Hello lovelies!
Winter is the season of Christmas, presents, and hot chocolate near the chimney.
However, it’s also a quite difficult season for your hair. Indeed, depending on your hair texture, the cold can make your hair rougher and brittle. As hair is an extension of ourselves, it deserves protection like our bodies and our faces.
But you shouldn’t be desperate. Cold weather shouldn’t mean that you’re helpless. With the right winter hair care tips, your hair can remain strong and moisturized. Read more about them below!
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My own experience
In my childhood, I had lived in Africa for nine years. Sunshine was always there and my hair was thriving because of the sun and constant humidity.
However, when I came back to France in my teenage years, I experienced my first winter in several years. I was really cold! But the most striking thing was my hair. It suffered and became brittle because I didn’t cover it at the beginning.
Consequently, I spent the following years to solve your hair issues. I came cross all the natural hair care tips to adopt during winter on the Internet. I asked questions to my family and friends on hair care during winter. Since then, I’ve applied them religiously.
And now, I’m sharing these winter hair care tips with you today!
Winter Hair Care Tips: A healthy diet for stronger hair
Healthy hair starts from inside. Therefore, you must eat foods that are beneficial for your hair. Increase your intake of protein, omega-3, and vitamin-rich foods such as:
- meat
- oily fish
- eggs
- dairy products
- tofu
- carrots
- pumpkins
- all kinds of berries (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries)
Also, drinking a lot of water is essential to stay hydrated during this season.
Winter hair care tips: Don’t wash your hair too often
Generally, washing your hair too often strips your hair from moisture. And this has been never truer in winter. To avoid extreme dryness and irritation, you must take precautions when you wash your hair. Do not wash your hair more than twice a week.
Of course, you must adapt to your hair type. If your hair is oily, you might want to wash your hair more often. However, you must absolutely reduce the frequency of your shampoos.
Winter hair care tips: Avoid hot water
During the cold season, you may tend to use hot water to wash your hair. But I have bad news for you: this is wrong. At every level.
Indeed, hot water removes moisture and natural oils from your hair. Also, it gives you a dry and flaky scalp, as time passes by. To avoid this, wash your hair with lukewarm water. You can end your shampoo session with a splash of cold water to seal your hair cuticles. You hair will thank you!
Deep condition your hair weekly
As a black woman, deep conditioning is a must in my natural hair routine. Dry hair calls for more moisture, so I have to undergo this step. That’s why I also recommend you to deep condition your hair more often during winter. Thus, you’ll avoid extreme dryness and dehydration.
Therefore, I recommend you weekly DIY hair masks with moisturizing and nourishing ingredients. Look for oils, eggs, and honey. Those ingredients soften your hair and add shine, while stimulating your hair growth.
And the good news is that you can get them from your kitchen. I’ll post more DIY hair masks on this blog, so stay tuned!
Avoid heat styling tools
During this season, your hair is already very fragile. And believe me, using heat styling tolls will cause more breakage – something that your hair doesn’t need!
Consequently, stay away from styling tools as much as possible. Instead, use protective styles (braids, twists, bantu knots, and other updos), especially if you have afro hair. Also, air dry your hair more often.
Cover your hair outside
When it’s exposed to cold, dry wind, and snow, your hair will get stressed. Cover your hair with scarves, bonnets or hats as much as possible. Lean more towards silk and satin cloth than cotton and wool to prevent friction and retain moisture. And you’ll also be stylish at the same time!
Get a humidifier in your home
A room heater provides warmth that is most welcome in winter. However, it can also damage your hair because it dries the air in the room. Consequently, you shouldn’t hesitate to invest in a humidifier. It will help to balance the moisture levels inside the room and prevent dryness on your hair.
Bonus: Don’t get out with wet hair
Wet hair is more exposed to damage than dry hair. That’s why going outside with wet hair will freeze and break your hair. In addition, you might get unwelcome colds and flus. Wait a little to have your hair completely dry before going out.
In conclusion, taking care of your hair during winter is not difficult. With these winter hair care tips, you will hydrate your hair inside out and avoid excessive manipulation.
That’s all for today! Do you have other winter hair care tips that you personally use? Share them in the comments!
Take care!
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These tips on taking care of our hair in any kind of weather are really helpful.
