My Hair Routine

So this'd be a simple, short post right? Er, nope. Sorry. Prepare for an involved list of products. My excuse? I have near-waist length thick very dry hair and not one product works on its own to manage, moisturise and make it sleek. It's also colour-treated, cut only every six months, and blow dried every time it's washed. I do like to put it through the ringer! My hair is dry at the ends, but since I have switched to SLS-free shampoo, and as I boasted yesterday, I don't have a single split end. Hairdressers sometimes don't believe me and check through it in wonder! This was definitely not the case before though - sometimes I used to get those split ends that split over and over again down the shaft. I was weirdly fascinated by those. So I can definitely attribute it to switching.

I wash my hair every third day - as I said it's very dry and doesn't need washing more than this. I don't have a very recent picture of just how long it has got at the back, but this picture, though rubbish in quality, shows how thick it is:

And this is my regimen at the moment:

Shampoo:
I am an SLS-free convert, as I've mentioned before. At the moment I am using a customised mixture of Waitrose Organic Moisurising shampoo with Naked Colour Protection shampoo. On its own, the Waitrose doesn't foam at all and is really runny but is very gentle and non-stripping (not something that can be said of all SLS-free shampoos, alas). But adding the Naked helps it clean the hair better as well as helping to preserve colour.

For those who've asked (The lovely, ultra-creative Bibbitybob!) I'm very interested to try the Liz Earle shampoo after my mix has run out. Having tested a fair few (Dr Organic: drying; Trilogy - contains AL; Lavera - drying) the best SLS-free shampoo I've tried has to be Daniel Galvin Junior: it's light, foams well, doesn't strip the hair dry, and smells lovely, and costs about £4. It's available from Waitrose, and the only reason I don't use it all the time is because I don't live near one!

Conditioner:
Here's where it starts to get complicated! My hair is at different stages of dryness at its different lengths and thus requires different conditioners.

Firstly - scalp/roots: I know a lot of people don't condition scalp and roots but I have very dry skin, my scalp flakes and itches if I don't. I also colour my hair (I have a lot of greys, thanks to both of my parents who went grey very young), so I use a basic colour save conditioner on my scalp and roots. At the moment it is Herbal Essences which I find is working well and leaves my hair shiny and my colour definitely boosted.

Secondly: mid-lengths: my mid lengths are dry, but get weighed down with super-rich conditioners so I use Aussie Luscious Long 3 Minute Miracle here. It prevents knotting and is a fantastic high street conditioner!

Finally: ends: very, very dry. I should really get them cut! In the mean time, I'm using Dark & Lovely Ultra-Rich Hair Cholesterol on them, a product for Afro hair but which beats pretty much any high street conditioning mask I've tried for softening and moisturising my dry ends. But it's too rich for all my hair so I just use it on the ends.

Styling

When my hair is towel dry, I load it with a series of products to make it look straight and sleek. I realise this is a heck of a lot of 'cones, and perhaps a little hypocritical or at least contradictory given how evangelical I am about SLS-free, but this is what works on my crazy hair!

First: a tiny amount of Organic Root Stimulator Olive Oil Hair Moisturising Lotion on the ends. Less than a pea-sized amount, but keeps it soft.

Secondly: a pea-sized amount of L'Oreal Liss Control Cream combed throughout hair. (This has been an HG for me for years, and is always on the Instyle Beauty Awards, rightly so I think!)

Thirdly: a spritz of heat control spray (I spray two sprays into my palm and smooth over my hair to prevent it getting sprayed in one place only): I'm using Lee Stafford stuff which is fine.

Finally: a pea-sized amount of Aussie Take the Heat Control Cream throughout my hair. This stuff is my newest discovery and has made such a difference to my hair!

Then I blow dry it when it's dried naturally a bit, and brush with my massive Denman brush and I'm good to go (ha! so low-maintenance, isn't it?) Sometimes if it's looking a little lacklustre, I'll smooth over the tiniest bit of The Body Shop Coconut Hair Shine over it, but this tends to make it greasy more quickly so I only usually do this for going out or special occasions.

I've just experimented with a minimalised version of the styling products, using just the Aussie Take the Heat cream. It looks really smooth and even thicker than usual, but it's a little dry. I wonder if it's the Liss Control Cream or the Lee Stafford spray that makes it softer? Hmmm.

So there you go.

What's your hair routine? Do you have any HG products?