloom Biotin Ginger Volume Spray and then the bottom half of my hair gets hit with a fine mist of Briogeo Don't Despair, Repair! Strength + Moisture Leave- In Mask. I'm really starting to like Briogeo, at least the products that I've tried. I mean in this post I've already mentioned three that have reached all-star, instant HG, must repurchase, status. The volume spray only really works if you blow dry your hair, at least the roots. My hair usually gets really greasy easily (and my scalp seems to be the sweatiest part of my body), it'll slick to my head in a really unattractive way, parting in clumps so that you can see quite a bit of my scalp. The Briogeo Volume Spray really extends the clean, fluffy hair feeling to twice to what I'm used to - I'm actually able to have second day hair without looking like a grease ball! It also doesn't irritate my scalp, Living Proof's Prime Style Extender is somewhat similar, but it gave me painful, irritated blemishes everywhere it touched. The last priming product is a touch of heat protectant applied to the shaft and ends of my hair. Just a smidgen, because I don't want to weigh it down. I've reviewed the protectant that I use, ReEn Yungo Ampoule Drop Essence here.

My favorite hair brushes: Fromm 1907 Glosser Paddle Brush has really nice boar bristles that polish your hair to a bright gleam with every pass. For teasing my hair, I use this boar/porcupine bristle mix wood teaser from Sally Beauty Supply. I like it so much more than plastic bristles for backcombing! I found plastic bristles to really push the limits of my hair's elasticity. My choice for blow drying is definitely this KareCo Large Thermal Brush*(reviewed here), which vents warm air out of the end.

Here's my cat, stomping through this photo setup because she has absolutely no respect for anything I do.

I only intended to do a brief overview of some of the hair products that I like (this started out as a 50 Words or Less post, hah!), but I ended up writing quite a bit. Overall I'm super pleased with the state of my hair currently, and I'd repurchase any of the items that I mentioned. They're definitely contributing to better scalp health, and that's translated to healthier and more lustrous hair.

Do you have any favorite hair products that work really well for your hair and scalp type?

*denotes a product that was a press sample. All other products were purchased by me. Post contains affiliate links. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.