A New York City Health and Beauty Blog

How to Keep Your Hair Looking Great When You Hit the Beach!

How to Keep Your Hair Looking Great When You Hit the Beach!
Summer is definitely nearly here, and beach time will soon be upon us! Many of us spend a lot of time and effort on being beach ready, whether it is working out and dieting as soon as spring starts to get that bikini body, or taking care of skin and building up a base tan (real or fake). However, while we focus on our figures and getting our skin nicely exfoliated, moisturized and glowing, it is important not to forget about hair!

Whether you live by the coast and the beach is a daily part of life for you in summer or you are planning a beach vacation, regular exposure to hot sun, along with swimming, can leave you hair in worse condition. With some preparation and care, you can keep it looking soft and silky, and ready to be the perfect accessory for your favorite bikini or tankini bathing suit this summer. Here are some tips:

Don’t Brush It After Swimming in the Ocean

If for you, a trip to the beach involves a lot of fun in the ocean swimming, playing around with friends or doing your favorite watersports, it pays to get used to rocking the ‘surfer hair’ look when you get out if you aren’t able to immediately shower and wash the sea water out. Sea water is not particularly damaging to hair on its own – it’s just water and salt – but as your hair dries in the sun the salt can have a serious drying effect.

You can recover from this when you get to wash your hair with a good conditioner, but while you’re still out at the beach, ignore the temptation to brush it – even when it is dry. Your hair will be dry, stiff and a bit sticky from the salt water, and brushing will cause major breakages. Brushing is also liable to make your hair look super frizzy. This means that if you have long hair, you can either choose to let it look messy and bohemian – the surfer look – or choose a style like a braid that will keep it in place. Messy beach hair looks really good when you are actually at the beach, giving you a cool, summery look, but if you are planning to go somewhere else before you have a chance to wash your hair, a braid is your best friend!

Sunscreen for Your Hair!

Most people now take protecting their skin and eyes from the sun very seriously, but what about hair? Obviously exposing your hair to the sun isn’t going to give you cancer or damage your eyesight, but as you probably know from using heated styling products, heat is not good for hair. You can protect it with a good heat protection spray, much as you might use before blow drying or using other heated styling tools. As well as applying after washing your hair, carry the spray in your beach bag. A good rule of thumb is to apply it whenever you apply sun lotion, so before actually going out in the sun to begin with, and then every few hours, and immediately after going in the water.

Conditioner and Keratin

Once you do get a chance to wash your hair after the beach, give it a little more love than usual when it comes to conditioner. Your hair gets lighter in the sun, and it is no coincidence that just like bleaching with peroxide, this actually leaves it dry and more damage prone. Use a rich conditioner every day and also, use a weekly mask or hot oil treatment to give it a little extra nourishment. You can do this more than once a week if you want, there really isn’t a maximum amount of times to use these treatments, but if the expense and time bothers you then weekly is enough. It is also a good idea to use an additional keratin treatment, and for best results, leave this in your hair rather than using after conditioner and washing it out. This will add protein to your hair which will help strengthen it and both hide and repair damage.

It really doesn’t take much effort to keep your hair in good shape when you hit the beach. Just be careful how you treat your hair when it’s been in the water, protect it, and help it out with some good conditioning products when you get home, and your hair can look and feel great all summer long!

Natural Beauty: Olive Oil and Coconut Oil for deep conditioning your hair

olive oil and coconut oil hair treatment

When I was a little girl I always admired my mom’s long luxurious jet black locks. Her hair grew so long and so quickly after every haircut and it was always so soft. We didn’t really share hair products so I asked her what she used to condition her hair and she said “I use olive oil, it’s the best conditioner that you can use for dry hair”. And from then on I used olive oil as a hot oil treatment whenever my hair felt dry.

But then came the all of the products. It seemed like every time I looked there was a new revolutionary product on the market. So over the years I tried many conditioners, serums, treatments and the like. If they smelled great, promised amazing results or if it was something new, I wanted to try it. I had abandoned my hot oil treatments, so I had to remind myself of why I began using natural oils and I did a bit of research to refresh my memory.

