Whether you're visiting family in the freezing Midwest or ditching the cold for sunnier climates, our experts have the best recommendations and tips for protecting your luscious locks!
1. Battle the dullness with a gloss
Glossing services are quick, affordable, and add extra shine to hair that may be losing its luster in the dry winter air. "A gloss livens up haircolor fast," says Master Colorist Farrah, "and helps it look fresher overall with the added shine." If you haven't colored your hair before, no worries! Glosses come in a multitude of tones that match natural hair, and can also be done with a clear solution to add reflective shine over the color you were born with.
2. Treat yourself (and your hair) to a boar bristle brush
Natural boar bristles "capture" oils that form at the scalp and help disperse them through the hair all the way to the ends, where dryness tends to be the worst (and breakage occurs the most). This is also a fantastic year-round fix for scalps that tend to be exceedingly oily while the rest of the hair suffers from frizz, flyaways, and overall dryness and damage.
3. Get a "Treatment Cut"
It's no secret that regular trims help keep ends fresh, prevent splitting and breakage, and help maintain steady growth - but a Treatment Cut does so much more! Allison, one of our expert stylists, highly recommends this service for everyone spending time in the frigid temps: "It's totally customized for what your hair specifically needs, and then you can go home with the same formula to upkeep the health of your hair." She also emphasizes the importance of treating hair while it's wet, both with masques in the shower and with leave-in conditioners to protect and strengthen delicate strands. On the go? Allison recommends taking a dry conditioner along to quickly hydrate ends!
4. Beat "hat hair" with a little prep
Having a flawless style shouldn't mean sacrificing warmth! Salon Coordinator Nikki uses this trick for knit hats, stocking caps, ear warmers and all types of flyaway-inducing head covers: "Get a lightweight hairspray and mist the inside of the hat right before putting it on. When you take it off indoors, your hair stays in place - no frizz, no fuss!" For hat-free outings that still give styles quite a beating, Nikki swears by the spray wax. "You can mist it on at home, style your hair how you want, and once the cold air hits it outside, the wax freezes in place!" And even if you still need to touch it up at your destination, the lightweight wax is easy to manipulate - just warm up your fingers and rearrange those strands as needed!
5. Hydrate under the masque
What is Expert Stylist Maria's #1 Winter Tip? "Moisture, moisture, moisture!" Everything and everyone is drier in winter: lips, skin, and hair. "We always need to hydrate, but in winter we need to double it up!" Maria loves recommending hair care specially formulated for maximum hydration, and also stands behind the power of a Treatment Cut - but reminds her clients that the real victory against dryness is drinking more water.
Want to learn more about our experts? Check out their profiles!
Living in Chicago or planning a trip to the Windy City? Come meet your favorite artists in person at Salon Vie Rebelle!