Preparing your hair for Winter

It's getting cold outside, you have your coat, hat, scarf, and gloves ready... What about your hair?
The cold winds and temperatures can effect the health of your hair. These simple practices can assist you in maintaining healthy beautiful hair.

1. Keep wool away from your hair.

Wool is great for keeping us warm, but it is HORRIBLE for the health of your hair. When your hair rubs against the wool, the friction can cause split ends, and even breakage. This means no wool hats of any kind.  If you must wear the peacoat, keep you hair pinned up, in a bun etc. Just make sure you hair is NEVER touching the wool.

2. Deep conditioning with every wash.

Deep conditioning is an absolute must whenever you shampoo you hair, especially in the winter. Our hair loses moisture and endures extreme weather conditions during the winter season, Deep conditioning gives hair the strength it needs to thrive. Always remember to use a moisturizing shampoo with every wash.

3. Cowashing
Shampoo can strip you hair of it's natural oils, making it dry. Harsh weather conditions can add to dryness, making it brittle. Cowashing (washing your hair with conditioner only) is especially important for those who wash their hair on an everyday basis. If you wash your hair more than once a week, cut down to shampooing to once a week, and cowash with every other wash. For tips on cowashing click here.

4. Add Oil to your hair routine

If you do not have oil in your hair routine, now is a great time to start! Adding oil to your hair routine not only give your hair great shine, but it also helps seal in moisture, detangle, and add much needed strength to your hair. If you need tips on adding oil to your hair click here. If you information on different oils and the benefits they offer, go here. When it comes to oils, I recommend; avocado oil, grape seed oil, and argan oil.

Note: During the colder months, it's probably best to steer away from leaving coconut oil in your hair without washing it out. This is because it tends to harden the hair of some people. If you choose to use coconut oil, use it as a hot oil treatment, or pre-poo ONLY.

5.  Keep your hair moisturized

It's important to never let your hair dry out, this will only lead to brittleness and breakage. This can be avoided by; deep conditioning, cowashing, moisturizing, and sealing. Its also best to apply a leave-in conditioner after washing your hair. Moisturizing and sealing is simply applying moisturizer in sections, and applying a thin layer of oil on top ( especially on the ends). For tips on moisturizing and sealing, click here and read steps 2 and 3.

6. Style your hair in a "protective" way.

We all like to wear our hair down and out, but doing it everyday during is not a great idea. Try wearing it in a braid, bun, or twists more often. This keeps moisture in, and dryness out!

Adding Oil to your conditioner



If your hair has issues with dryness, dullness and tangles? A basic two-step procedure can help you nurse your hair back to health. How to do this you ask? Adding oil to your conditioner! Many conditioners contain small amounts of oil in their list of ingredients, but sometimes it's best to add your oil yourself in order to achieve the full benefits and effects that the natural oil has to offer such as these;

* adding strength
* detangle curls and knots
* adding shine
* locking in moisture
* adds softness

Quick Tip: Don't have time to deep condition? Adding oil to your rinse out conditioner uprgrades your conditioning session.

The simple steps are the following:

On wet hair:

1) After you have shampooed your hair, section your hair down the middle, (four sections for long and/or thick hair) and apply your conditioner as you do normally.

2) Then apply a layer of oil upon each condtioned section.

3) Comb through with either a detangling comb, or you fingers, let it sit for at least 2 minutes and rinse.

Note: To avoid greasy hair, use this conditioner/oil ratio :

If your hair is in 2 sections, start with  a quarter sized amount of oil to your hair.

If your hair is in 4 sections, start with a nickel sized amount of oil to your hair.


I do not recommend adding oil to the entire bottle of conditioner, because overtime, oil can go bad.


These simple steps will give your hair added strength and shine.

Your time to shine



There is nothing that stands out more than beautiful, gleaming, shiny hair. Every girl wants it, so here are 3 things to make your hair bling!

1. Aloe Vera Gel

Not only does aloe vera gel give your hair shine, but it's great for the overall health of your hair. After you are done styling your hair, section your hair, and rub about a dime sized dollop (for each hair section, maybe more for longer thicker hair)  between the palms of your hands and smooth the gel down the length of your hair. Be careful not to use too much, it might make your hair a bit sticky.

