Hair Care Tips for Flyaway Hair

Does any change in the temperature cause your hair to behave differently? Does your hair go into a "state of shock" whenever the humidity dips? Can you tell which way the wind blew today by which way your hair's pointing? Congratulations! You've got flyaway hair!

Whether you have naturally thin hair or whether your hair's over-dried or under-moisturized, these tips will help you cope with your flyaway hair.

Don't Wash Your Hair (Too Often, That Is). Unless your workout daily or work in a greasy, smelly and/or dirty environment, there's no real need to wash your hair daily. A daily shampoo, without just cause, is an invitation to dry hair, and dried out hair is flyaway hair's kissing cousin.

Instead of the daily shampoo, try every other day. Meanwhile, distribute the scalp's natural oils and stimulate your scalp by brushing your hair with a natural bristle brush. Natural bristle brushes are the best kind to use on your hair; they're the least likely to cause damage to the hair and help 'polish' your hair as you brush. Try tilting your head forward and brushing upside down first, then right yourself and follow through with the traditional "Marcia Brady 100 Strokes." Be gentle.

Don't Wash Your Hair. Wash Your Scalp. Of course we know what all the shampoo bottles read: Lather - Rinse - Repeat. Drop that bad habit as fast as you can. Unless you spend time in a particularly dirty or smelly environment, there is no need - repeat, no need - to lather up every last hair on your head once, let alone twice.

The point of your shampoo should be to get rid of any oily scalp residue and any product residue. The majority of this gunk is going to be in your scalp area and shampooing your scalp doesn't take anything more than about a nickel-size dollop of shampoo if you start out with thoroughly wet hair.

When shampooing, be sure to work the lather along every part of your scalp, but do not work the lather through the entire length of your hair. Remember that the ends of your hair are the oldest and the furthest away from your scalp and thus have received the least benefit of your scalp's natural conditioning oils. The ends of your hair are the driest, in other words. Don't make their predicament worse by stripping them of what little natural defense they have left.

Once you've thoroughly shampooed your scalp, rinsing your hair under the showerhead will cause the lathered shampoo to flow through the remainder of your hair, which will be more than enough to get your hair clean, especially if it's your habit to shampoo daily.

The only thing shampooing twice does is waste shampoo (making shampoo manufacturers very happy), dry your hair out (making you and your hair unhappy), and send you running for the latest, greatest and most expensive conditioner (making conditioner manufacturers very, very happy).

Don't Condition Your Scalp. Condition Your Hair. There isn't any new information here. Just use a common sense approach to your hair conditioning. The ends of your hair are the oldest and driest so they should be getting first dibs on the application of conditioner. There is no need whatsoever to condition your scalp area so don't glop the conditioner on the top of your head. If you suffer from dry scalp then you need to brush more (stimulating oil production), change your shampoo and/or not shampoo so frequently. Hair conditioner is not going to help your dry scalp. The residue will only give you a nice greasy skullcap look and you'll still have flyaway hair.

Flyaway Hair is Dry Hair. Yes, dear, I know. You're diligent about your hair. You wash it gently, condition it with the most expensive stuff you can afford, spray it with no-more-flyway-hair goop and you can't see why you would have dry hair. It doesn't matter. Flyaway hair is dry hair.

Your hair could be temporarily over-dry because of dry weather. It could be over-dry because of indoor heating conditions. It could be over-dry because of overwashing or because of bad nutrition. For whatever reason, your hair needs moisture. Which provides a nice lead-in to the next point...

Stay Away from Alcohol. By this I mean stay away from alcohol as much as possible in your hair care products. Your hair's dry enough already without piling on alcohol-based hair products.

Why? Well, think on it: We use astringents to tighten pores and clean oily skin. We use alcohol based ointments (or dab on isopropyl alcohol directly) to dry out acne breakouts and to encourage light wounds to dry out, scab over and heal. If we use alcohol to dry out our skin, why would its effect on our hair be any different?

Staying away from alcohol in our hair care products may be easier said than done, but a quick read of ingredient labels and a fast internet search or two will quickly point you in the right direction, toward hair care products with little or no alcohol content.

Everyday Care. Needless to say, a nice hot blow dryer is probably the last thing your flyaway hair needs. Keep blow drying to a minimum. If you must, blot hair thoroughly, use the blow dryer sparingly and on the lightest setting possible.

There are scads of flat irons, leave-in conditioners and anti-frizz ointments out there and to recommend one over the other in this article would be absurd - it all depends on your personal hair chemistry, your budget, your personal habits, your hair's current condition and such.

Rather, try visiting a site such as the one maintained by Style Hair Magazine (www.style-hair-magazine.com). At this site, as on some others, you can peruse their hair styling advice and tips and even submit your own questions. And don't be shy if you see someone in your everyday life whose hair you admire. Go ahead and compliment them and ask how they do it. It's amazing the good advice and tips you can pick up if you just ask.

Emergency Fixes. Distributing your hair's oils by gentle brushing and properly shampooing and conditioning is a giant step in the long-term management of flyaway hair. Taking a good, hard look at your nutrition is a grand idea too. Making sure you drink plenty of water, eat your veggies just like your mother told you, and take your vitamins are all fantastic, not just for your hair but for your health. But what about right now?? Right now you're hair's flying around your head like you just stuck your finger in a light socket, you're fresh out of your favorite hair product, and you need help now.

Hand Lotion or Body Cream. Grab your favorite lotion or body cream, put a small, small dollop on one hand, rub your hands together and gently run your hands over your hair, concentrating especially on the flyaway parts. Depending on how bad your flyaway hair is, you might have to even run your hands through your hair or down the length of your hair with this trick. It doesn't matter. This emergency fix will help tame your flyaway hair and has the bonus benefit of leaving your hair scented with your favorite lotion or body cream scent.

Try not to get too worked up about using body lotion on your hair. For Pete's sake, we assault our hair with all manner of expensive and inexpensive goop at all hours of the day and night. A little hand lotion once in awhile as an emergency measure isn't going to be the end of the world.

Sources:

Be Beautiful
http://www.bebeautified.com/hair-products/best-alcohol-free-hair-products/

Beauty Den
http://www.beautyden.com/flyawayhairtips.shtml

eHow
http://www.ehow.com/how_4552684_control-frizzy-hair-household-products.html

Style Hair Magazine
http://www.style-hair-magazine.com/