If you want shiny, silky, and most importantly, healthy hair then put the coconut oil down! Many YouTubers or people on Pinterest say that coconut oil is a great way to add shine into your hair and even say it can help it grow longer…what?! How is that possible?! You’re right, it’s not. And please never use it as heat protectant: you use it for frying food not your hair. The reason coconut oil doesn’t repair over lightened, damaged, or dead hair is because its molecular structure is just too big to actually get inside the hair cuticle and repair it from the inside out. It also wasn’t specifically created to do so. Salon professional-grade products are specifically formulated to be small enough to get inside the hair cuticle to help repair and reconstruct the hair back into a healthier state.
According to Alphaparf Milano (my color of choice), air pollution causes a 15% increase of dullness, 83% more friction during blow drying, a 17% increase of breakage, and a 30% increase of yellowing. Add in coloring, lightening, using heat tools without protection, swimming, and UV rays makes it so that our hair is in desperate need of some loving. This is where hair treatments come in and save the day. There are two things that everyone’s hair needs: moisture and protein, in perfect harmony I should add. Keratin (the protein in our hair, skin, and nails) treatments help reconstruct the hair and make it strong again and the moisture helps tackle frizz and dullness. If you color, lighten, are a swimmer, or have curly hair, I would suggest getting a treatment either in between coloring/lightening sessions or every 4-8 weeks.
First we need to decide which treatment is best for you. After that, we start by detoxing and clarifying the hair which also opens up the cuticle to help with penetration. We need to remove any dirt, sweat, pollution, or product build up on the hair and have a nice clean canvas. Then, we massage and emulsify the treatment into your hair and make sure it’s fully saturated typically focusing more on the ends. Then, we put you under the hooded dryer for about 15-minutes. Just like the pores on our face, the heat helps open the cuticle to ensure the treatment is getting into the cuticle and doing its job. After that, we rinse out the treatment with cooler water to close the cuticle and lock in all the good stuff. Bada bing bada boom, your hair is noticeably more smooth, shiny, and most importantly, healthy. Invest in your hair with a treatment, it’s a crown you wear everyday.
Allyson is a hair artist at Escape Hair Salon in San Diego 92101 who specializes in formal editorial updos, cutting, color, and balayage. She is a graduate of Paul Mitchell The School San Diego where she has also received advanced training.