Actually, I am already doing most of them as a result of my research on hair care. I never had issues until I was based in the Middle East where the water during summer gets too hot that I had to cool the water to use for my hair in the morning overnight.
I noticed that my hair fall got worse with hot water so I had to cool it first. Also, I only wash and shampoo my hair every other day and make sure to dry it completely before leaving the house. But instead of using an electric hair dryer, I dry my hair with the electric fan ☺.
You are definitely right; eating a healthy diet and drinking lots of water help keep our hair healthy and strong. We often take this for granted because we don’t think it matters but it does and we must pay attention.
By the way, what’s your opinion on hair colors and dye? I noticed that since I started using hair colors, I started having more and more grey hair. Is this due to the bleaching effects of hair colors? How often should we color our hair?
I really appreciate your advice, thanks.
Hello Alice, thanks for your comment! Follow my website as I intend to talk about hair dye in a dedicated article but shhh…
This is a very timely article, as it’s the middle of winter here in Calgary, Alberta, and our Canadian winters can definitely be brutal on our bodies from all fronts. I need to follow more of your tips in this article, and I am shocked at how many things I’m doing wrong. I do have one question about not washing your hair too often, though. As someone who exercises a lot every day, my head gets very sweaty throughout the day and it feels uncomfortable if I don’t wash my hair. Do I just have to be uncomfortable with a sweaty head or do I get a pass to wash my hair every day?
hello Kevin, just wash your hair! Don’t walk around with a sweaty head, you don’t want people to run away from you! That being said, I believe that you must do what’s best for your hair. Just don’t wash them too often. Or you can use mild shampoos…
Many thanks for this valuable and comprehensive post on Winter Hair Care Tips. This is really a very important post. Because I saw that my sister was searching for these kinds of things in the past few days. The tips you have shown in this post will be very important for her. Definitely share this with her. Keep posting like this.
Thanks!
Lots of practical hair care tips for the winter are available in this blog post, thank you for that. I have been trying to only wash my hair twice a week,but it gets greasy already after 2 days, so I wash it a minimum of 3 days a week. Do you have any tips on washing it less and will my hair adapt over time to not get so greasy? Avoiding hot water is going to be a challenge as well for me, I love my hot water, especially in winter haha!
Hello Lizzy, thanks for your comment! I note your question as I will make a dedicated article on greasy hair.
Wow! I found this to be extremely helpful! My hair has always been frizzy but it always gets worse in the winter. Do you have recommendations for products for deep conditioning? I like to try and stay toxin free when using hair and body products, but am just getting started with taking better care of my hair. Perhaps you have some photos of how one would cover hair when outside in winter? I look forward to reading more about healthy hair care tips 🙂
thanks Danielle! Stay tuned because I’ll have more tips for frizzy hair! Don’t hesitate to subscribe!
Hi Elodie, you have some great winter hair care tips. Similar methods are used in my country. Burdock, olive and pumpkin oils are used for hair care. Chamomile tea and green tea are used to rinse the hair.
Thanks for the tips !
I loved Elodie’s article and her winter hair care tips. Her advice is simple, precise and, most importantly, she has tried everything on herself. Her advice is excellent, I know because similar methods are used in my country. Her advice is not only about hair care, but also about protection from cold, hot, and dry air and other influences inside and outside the house.
Thanks !
Great article!
As a hairdresser I have to agree with all of these tips. I’m always telling my clients to reduce their hair washing and limit styling with heat as much as possible.
My own hair is naturally curly and therefore already lacks shine and moisture. I leave it to dry naturally and use good quality shampoo and conditioner. It baffles me when my clients pay a lot of money to have their hair coloured and then they buy the cheapest shampoo !
I say to them that you wouldn’t put cheap tyres on an expensive car so why do the same for your hair!
Food, water and the weather all play a part in how our hair behaves.
Some great tips that everyone will benefit from,
Thanks for sharing.
You’re welcome Louise!
Hey thanks a lot for this post!
I’m thankful I stumbled upon this post since my hair is a mess whether it be summer or winter!
I don’t style my hair with heat products and didn’t used to wash it as often which now I do it 3 times since the less washing didn’t do any good.
However I don’t eat as healthy nor deep condition so I guess that’s my next step to add in my routine. My hair is thick and dry every time so hopefully these tips will make a difference for the better.
Thanks again and have a great day!
You’re welcome Sarah! Have a great day too!