How to Style Long Hair

Long hair can look lush and beautiful, especially when it's well maintained, but styling long hair is not always so easy. Long hair takes time to wash, condition, dry and style, so deciding which is best for you can take a lot of patience and practice. A good cut is the best place to start and with continued maintenance long hair can be healthy, as well as stylish. Here are five tips for long hair styles.

To begin, wash hair with a shampoo and conditioner appropriate for your type of hair. Deep conditioning and rinsing long locks with cold water will help the hair look glossy. Rinsing the hair with cold water closes the cuticle creating very shiny hair. If you choose not to rinse with cold water then blow dry the hair on a cool setting after it has been dried. Using cool air can have the same effect as cold water.

Long tresses can be styled in cascading curls with a blow dryer, round hairbrush and a large barrel curling iron. Two inch segments of hair can be curled in one direction to create soft cascading curls. After, spritz hair well from root to tip with a good shine spray.

Long hair looks good with a few layers in it; even if the cut is only an inch or two it will lighten the look of your hair by creating bounce and movement. If you're overdue for a cut then use a larger curling iron for the ends to create volume and bounce. This will carry you over until you can get a chance to see your stylist.

Tight curls can be a curse and blessing at the same time. Beautiful curls are hard to replicate but if you wear natural curls remember to tell this tidbit of information to your stylist so she can cut your hair to its curl pattern. This will help minimize frizz and keep the curls nice and tight. Besides a great cut; curly hair soaks up moisture and tends to dry out much more quickly than straight hair. Using a thick leave in conditioner and anti-frizz serum can really keep hair glossy and reduce frizz.

For extremely long hair styles it's best when it looks healthy. Hair grows an average length of an inch every two months. If your hair is two or three feet long it has "weathered" much over the years. Keeping it trimmed and using a good leave in conditioner on the ends will keep hair looking smooth, shiny and healthy. If you like your hair to look silky smooth a small amount of smoothing cream will do just that.

Marie Claire
Elle