In the winter months, the humidity level is lower which can cause your hair to be dryer than normal.  In addition to the lower humidity, using a hair dryer and products with alcohol can also be drying to your hair.  To boot, the use of plastic combs or brushes create a positive charge on already dry hair, creating fly-aways or static.  The more you brush, the more fly-aways you have!

FIX

First, visit your salon and discuss the issue with your stylist.  This should always be your first choice for any hair question or issue.  Use hydrating shampoos, such as L’ANZA’s Smoothing shampoo and conditioner; DermOrganic’s Argan Oil prior to styling or as a finishing serum; Use a little hair spray (not a lot as it can dry your hair – more static); come in to the salon for a deep conditioning treatment.  As for the brushes and combs, a wooden brush such as Olivia Garden Healthy Hair Eco-Friendly Bamboo Brush, Ion and Ceramic hair brushes as well as Ceramic and Ionic hair dryers can reduce the amount of the electrical charge (we carry all of these products and more!).

As always, thanks for taking a minute to check us out and if you haven’t found a salon or stylist, come check us out at Capelli Bliss.  We would love to work with you, creating simply shiny, gorgeous hair!

The Short Fix (visit the salon!):

• Going for straight hair – Seal the hair cuticle with high heat (around 400 degrees) using a flat/curling iron, protecting the hair with thermal protecting products.  This can be damaging, so we recommend that you read the entire entry! 
• Going for curly hair- Since you will not be sealing the cuticle with heat, use products that contain organic ingredients such as Coix Seed extract for relaxing and Mangosteen Fruit for sheen and other ingredients that will help coat and seal the hair, reducing the amount of moisture penetrating the hair shaft.  Diffusers are great to lock in curls and improve the performance of the hair products. 

The long answer: 

Humidity is moisture in the air.  If you are new to Charleston and are coming from an area with low humidity, then you have experienced first hand the affect humidity has on hair.  In the summer months you feel the humidity as soon as you walk through the door, leaving your nice air conditioning, entering the thick, sticky air on the outside, creating instant big-hair!  During the winter the humidity level is lower making for great hair days but, giving us chapped lips and dry, ashy skin.  These few examples are how humidity affects us.  To understand the affects on your hair, there are a few things you need to know.  Hair left in its’ natural state is unprotected and will respond to the amount of humidity/moisture in the air by swelling and expanding, absorbing the moisture.  This causes hair to curl more, actually become stretchy, cross other hair strands making it look frizzy or dry.  Did you get that? Your hair is full of moisture, yet it looks dry.  What to do…

Fix:

First off, you really need to find a good salon (ahem…capelli bliss) that knows how to assess your hair and recommend the proper service/product to help minimize, correct, treat the issue.  There are many factors in assessing your hair and we simply can’t cover them all here without creating an article too long for most folks to read.  I should stop there, but I know we may not have the opportunity to meet all of you. 

So, secondly, you need to seal the hair’s cuticle layer, which will help reduce the amount of moisture penetrating the hair, thus reducing the swelling effect moisture has.  It’s really that simple.  However, sealing the hair can be a catch-22.  One way to seal the hair is to apply very high heat, which by its self can be damaging.  Heat can actually melt or fry your hair, causing problems far worse than the affect of humidity.  Chemically altered hair (color, perms, relaxers, medicine) can create problems as well, and not knowing how to properly work with chemically altered hair can result in more damage, compounding the affect of humidity.  The last few topics are ones we’ll save for another article.  Have we convinced you to come in for a consultation yet?  (pssst. it’s free!) 

If you are blow drying your hair, find the nozzle that came with your dryer and put it back on!  It’s important to protect your hair with a heat protecting product!  This isn’t an option – it’s MANDATORY!!!!  Dry about 60% to 70% using your fingers before you begin your finishing work.  The finishing stage is when you actually seal the cuticle with heat, creating volume or sleek styles and reducing the amount of moisture getting in from humidity. 

Using a flat iron or curling iron is another option.  Hair should be completely dry before using either iron and again heat protecting product is MANDATORY!  During this process the cuticle will become sealed and help reduce the affect of humidity. 

Going curly is a third option.  Embrace the curls lady’s!!  Curls can be gorgeous and your hair may need a rest from the heat.  Since you will not be using heat to smooth out the cuticle layer, you should use products that will enable the hair to be sealed, which would start during your shampoo and continue through the end with finishing products that create a barrier against environmental aggressors, such as humidity. 

In summary, we would like to express to you that hair is our medium.  It’s what we work with day-in and day-out.  We simply want you to have shiny, gorgeous, envious hair!  Often times there is no magic overnight fix to repair damage that has occurred over time from improper treatment of your hair.  However, we have in-salon services and products that can begin to heal your hair and a knowledgeable staff that can get you on the right path.  As for the affect of humidity on your hair, we hope you have learned a little something from this article.  We would love to have the opportunity to work with you.  Until then, we hope you are having great hair days!!