Eight hair hacks to help you have only good hair days

Skin deep

Much of our daily beauty routine places emphasis on skincare, but it’s time to officially start pouring as much time, energy and know-how into your hair. Serums, masks and sun protection are all musts for maintaining your hair’s health as UV rays, styling and pollution all make an impact.

“A UV protector is absolutely key, especially in Australia, where our UV levels are among the harshest in the world, burning the skin and dehydrating our poor locks!” says Anthony Nader of Raw Salon, before adding that it’s imperative to use year-round sun protection on your strands. Nader also suggests applying oils overnight and using this time to not only repair your hair but also style it. “Pop a treatment on and by all means give your mane a braid. That doubles up in the morning when you unravel it and you now have cascading waves that are controllable and styled, and – bonus – you’ve got another 15 minutes in bed.”

Bubble trouble

Dive into the new weightless and foaming wonders designed to eliminate the heavy lifting from your shower routines. Rather than lather, rinse and repeat, Pantene’s new Pro-V Foam Conditioner promises to nourish without the residue or build-up of cream conditioners. Similarly, Bumble and Bumble’s BB Scalp Detox uses micellar water, which is better known as a skin cleansing ingredient, to remove impurities and product build-up in one fizzy, foaming pump.

Clip in

What’s old is new again as hair accessories of the past, once relegated to the back of your bathroom cabinet, are cool again. Silky scrunchies of the 80s now make the perfect pairing with your top knot, while 90s-era banana clips and headbands are also weaving their way back into our lives, thanks to their reappearance on the autumn/winter ‘18/’19 runways. Gucci, Chanel and Alexander Wang all offer up modern takes on baubles that are designed to be as useful as they are chic.

Raw power

If concocting a morning smoothie or a vegetable-packed green juice is your favourite way to wake up, we suggest extending your routine to your rinse, too. Make the switch from sulphates, silicones and parabens for scalp and hair-nourishing ingredients like coconut and coriander oil, honey, quinoa, goji berries and kaolin clay. Finally, treat your hair to the detox your digestive system received months ago. Just as you would whiz together ingredients that support your body in your smoothie, Matrix Biolage R.A.W. Nourish Shampoo and Conditioner will give your hair a shot of goodness that’s almost good enough to eat – almost.

Heat up

Dull, dry and limp: the three words no-one ever wants to use to describe their hair but, unfortunately, that’s the result when heat damage rears its ugly head. Aside from using heat-protectant products, changing up your heat styling tool is the best bet. When shopping around, keep an eye out for descriptions like ‘ionic’, ‘ceramic’ and ‘thermal protection’. Styling tools thus described allow you to style without the singe, while the Dyson Supersonic, seemingly the last word in modern hair care, has the ability to measure the air temperature exiting your hair dryer 20 times per second, meaning you have temperature controlled assurance and little to worry about.

Baby steps

Our love affair with blunt bobs and lobs seems to be coming to an end, with long, shiny manes taking centre stage on the autumn/winter ‘18/’19 runways. However, if you’re planning to grow your hair out, be warned: maintenance is key. “Grow as long as you can go, but please just make sure you keep having what I like to call ‘baby trims’ every eight weeks,” says Nader of keeping your ends healthy and avoiding breakage. If you have an itch to grow your hair long again, Nader recommends asking your stylist to add dimension and fullness by way of longer layers, which will allow you to style with ease, as one-dimensional hair won’t hold a curl, no matter how much product or heat you might apply.

Bye bye, bleach

A new wave of hair colour technology is making it possible to infuse your locks with colour without the use of peroxide or ammonia, likely spurred on by Instagram trends like unicorn, galaxy and even crystal-inspired dye jobs. No matter your hair colour, you can now add pink tinges and emerald tips to your mane, although brunettes won’t get the same vibrant colouring blondes can expect, without stepping near the bleach. US-based line Overtone, which is vegan and PETA-certified, produces colour depositing conditioners that are designed to be applied regularly, to steadily replace dye pigments as well as build on your colour, while Splat hair dye uses finely milled pigments to alter your hair’s shade.

Time savers

If one of the biggest things standing between you and a good hair day is time, or lack thereof, get familiar with the new host of time-saving triumphs. Microfiber towels are at the top of this list, for their quick-drying abilities and for helping you to avoid the frizz and split ends that cotton towels can cause. If time truly is of the essence, Living Proof’s Perfect Hair Day In-Shower Styler is designed for post-conditioner styling as you shower, while hair-care brands Ouai and Redken’s anti-frizz sheets are easily stored in your purse for on-the-go touch-ups.­­­­­­

This article originally appeared in Vogue Australia’s June 2018 issue.