Olive oil is a natural product that’s great for hair and here’s what it can do:

  • Treat dandruff
  • Has been used to treat head lice
  • Help prevent hair loss
  • Is rich mono-unsaturated fatty acids and the antioxidant vitamin E, which moisturize dry hair

Another great natural oil that I’ve used in my diet and in my hair is coconut oil. Coconut oil is also so great for your hair for similar reasons that olive oil is beneficial:

  • Coconut oil help hair retain it moisture, preventing breakage.
  • Coconut oil prevents dandruff
  • Is said the prevent hair loss. Coconut oil contains Lauric Acid and Capric Acid which fights microbial action that often causes hair loss.

olive oil and coconut oil hair treatment for dry hair

So going back to basics I like to create my own hot oil treatment. I like to take a bit of my mother’s wisdom and combine that with coconut oil to create an excellent deep conditioning treatment. This works wonders for dry, brittle hair. Even if your hair is really dry you will really appreciate this treatment. Here is a simple recipe that I use to condition my hair, it can be adjusted to suit your needs and can be made without fragrance.

Coconut Oil and Olive Oil – Hot Oil Treatment:

  • 1/8 cup unrefined coconut oil
  • 1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil (cold-pressed if possible)
  • 2-3 drops sage and jojoba oil

Depending on the length of your hair you may have more than enough treatment for your hair so use just enough without leaving your hair oily looking. Wash and towel dry your hair. Place the mixture in a microwave safe bowl and heat for 15 seconds. Apply most at the ends, less in the middle and a little on the roots and scalp. Cover your hair with a shower cap and leave it on to soak in for 20-30 minutes and then wash again.

I like to keep a towel around my shoulders while I wait because the oil tends to drip. A small price to pay for super soft luxurious hair!

Do you use natural hot oil treatments to condition your hair?

Review: Belle Butters Unyevu Butter for skin and hair

Belle Butters Unyevu Butter

It’s been about eight or nine months since I’ve stopped chemically relaxing my hair so I’ve been trying lot of different hair products to see what works best for my new natural do! My hair care needs have changed considerably so I’m now on the lookout for products targeted at natural hair. I’ve read a few hair blogs and of course Ms. Afrobella’s blog where I came across a post about cocoa butter and other types of “butters” created by Belle Butters. I was intrigued. Belle Butters creates beauty products with 100% pure unrefined shea butter and the butters are hand whipped! Seriously if that’s not luxury then I don’t know what is.

I vent ventured over to the site but was immediately overwhelmed by the product selection, they had everything from body oils to bath products to butters. I had to stay focused so I took a look at just the butters, but again I was overwhelmed, Shea-Mango Fluffy Butter, Premium Whipped Shea Butter, Certified Organic Nilotica Shea Butter? Huh? I was confused. I had to make a logical choice, Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. Done. Unyevu Butter it was! And since Unyevu Butter is for hair and skin, it seemed like a great choice to me.

Belle Butter Unyevu Butter Ingredients
Ingredients: unrefined shea butter, raw pressed mango butter, refined avocado butter, apricot kernel oil, neem oil, sunflower oil, fragrance (white ginger and amber).

Shea Butter in itself is a great vitamin filled natural moisturizer for dry skin and even Eczema and Psoriasis. I’ve used shea butter on my skin before but never in my hair. A number of natural hair blogs mention shea butter for dry hair so I had faith in my fellow beauty bloggers that this product would solve my dry hair woes.

The product arrived about a week later after I ordered it online. So when it arrived I tore the package open like a kid on Christmas, I love getting packages in the mail! Inside was a small labeled jar of my Unyevu Butter, I just had to try it right then and there. I opened the jar and the first thing that I noticed was the scent. It smelled like faint mixture shea butter, vanilla and amber mixed together, it’s a naturally soft and subtle scent; not overly fragrant. I loved it.


Belle Butter shea butter

Immediately I rubbed some butter on my legs, the texture was very light and creamy, not greasy. When applied you can really tell that it’s hand whipped! I eventually went on to try it right after taking a bath and on my freshly washed hair and this butter did not disappoint. We already know that shea butter is a magic moisturizer for the skin but with the added mango and avocado butter it really makes this a luxurious treat. When I used the butter in my hair it was SUPER soft and less frizzy, not 100% less but noticeably less. My only regret was not getting more than one jar, 4 ounces doesn’t go very far especially since my boys are now using my Belle Butters! Have you tried Belle Butters?

