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Nobody wants to go out with dull, dehydrated hair, but chemical treatments, styling products, thermal stylers, and even the environment suck the life out of hair. Below, we’ll show you how to get shiny hair with a little effort and some TLC.
How to Get Shiny Hair: A Summary
Many of the treatments that people use to make their hair beautiful is exactly what will leave it dry and brittle. However, if you follow these steps, you’ll return the luster and shine to your hair:
- Use a Sugar Scrub on Your Scalp
- Try a Clarifying Shampoo
- Get a Nutrient-Rich Conditioner
- Rinse with Cold Water
- Use Oil on Wet Ends
- Ask About a Gloss Treatment
- Choose the Right Brush or Comb
- Avoid Heat Styling
- Blow-Dry on Cool
- Set up a Humidifier While You Sleep
- Pay Attention to Your Diet
- Limit Your Shampooing
If you follow these steps, your hair will have that youthful glow and feel soft and silky.
How to Get Shiny Hair in 12 Steps
Take a look at the following 12 steps to getting the shine back in your hair.
1. Use a Sugar Scrub on Your Scalp
Many people aren’t aware that keeping your scalp healthy is important for shiny hair. Your scalp is covered by skin, and it is exposed to chemicals from products and a buildup of dead skin cells and product residue. Impurities from the environment have an impact as well.
Use a foaming sugar scrub to gently clean your scalp and remove impurities so that your hair will grow out healthy. When you choose a product that adds moisture to your scalp, it will also help keep your hair hydrated and shiny.
2. Purchase a Clarifying Shampoo
Clarifying shampoos are designed to remove buildup from your hair. Your shampoo and styling products leave buildup on your hair, and regular shampoo just doesn’t have the strength to cut through all the gunk. The result is a dull, lackluster hair due to the coating of product buildup. Yuck! Fortunately, clarifying shampoo can cut through the buildup.
Using this product helps eliminate the product buildup that prevents your hair from shining. You have the choice of clarifying shampoo for fine hair or for curly hair, so choose the one that is right for you.
Chemicals and sulfates in shampoos and hair products will strip your hair and open its cuticles, so this product will help to keep the cuticles protected and closed.
3. Get a Nutrient Rich Conditioner
As you may have noticed, your skin glows when you use the right moisturizer. Your hair is no different, but the key is in using a light conditioner that is full of nutrients. Choose products that contain olive oil or avocado oil, as they will help repair cracks in the hair cuticle that lead to frizzy, dull hair.
When your hair shaft is less porous and has a smooth cuticle, your hair will be shiny. Also incorporate a hair mask for extra hydration. This is a treatment that you leave on overnight to restore your hair.
Read Next: Best Hair Masks
4. Rinse with Cold Water
As much as you might love a hot shower, your hair doesn’t respond well to rinsing with hot water. Cold water helps to smooth and seal the hair cuticle, which keeps your hair hydrated and increases your shine.
Once you finish your shampoo and conditioner treatment, run the cold water over your hair before you exit the shower. Another benefit is that it will help lock color in your hair longer. Make sure that you do this each time you shampoo your hair.
5. Use Oil on Wet Ends
The ends of your hair become damaged easily, which is why they are the first part of your hair to dry out and break off. They are also the oldest hair you have on your head, and they have seen some stuff and done some worse stuff. They can get a bit haggard over time.
To combat dry, damaged ends, you can use hair oil to moisturize and repair your hair from the outside. Make sure that you choose a lightweight oil. This ensures that it won’t make your hair greasy or heavy, and you will love the shine that it provides. Use the oil on your scalp once a week to nourish it and use a few drops each day on your hair strands.
6. Ask About a Gloss Treatment
Some hair salons offer a gloss treatment to protect and enhance your hair, while providing a renewed shine. They will provide a clear gloss with a touch of golden color, which gives you an incredible shine. You simply keep this treatment on for around 10 minutes, and you will leave the salon with super shiny hair.
7. Choose the Right Brush or Comb
You might be surprised to learn that your brush could be contributing to the dullness. Your brush is one of the most important hair care tools you use, but you need to make sure that you are using the right one.
If you have fine hair, choose a round, metal bristle brush to bring it to life. Medium hair types need to control frizz, so choose a round boar and nylon brush.
For thick hair, you need something that helps encourage root volume while smoothing the hair. Use a boar bristle paddle brush. Another option is to use a comb to gently detangle your hair after it is conditioned.
Make sure that you choose the best brush or comb for your hair type. When you find the right brush, you should brush your hair at least once each day. This helps to pull the natural oils from your scalp down onto the rest of your hair.
Read Next: Best Hair Brushes
8. Avoid Heat Styling
This is a tough one for people who are accustomed to using a flat iron or a curling iron on a regular basis. However, using heat styling tools wears out your cuticles and makes your hair frizzy, dry, and weak.
If your hair is already dry and damaged, give your hair a break to let it recover. Try to avoid using your heat styling tools at least one or two days a week, and use a heat protectant on days when you must use these tools.
Read Next: How to Straighten Hair Without Heat
9. Blow-Dry on Cool
Your hair dryer is another tool that causes your hair to lose its shine. You need to change up the way you dry your hair so that it has more shine. Start by using a microfiber towel to remove excess water, and then try an ionic hair dryer.
This type of hair dryer will dry your hair more quickly than others, and it reduces static. Use the nozzle attachment to enhance the luster and smooth your hair. When you finish up, blast the cold air to set your style and create more shine.
10. Set up a Humidifier While You Sleep
Your hair is impacted by its environment, and most people have the heat or air conditioner on all the time. While keeping you comfy in your home, these systems dry out the air, which in turn will dry out your hair.
Set up a humidifier in your bedroom and add a few drops of essential oils to add moisture to the air. Sleeping with your humidifier will help hydrate your hair and make it shiny again.
11. Pay Attention to Your Diet
Your diet has an impact on your health, and what you eat contributes to how healthy your hair is. You need to take vitamins or eat foods that are rich in iron, such as fish, meat, leafy greens, or beans. Other important nutrients include vitamin C, vitamin A, silica, and omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.
12. Limit Your Shampooing
Just about every stylist will beg you to cut back on your shampooing schedule. Many people shampoo on a daily basis, but this leads to buildup and damage to your hair.
Shampoo has harsh chemicals in it, and it strips your hair of its natural oils. If you reduce your shampooing to every other day, you will give your hair a chance to benefit from its natural oils.
You can also boost your shine by rinsing your hair with apple cider vinegar once a week in place of a shampoo. Add two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar to a cup of water and soak your hair in it. Then, use your conditioner on the ends. This mixture will dissolve buildup on your roots and eliminate bacteria that clogs follicles and dulls the hair.
Things to Consider
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When you want to revitalize your hair to make it shine, you need to mix up your hair care routine.
Things to Do
- Nourish your scalp
- Use a clarifying shampoo
- Hydrate your hair
- Blast your hair with cold water
- Keep a humidifier in your room
Things Not to Do
- Don’t use a lot of heat
- Don’t shampoo every day
- Don’t forget about your diet
So, How Do You Get Shiny Hair?
Getting shiny hair is a matter of paying attention to your hair care routine. By making a few changes and focusing on hydrating your hair, you will bring the luster back to your hair. It will be shiny, healthy, smooth, and sleek with a touch of TLC.