How Important is Your Hair

Never underestimate the power of a great cut and colour. Your hair is one of your most important factors in your look and an essential part of your image. If you look great, you instantly feel great. A new hairstyle is one of the easiest ways of changing your appearance and your total look. It’s what shapes your face and one of the first things people notice. So knowing all this, why would anyone walk around with an average haircut and an average colour? Nobody wants to look average and no one especially wants to feel average.

At Rocktan Hair we want to make sure you look your best at all times. From consulting your new cut & colour to ensuring you maintain it using the correct products and styling techniques. Feel free to book in for a free consultation and ensure you are getting the most of your hair, your natural accessory.

Hair Care Tips 03 – Curly Hair

One of the most important factors in having beautiful curly hair is moisture. Always use a Profesional shampoo and conditoner. Depending on your hair a specialised Curls shampoo may be suitable. Always seek professional advice on which products you should be using.

A common mistake people make with curly hair is to brush or comb it as its drying. The best time to brush your curly hair is while it has conditioner in it. Once your conditioner is rinsed, no more brushing. A wide tooth comb is best.

When drying your hair use your towl to scrunch the hair with your hands. Never ring or rub the hair dry as this will seperate the curl and cause frizziness.  Once you have squezzed the excess water out you can add some product. A curling balm or cream would work well . Apply by again scrunching the product into the hair.

Your hair can now be left as is or if you would like it a little dryer then you may use your blow dryer. Add a difuser to the end of your dryer to stem the flow of the air and not mess your curls apart.

Depending on your own preference a finishing spray may lastly be applied.

These are some simple tips on having and maintaining beautiful curly hair.

Hair Care Tips 02 – Straightening

Straightening your hair can seem very simple but to maintain quality hair there are some simple steps to take. First of all we are talking about mechanical straightening which is done with hot styling tools such as GHD’s. Chemical straightening is very different and should only be done after consulting a professional. We rarely recommend hair to be chemically straightened while coloured as it causes too much damage and can make the hair very dry and brittle.

The most important aspect of straightening your hair is the products you use. If you want straight hair on a continued basis then using a smoothing shampoo is vital. This helps the hair to be ready to be straightened. A smoothing shampoo also adds more moisture and can help with frizz.

With products being the most important aspect of straightening then a heat protector is the most important product. A heat protector can help prevent heat damage that can be caused by the straightener. Like it or not but putting 200 degrees plus on your hair is going to do damage. You need to do everything to limit it. A heat protector for our hair is like sunscreen to our skin. You can go out in the sun once maybe twice without seeing any sunburn or damage. But if you keep doing it you will get burnt. This is the same with your hair.

Also beware of wet to dry straighteners. They claim to be able to straighten your hair while wet but can leave your hair dry and damaged. They also leave moisture particles inside the hair shafts which eventually come to the surface and cause frizziness. You would not iron your clothes wet so why would you iron your hair wet. Blowdry the hair dry before straightening. For a better result use a straightening cream and brush when blowdrying.

Six simple steps for Stylish Straight Hair

1. Using a smoothing Shampoo and Conditioner
2. Apply a straightening blowdry cream
3. Blowdry your hair by gently pulling it straight with your hands or a brush
4. Apply your heat protector either all over or section by section
5. Use your GHD’s and glide them through the hair
6. Apply a very small amount of serum to help with frizz and add shine

Hair Care Tips 01 – Shampoo & Conditioner

Keeping your hair looking great starts with your shampoo & conditioner. Using the wrong shampoo can lead to a number of problems. Problems such as:

• Dry hair
• Oily scalp
• Flaking scalp, often mistaken for dandruff
• Frizzy hair
• Damaged hair
• Hair breakage
• Colour fade
• Unable to keep your specifically cut hairstyle

If you are currently using consumer brand shampoo products you will most likely be suffering from some or all of the above problems. For best results and minimising problems you should only use Professional Hair products. You won’t find these products in supermarkets or chemists. These products are made for your hair while minimising the use of harsh detergents and nasty chemicals. Consumer brands have high levels of detergents which is the main culprit for the problems above. They also contain many artificial silicons which do more harm than good and also creating a false feeling of softness.

Dry hair is often caused when using consumer brand products with high levels of detergent that strip the hair of its natural oils while not replenishing the moisture levels. When your hair is continually dry it becomes fragile and over time this leads to breakage. It is also a factor with frizzy hair. The dryer your hair the more frizzy it tends to be. The other most common form of breakage is when bleaching or colouring hair. When using these consumer brands the silicons coat the hair and remain, which over time continue to build up. When applying bleach and some colours, they try to penetrate the hair but find it hard to as of the build up of silicon. This causes a reaction which can result in breakage, or even burning and melting of the hair.

Most oily scalp issues are again caused by high levels of detergent in products that dry the hair and scalp. The scalp becomes so dry that the body’s natural defence mechanisms kick in and produce more oil to try moisturise the scalp. So really, the more you wash your hair the more oily it will become. Using a non-detergent product that is prescribed by a professional haircare specialist can help prevent this.

A flaky scalp is caused by the same factors as oily hair. Detergent based shampoos continually drying the scalp. The scalp gets so dry that the skin begins to flake. This problem is often mistaken for dandruff. Dandruff is a problem that can be dealt with the right products and treatments. Please don’t be fooled by some so called dandruff shampoos. They just exfoliate the scalp and continually scrape the dry skin off. Using these shampoos will not heal or fix the problem but will also lead to every other problem on the list.

Colour fade occurs just as every other problem that we have mentioned. Detergent based products stripping the colour from the hair. These detergents clean so good that they clean everything out including your colour and natural oils.

Professional products may seem more expensive, but you will come to see that they can actually work out cheaper. As they are very concentrated you only use a tiny amount. Also with the correct recommendation you will be able to wash your hair less which will enable your shampoo to last a lot longer. Over the long run it is more affordable to use professional shampoo and your hair will look so much better.

This information is based on Rocktan’s long extensive experience in the hairdressing industry and continued research on different products. It is in a general broad form and each personal case would vary and would be treated individually. For more information on specific hair problems contact Rocktan Hair or your hair care professional.