Quick Tips for Healthier Hair- From A Licensed Cosmetologist

Invest in a wet brush, tangle teaser, or wide tooth comb. Hair is more fragile and can stretch 50% with elasticity when wet. Most people cause damage by ripping through wet hair after a shower. Use on of the aforementioned above and start from the tips of your hair detangling and work your way up.
Invest in quality products! What a difference quality products make for healthier hair. Depending on hair needs, the average person needs half and half of protein and moisture in their hair. Also use a sulfate free shampoo and conditioner. An affordable professional shampoo and conditioner that fall into this category is Redken Clear Moisture Shampoo (your moisture) and Redken Extreme Conditioner (your protein.)
Avoid box dye and henna dye at all cost. These contain metallic salts which are terrible for your hair. If you ever try to lighten your hair with metallic salts in it, it can start smoking or melt off. When in doubt, go to a professional. But a professional is expensive right? You can get your hair done at any cost range, if you don’t have much to spend, go to a cooperate owned salon like smartstyle in walmart or hair cuttery. Just have realistic expectations, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and black box dye will not be blonde in one session.
Only shampoo your scalp, not ends, to prevent drying out of the ends and only condition your ends, not scalp, to prevent your hair from looking greasy.
Don’t shampoo your hair everyday. You will be stripping your scalp of natural oils it needs, and will have it working overtime to replace oils, making your hair look even greasier. Try to go every other day, and then every 2 days. Don’t be a chronic over shampooer. Use dry shampoo in between days. I recommend Amika Dry Shampoo over any other brand (and I’ve tried about 40 other brands so i know.)
Don’t use Pantene, it is the devil. Pantene has paraben wax in it that just coats the hair. Yes it is the same wax that you wax your car with and creates a lot of buildup on the hair strand. If you are wondering why your hair isn’t growing, it is because you get so much buildup on your hair from Pantene, it actually causes your hair to snap off on the ends from the weight. I’ve scraped build up with my shears off a clients hair to show them once. It was disgusting.
If you have long hair, place it in a loose pony tail or braid at night to prevent tangling. You can get those ugly 1980′s cloth scrunchies from walgreens and they won’t leave a pony tail mark in your hair when you wake up. Also sleep on a silk or satin pillowcase.
Get regular trims. If you get a light dusting or micro trims about every 2-3 months your hair will thank you. Once you have split ends, they will continue to split up higher and higher and break off, preventing your hair from growing longer.
Use oil in your ends. The best one in my opinion is Argan Oil. Moroccan Oil is my favorite, but if you want a more affordable option, Organix from the drug store makes a great one too. Fun Fact: argan oil and coconut oil are the only 2 oils that can be fully absorbed into the hair strand.
See your stylist for an Olaplex Treatment. You break disulfide bonds in your hair everyday. It’s natural wear and tear on your hair from either combing it too rough, hot tools, coloring, wind, or even just pulling your hair out from in your coat. This is the only product on the market to help link disulfide bonds back together in your hair. This is especially good if you have compromised or extremely damaged hair and are trying to save as much length or thickness as possible. It is a professional treatment so you will have to go into a salon for it and cannot purchase it on your own.
Deep condition hair at least once a week. If you don’t want to buy a professional deep conditioning treatment, you can use unrefined coconut oil in your hair. You can find it in the baking section of any store.
If you’re looking into all those “make your hair grow faster” pills, don’t waste your money on them. The main ingredient in all of those pills is biotin. It is a natural supplement and you can get it in the supplement section for way cheaper at your local drugstore.