A few months back, I shared a detailed look at my entire skincare routine, so I decided to do the same with my hair. Here’s my current regimen:
My hair type is: Dry, damaged and wavy-ish straight. After I had Sloan, it went from being more or less wavy to a slightly limp straight, which makes it hard to wear it natural and have it look halfway decent.
I wash my hair: 1x/week. Since I’m not currently working out (which isn’t something I condone, I’m just in a bit of an exercise rut right now), I can get away with only washing my hair once a week. I double shampoo it in the shower, which gets rid of any buildup and helps my blowout last a long time. I’m still loyal to the R+Co gemstone shampoo and conditioner for color-treated hair and let the latter stay in my hair for a few minutes while I shave, exfoliate, etc. (I’ve been wanting to find a good hair mask to use, but I’ve yet to decide on one). Right before I rinse it out, I use a wide-tooth comb to really help distribute the conditioner evenly (including on the top of my head since I don’t find it weighs down my hair and I need the extra conditioning). I then wash out my conditioner until it’s squeaky clean and wrap my hair in amicrofiber towel after blotting it a bit. I keep my towel in only for a few minutes so it soaks up some of the moisture – if I wait too long, it becomes too unruly and frizzy to dry normally.
If I’m doing a blowout: Once I take my hair out of my towel, I brush it out with a paddle brush and then apply Oribe’s Gold Lust Nourishing Oil from the middle of my hair down to the tips. Whatever small amount of oil is left on my hands I then apply to my roots (it’s enough to help with frizz without weighing down my hair). It smells great, helps make my hair sleek and shiny and has UV/thermal protection. Then I add a dollop of R+Co’s Blow Out Balm (with the same technique), which adds a little volume and a nice texture. Depending on whether I’m feeling ambitious or not, I’ll either just rough-dry all of my hair and then use a paddle brush to smooth it out or take the time to do it in sections with a round brush. Once my hair is dry, I’ll just take the four sections around my face and wrap them around large velcro rollers and clip them into place. I blast them with heat for a few more seconds and then leave them in while I do other things – sometimes for a couple of hours. When I take them out, I’ll add in some more of the Oribe oil and if my flyaways are particularly bad, I’ll spray some hairspray onto my hand first and then onto the little hairs to get them to lie down.
If I’m doing a blowout + waves: Once my hair is bone dry (which is imperative to it not getting big and unruly later on), I’ll then add waves, either in the form of slightly messy, natural ones via my flat iron or more of a traditional bed look using my curling iron. Once the waves are set, I break them up with my hands and spray in some Oribe Dry Texturizing Spray and if I want my ends to look a little piece-y, I’ll add R+Co’s Jackpot styling cream, which is one of my favorite smelling products, ever.
My can’t-live-without hair tools: Hot Tools curling iron, Ghd flat iron,Elchim blow dryer, Aveda paddle brush, Ibiza round brush, velcro rollers, hair clips.
Lifecycle of a blowout: I usually aim to give myself my weekly blowout on Sunday afternoon during Sloan’s nap. That way, I’ll sleep on it and by Monday morning, it’ll have fallen a bit so it’s less big/crazy. I’m not great at giving myself the kind of hair that I really want (a little volume, kinda piece-y and really swingy) since it would take me years and I rarely find anyone in L.A. that can get it to look how I want. A hairdresser recently told me why: apparently the combination of having a lot of hair that’s also thick and coarse, slightly wavy, and color-treated makes it hard for it not to be too big and puffy with nice movement. Awesome. It’s that elusive balance – some volume so it’s not flat, but obviously not the kind of volume that’s frizz-after-a-rainstorm. So because I don’t do a meticulous blowout, it doesn’t look the way I want it to for at least a few days. By Tuesday, it’s usually calmed down a bit, at which point I’ll throw in a few waves if I didn’t put them in initially, or sometimes I’ll re-up and add a few more if the hair could use it. By the tail end of the week, I usually opt to throw it up in a messy top knot, and a hat on the weekend.
How I use dry shampoo: After day four of a blowout, I’ll start using dry shampoo sporadically. That day, I use it more on the underneath parts of my hair around my hairline, and just massage it in really well. On days five and six, I’ll use it at the crown and sometimes even blow out that top section of hair so that it gets a little bounce to it. I alternate dry shampoos based on what I want. For smell, I love Elizabeth and James’ Nirvana Black, if I want a little texture I use R + Co’s Death Valley and if I’m in need of serious volume and clarification, I go old school with Pssst.
My trick for keeping the right amount of volume overnight: My friend Cristina taught me this trick and it’s one of my favorites. When getting ready for bed towards the final few days of a blowout, gather all (or as much as you can) of your hair into a fabric tie (so as not to create a kink) at the very front of your head. Like, it should pretty much rest on top of your forehead at your hairline. Then, starting at the tip of your ponytail, place a large velcro roller on the top portion and roll hair under it away from your face. Secure with one or two large clips and keep that way until the morning for the perfect amount of movement.
If I’m letting it air dry after the shower: If I don’t plan on heat styling my hair, I brush it when I get out of the shower and then slick it back into a bun at the nape of my neck. I keep it there for about ten minutes while I do my makeup and finish getting ready and then let it fall out. Sometimes I’ll take a few pieces of hair and wrap them around my finger to create little loose tendrils. I used to load on the styling products for curly/wavy hair, but I find the more that I touch my wet hair, the frizzier it becomes later on. So I literally use no products. I just try to get outside quickly so that it dries as fast as it can, since the longer it just stays damp, the bigger it gets. Once it’s dry, then I’ll kind of run my hands through it to weigh it down a little, but that’s it.
