How to nurture your hair through the winter months

Cups of hot chocolate, slippers and hot water bottles, there are tons of fantastic things about the colder months, but ‘winter hair’ certainly isn’t one of them. Yet, it’s a problem we all must contend with year after year.

How can I keep my hair healthy in winter?

Whether you suffer from winter shedding, dry and brittle tresses or even dull, lifeless hair, it doesn’t have to be this way. We suggested five ways you can help your locks stay strong, hydrated and shiny:

1) Swap up hair care products

Cold snaps will already be stripping your hair of much-needed oils and moisture, so we recommend swapping out any hair care products that are doing the same. Instead, we suggest stocking up on:

• Sulphate-free shampoo.
• Thick, rich moisturising conditioners (preferably with humectants and fatty acids).
• Natural hair oils (a good hair and scalp massage with oils will nourish the roots of your hair, moisturise the scalp and strengthen hair follicles. Massage also increases blood supply to hair roots).

2) Mask up

Choose a hydrating hair mask once a week to give your tresses a much-deserved treat. Moisture gets sucked out of our hair during the cold weather, and even if you spend most of the season at home, you’re not immune. Central heating works similarly, so a hair mask is a fantastic choice to get some extra moisture into your locks.

3) Turn the shower temperature down

As tempting as it is to turn up the heat and thaw out, this will cause even more damage to your locks. So instead, wash your hair in lukewarm water and blast your tips with cold water to seal hair cuticles and stop them from drying out.

Also, try to break the habit of washing your tresses using a back and forth motion, as this can weaken your hair follicles and lead to breakages and tangles.

If possible, try limiting the number of times you wash your hair each week to just once or twice. We appreciate that this may not always be possible, particularly if your hair gets greasy overnight. If this isn’t an option, use as mild a shampoo as possible to mitigate the damage.

4) Monitor your diet

Everything’s connected, and what you put into your body may have a greater impact than you think. Increasing your consumption of iron, selenium, and vitamins A, C and E will help repair the damage caused by winter.

Darker mornings leave us all grabbing for an extra dose of caffeine in the morning but remember to counteract any additional cups of tasty warm coffee with fresh, deliciously hydrating water. This will help keep you and your hair hydrated.

Take supplements to combat winter hair

There are multiple supplements that you can take during the colder months to help winter hair. The first we’d suggest is a collagen supplement that will boost hair growth, perfect if you’ve suffered from seasonal hair shedding.

Secondly, we recommend adding a protein supplement to increase hair health – your nails will benefit from it too.

Finally, we mentioned it in the diet section of this post already, but increasing your vitamin A, C and E intake via supplements will help defend your tresses against winter, among other fantastic winter-combating benefits.

These simple changes can help you enjoy the colder months all the more as you bounce through the snow with healthy hair that everybody will be envious of.