A New York City Health and Beauty Blog

Add Variety to Your Straightened Hair with these 7 Hairstyles

Once you have pulled out your trusty Vibrastrait flat iron and straightened your messy hair to silky smoothness, you will be tempted to keep your hair down most of the time. However, after a while it can get quite boring to carry the same look everywhere you go. Besides, what’s the point of having beautiful hair if you don’t try out something new every once in a while?

In order to keep things interesting and trendy, check out the following list of hairstyles that are simply perfect for straight hair.

Sleek Pompadour

One of the easier ones on this list, the sleek pompadour is perfect for medium long, straightened hair, but even if you have shorter hair it will work just fine. Back brush your hair first and then use bobby pins to secure a half pony tail with a section of your hair. There are multiple variations of the pompadour that you can try out.

Braids

We admit that this one is a generalization rather than a specific hairstyle, but that’s the thing about having straight hair; you can try out as many braided hairstyles as you want, without too much difficulty or hair damage. We recommend the two-way Dutch braid or the woven braid-on-braid crown if you are feeling particularly majestic! A piece of advice, though; braids work best when your hair is long, or at least medium-long.

Unkempt Up-do

Deliberately messy and sexy at the same time, the unkempt up-do gives your hair that wild look, which you can accentuate with some beautiful flowers.

Tucked and Twisted

Take a portion of your hair and divide it into at least four sections with two on each side. Now interlace them at the back in a beautiful tucked in design while the remaining portion of your straight hair hangs down loose. Use bobby pins and hairspray as required.

Braided Headband

You have seen this one in the old Hollywood movies or classic book covers, but the plaited headband is still beautiful for women with lustrous long, straight hair. It’s basically just one braided headband with the rest of your hair hanging loose. Make sure that the braid doesn’t leave any loose hair sticking out at the front.

High Ponytail with a Crown

Inspired by Ariana Grande, this one differentiates itself from the usual high ponytail by cascading down from a braided crown of your own hair. Be sure to make the braids first and then use those braids to act as a royal hair band.

Sleek Half Up-do

Often worn by celebrities at red carpet events, the sleek half up-do is particularly easy to make if you already have straightened hair. Back brush your hair and then insert a portion of the hair that usually covers your ears behind the top layer of the hair at the back. Secure it with bobby pins and use hair spray as necessary to add shine and volume.

Admittedly, straight hair looks better if you have medium to long hair, as you have more styling options. This is not to say that you have no options if you have short straight hair; it’s just that the options become limited. Nevertheless, this list has a bit of something for everybody.

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!