Belle Butters Unyevu Butter (4 oz), $12

Exclusive Sephora Launch: KeratinPerfect

Last week I was invited to an exclusive launch by KeratinPerfect to learn about their at home Brazilian Hair Smoothing System and product line that will be exclusively available at Sephora. Myself along with several other beauty bloggers learned about the rebonding technology that KeratinPerfect uses to smooth hair and repair weakened Keratin bonds. So how does it work? Well, the KeratinPerfect system binds 40% Keratin to the hair cuticle and fills in any crevices that make the hair appear frizzy and dull. This Keratin seal along with silk collagen proteins prevents humidity, UV rays and even pollution from penetrating the hair shaft for 30-days.

Now we’ve all read some very sketchy stories about Brazilian Keratin treatments containing harmful ingredients so I had to ask, “Does this product contain formaldehyde?” and the response was “no”. The representative went on to explain that not only do their products not contain any formaldehyde, they are also sulfate free and sodium chloride free. KeratinPerfect uses naturally derived Keratin along with wheat and soy protein, provitamin B5 and argan oil to combat frizz. Silk Collagen Protein Complex helps give the hair shine and strength. In fact, KeratinPerfect was Proposition 65 tested and verified to contain good-for-you hair ingredients that can improve hair quality.

To demonstrate just how this straightening system improves the condition of frizzy hair, they presented a model who blew dried her own hair:

KeratinPerfect Model

What I liked about this line is that they offer a lot of (safe) options for frizzy hair. For ladies that are looking for day-to-day solutions to improve the condition of their hair the PerfectCleanse Keratin Enhanced Shampoo and PerfectCleanse Keratin Enhanced Conditioner is a great option to replenish lost keratin with each wash and to help preserves keratin in damaged hair. Another one of my top picks is the PerfectShine Keratin Oil which contain natural Argania Spinosa Oil to help prevent breakage and instantly moisturize. And the icing on the cake – all of the products smell great amazing!

Have you ever tried a Keratin treatment? If so, what was your experience like?

The KeratinPerfect line retails from $24-$235 and is available exclusively at Sephora stores and Sephora.com

Review: Is Moroccan Oil an Option For Fine, Frizzy Hair?

When everyone and their shampoo girl started talking about Moroccan Oil, my baby-fine hair and I immediately tuned out. I’d long ago given up on working with its limp fineness coupled with its tendency to either lay flatironed into boring submission- or when air-dried, paradoxically make me look the bassist of an spandex-clad metal band circa 1986. Even when carefully styled, my hair always seems to have a bit of unwanted frizz that really suggests I am inept with styling tools and belies its lightweight texture. Clearly, this miracle Moroccan Oil would be better suited to my girlfriends, all of whom were blessed with luscious locks they don’t color into crackliness every six weeks.

Or so I assumed. My sister, a master stylist, included a massive bottle of the much lauded Moroccan Oil with my Christmas gift this year. Despite my skepticism that Moroccan Oil and my hair texture were destined to be enemies and that the treatment would cause my locks to separate into difficult to define clumps, the big apothecary style bottle and fancy box won out over my impulse to swap it. (It was Tiffany blue! Like a Tiffany box!) I worked the exotically-scented potion into my hair starting with the cotton-candy like ends, smoothing it out over my breakage-heavy roots and all the while convinced it wouldn’t work.

Miracle! After a few uses, my formerly unruly and sparse coif has been transformed. It’s not thicker, alas, but a simple blow-dry results in smooth, shiny, cohesive style. Top-knots and chignons fall effortlessly into place with no errant crimped half-ringlets, and even after using a shower cap, my hair remains smooth and most surprisingly, not greasy or weighed down. I’ve tried every possible defrizzing potion, and as anyone with fine hair knows, most of them are a bit too intense for thin hair. If you’ve struggled with limp, fine hair that doesn’t do anything, Moroccan Oil might just be the secret ingredient to avail yourself of breakage, frizz and hairnemia.

Do you have any desert island hair potions? What products have drastically diminished the number of bad hair days you wake up to?