The secret to strong and healthy hair is nailing down a solid self-care hair routine. In today’s post, we are going through what you should be doing every single week to help you reach your hair goals!
As most of you know I have been a hairstylist/salon owner in San Francisco for the past 12 years. I have worked on countless different hair types and have discussed various hair care routines. The advice I am giving you in today’s post is to be used as a starting point for helping you get to know your own hair and begin a routine of taking care of it properly.
Before we dive in it is important to figure out what products are recommended for you. If you aren’t sure you can figure this out by using the quiz below.
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No two routines should be exactly alike!
Your goals are different, where your hair is now is different, and simply your hair is different from mine or anybody else that read this post, therefore, your routine SHOULD have some variables. 
These differences only you can determine. Starting with the tips we will be going over it is up to you to pay attention to how your hair is responding to the specific products used, the amount used and the time left on. That’s not all though…
Let’s go ahead and dive in and I will give you more explanation as we go along!
This might get a little lengthy for you, so make sure to pin it now so you can bookmark it and come back for reference later!
Along the process of starting any kind of self-care routine, you want to pick a specific time that you will consistently be set aside for this.
I like Sunday evenings personally! I make sure that every Sunday evening after dinner but before I sit down to watch tv at the end of the night or anything else I am doing I start my self-care checklist. This is where I have my hair care routine set. I do other things at this time as well, like wash my face and do a mask, and redo my nail polish so its nice and tidy.
I love going to bed Sunday night feel primmed and prepped for the upcoming week. Not only does this ensure I look my best but I also feel my best. When you are ready and feeling good everything that you do that week you do with more confidence and enthusiasm.
People tell me all the time that I am very motivated and inspiring. These are some of the things I do to help keep me there!
I am definitely not saying I don’t fall off the wagon at times which is why I work hard to stick to my routines. Not only are they harder to fall off of they are easier to get back to when you do fall off! This is because your body creates a sort of muscle memory to the routine. Trust me, do these self-care hair tasks as a routine and your hair will thank you as it is fed the kind of care it needs to feel and look its best!
OK, getting into it…this may feel a little like a normal hair washing day when you look at the outline of what your routine looks like but when you look a little deeper into each part of the sequence you will notice the attention to detail…its ALL in the details!
Before you get started you are going to need a few things…
– Hair Oil
– Hair Brush
– Wide Tooth Comb
– Fine Tooth Comb
– Clarifying Shampoo
– Deep Conditioning Treatment
– Shower Cap
– Aquis Towel
When it comes to picking out what tools and products you should be using to fit your own individual needs you should first diagnose your hair to find out exactly what your hair type is!
You can do this by following my Hair Type Guide.
After you have determined your hair type you want to pick out your products.
When it comes to a hair oil this can be a number of different oils depending on what you like. I really love Morrocan Oil because it has a great slip to help you get through your tangles in step 1 and it is a high-quality argon oil that gives incredible moisture to your ends.
My favorite clarifying shampoo is Bumble and Bumble Sunday Shampoo. It really gets the hair squeaky clean and removing any product build up or oils from the hair. I love the way this shampoo cleanses the hair but it is NOT color safe!
IF YOU HAVE COLOR TREATED HAIR: DO NOT use a clarifying shampoo if your hair is colored because it will fade it much quicker than you want. If you feel like this is you, check out AG Hair’s Balance Shampoo. It has apple cider vinegar to help cleanse the scalp and balance the hairs ph without stripping the color at all!
The Deep Conditioning Treatment you use is also depending on what your hair needs. Seeing as this is a once a week treatment, you want it to do something specific to get you closer to your hair goals.
Most high-end product lines are broken up into subcategories.Usually, these are something like… moisture, repair, color support, smoothing, curl defining, volumizing…etc…
I recommend you speak with your hairstylist for specific recommendations for what you should use if you don’t know. I say a general rule of thumb is MOISTURE! My favorite moisturizing deep conditioner is Matrix Biolage R.A.W. Re-Hydrate Clay Mask.
Step 1: Prep the Hair
Most of this routine takes place in a shower. Depending on where your hair is at at the beginning of this routine you may need to do some detangling to prep the hair for the clarifying shampoo and deep conditioning treatment.
I recommend going through the hair and carefully remove most of the tangles with a wide tooth comb. When you are easily able to get the wide tooth comb through the hair you will want to switch to a flat paddle brush. This has more bristles and will catch any other tangles that are still in the hair.
This could take you 5-10 minutes if you have curly hair or wear it in buns throughout the week.
This is not only important to remove the tangles from the hair but it also is giving your scalp a mini message from the GENTLE pulling. Make sure while you are detangling your hair you are doing it gently. If you have to yank on your hair to get out a tangle you need to break the section you are working on in half.
In each section, you want to start at the bottom working your way up to the scalp. I usually start with a section closest to the neck working my way up and forward. You can use a clip or ponytail holder to keep the hair separated while you are working.
After the hair is pretty much tangle free you are ready to go onto the next step.
Step 2: Cleanse
The next few steps will be in the shower starting with cleansing. Whether you have decided to go with Bb’s Sunday Shampoo or AG Hair’s Balance Shampoo you want to take a walnut size amount of product and emulsify it in your hands before you place your hands on your scalp and start to cleanse your hair.
I always remind my clients that shampoo is more for your scalp while conditioner is more for your hair’s ends. Also, when you are using high-quality hair products you need to remember if it’s not sudsing enough for you, you should add more water before more product. Cheap products are full of water already not more sudsing ingredients!
Depending on how long it has been since you last washed and how much product build up your hair currently has you may need to wash 2 or 3 times. You want to wash your hair until it feels squeaky clean when you rinse it.
Don’t worry about drying the hair out. Yes, you technically are but you are about to do a really long deep conditioning treatment adding the moisture back into the hair without the product build up that could be blocking it if you don’t cleanse it enough!
Step 3: Treatment Time
Now that your hair probably feels like a birds nest and you are questioning why you are doing this to it at all, it’s time for the main show! Get your Matrix Biolage R.A.W. Re-Hydrate Clay Mask and your fine tooth comb and shower cap.
What you want to do is start with a walnut sized amount of product and squeeze the middle to ends portion of your hair, pressing the product into the middle. You probably will need more so get about the same amount and do that again.
Now that your hair has quite a bit of product in it start using your fingers to detangle your hair starting from the scalp and pulling out towards the ends. If your hand gets caught simply pull them out of your hair, don’t aggressively pull the tangle out.
Using your fine tooth comb, detangle the hair again like you did in step 1 until you can brush the hair from your forehead down to the nape of your neck and all the way down to the ends of your hair without catching tangles.
Now that you are completely tangle free, put on your shower cap and let your treatment sit for 10-20 minutes depending on the length of your specific deep conditioner.
Rinse the conditioner completely out of the hair and use your Aquis Towel to remove the water from the hair.
Ideally, I would let your hair air dry with zero product in it to let it breathe and have a day off. This isn’t always possible depending on what your schedule is like and when you are doing this routine. I do mine on Sunday evening that way I just go to bed shortly after and nobody really has the chance to see me!
I hope you enjoy this routine.
Like I said it may seem a little obvious but taking the time to thoroughly detangle your hair and remove any build up on the hair and give it the moisture it is dying for will be a game changer. Especially when you start to do it weekly and your hair has that consistent love!
Cheers,
