your Beauty Our duty

Courtesy of Paul Edmonds





Shiny hair is healthy hair. It's hard to keep hair shiny and healthy when you use a hair dryer, curling iron, flat iron, hair color, and other styling tools and techniques that rough up your hair cuticles.

It's a roughed-up cuticle that makes hair look dull. A smooth hair cuticle looks like a roof under a microscope, with all the singles neatly lying flat. Smooth cuticles are shiny because light reflects off smooth surfaces. But dry it and curl and color it and before you know it, your hair is dull.

Prevention magazine has seven tips to bring back the shine:


1. Eat Right
Feed your hair lots of protein! Lean meats, fish, eggs, beans, and low-fat dairy products will help make your hair healthy, says Philip Kingsley, author of "The Hair Bible." He especially recommends eating foods that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, including salmon, avocados, flaxseed, and almonds. "Eating these can increase hair's sheen over time," Kingsley told Prevention. It takes six months for your new diet to make your hair shine.

2. Clean-up!
Banish the buildup of all those hair products you use--from hair spray to mousse. Kingsley recommends using a clarifying shampoo once a week or try this homemade recipe: Add 1 tablespoon of baking soda to 2 tablespoons of your shampoo. The baking soda will remove sticky residue from your hair.

3. Use Conditioner
Use a conditioning product every time you shampoo.

4. Blot It
When you get out of the shower and dry your hair, squeeze and blot it. Don't rub it as this friction roughs up the cuticles.

5. Cool Off
Before drying your hair, use a heat-resistant product to seal in shine and prevent damage from the dryer's high temperature. Every once in a while, use the cool setting on your dryer.

6. Sleep on Satin
Satiny hair needs satiny pillowcases. Look at it this way: When you're asleep your head is about nine pounds of deadweight. Friction from tossing and turning can create fuzz. Satin pillowcases reduce the friction.

7. Brush with Boar
Use only boar-bristle brushes, which are superior for smoothing hair and distributing natural oils, notes Prevention. Plastics can break your hair since they don't have as much give.