2. Jane Carter's Nourish and Shine

This stuff is great, not only for shine, but it also helps smooth down edges and its great for slicking the hair into a bun or ponytail. If your wearing your hair down, simply rub a small amount between the palms of your hands, and scrunch it into the length of your damp or wet hair. If you choose to wear your hair up, apply it to the edges and nape of your hair, and/or use it to slick your hair into your ponytail or bun.
Note: when using this product, remember that a little bit will go a long way, try not to be to heavy handed with this product.

3. Oils

Oils are key to sealing in moisture and they can also add shine as well. Just smooth a few drops into the length  of the hair and comb through. There are many oils out there, every one has there own type of oil to which they swear by. Such as; olive, coconut, argan, and many more. You will have to do some experimentation to find out which one is best for you. I prefer; grapeseed, jojoba,macadamia,and argan oil because they are light on the hair, non greasy, and doesn't add weight to my curls. Remember not to be heavy handed with oil, it will make your hair greasy.



It could be said that when using the products, you can get the best of both worlds. This is because not only are you maintaining the style of your hair, but you're also giving it the nutrience it needs to flourish and thrive!

Hair survival basics

In order for your hair to reach it's maximum potential, there are a few things you'll need to keep your hair well nourished, balanced, and beautiful. The following is a list of what you'll need, and why you need it.

Shampoo: The purpose of shampoo is to keep the hair and scalp fresh and clean. It is not recommended to shampoo everyday, because it can be drying to the hair. Remember, when choosing a shampoo it's best to choose one that says sulfate free. Whenever possible choose on that says the words "hydrating" or "moisturizing" on the bottle.  Such as these:

Shampoo should be used once or twice a week, if you are like me, and need to cleanse your hair more than that, that's when "cowashing" would come into the picture. Cowashing will be mentioned in a later post.
NOTE: When washing your hair apply shampoo TO THE SCALP ONLY!!! DO NOT APPLY TO ALL OF YOUR HAIR! this can make your hair dry and rough. Once you have applied the shampoo to the scalp, let the lather from the shampoo run through the rest of your hair while you rinse.


Deep Conditioner:  Deep conditioning is the most important process of hair care that seems to be over looked. Deep conditioning is key to hair care because it provides much needed nourishment and moisture that hair needs to thrive. Many people suffer from dry, frizzy, and matted hair due to lack of deep conditioning.

1. When applying deep conditioner, apply to the hair only, not the scalp.

2.   Section your hair down the middle, or in four parts to ensure even penetration of the conditioner and less tangles upon combing the hair. It's VERY important to comb the conditioner through your hair!

3. Finally, let the conditioner sit on your hair. You can do this while showering and rinsing your hair last, or your can let it sit on your hair for up to 45 minutes, some people deep condition overnight! It depends on how much time you are willing to invest on your hair. I choose to deep condition with heat for about 30 minutes. There will be a post dedicated to the methods of deep conditioning later.

4. Deep conditioning should be done after every shampoo, at least once a week.

Rinse out Conditioner:

Many people use rinse out conditioning as their only source of conditioning. Alternatively, you can use conditioner between washes. Let me explain using my personal experience: On the days that I don't wash my hair, but my hair feels dry,crunchy, or dull looking  I use conditioner as a substitute to shampoo.

Leave-in Conditioner:  I cannot stress how important leave-in conditioner is! It really helps the overall health and strength of my hair ! Leave-in conditioner is best used right out of the shower, after the hair has been freshly washed, conditioned, or cowashed. Depending on your hair density (thick or thin hair) you can choose a cream or spray leave-in. Your hair will clearly show you which one it prefers. (I prefer cream leave-ins).

Moisturizer: When leave-in conditioner isn't enough from keeping dry hair at bay, is when moisturizer comes into the picture. It is also used on days that I don't was my hair. If you are not washing your hair; section the hair then spritz or spray your hair with water first before applying moisturizer, to ensure penetration.

Oil: Oil can be tricky, if you use too much your hair will be greasy, if you use to little and you will not get the desired effect. You also need to find the right one for you. Depending on your hair, you might need a light oil or a heavy one.

Based on my experience, When I want to use a light oil, I go with Jojoba oil. When I feel I need a heavier oil (usually when my hair feels a bit dry) I use coconut oil.

Oil is usually used to for sealing, which means to seal in moisture into the hair. I concentrate on the ends of the hair, and lightly oil the length of the hair.

Example: for shorter hair, apply oil lightly from the ear length to the ends. For longer hair, from the chin length to the ends. For super long hair, apply oil from the shoulder length to the ends of the hair.

There you have it! The comprehensive guide for what you need, and how to use it!