Tammy’s turmoil: Can you tell me what makes hair really shiny?
The Right Brain’s shimmering reply:
Naturally shiny hair has a cuticle that’s smooth and flat; it’s plumped up with water (about 10 to 15% by weight); and it’s rich in natural oils that keep the whole thing “glued” together.
Unfortunately, you’re stealing shine from your hair everyday and you probably don’t even realize it. If you want good gloss, you should avoid these 12 things that can rob hair of shine. Or as we like to call them, the Dulling Dozen:
1. Flood Damage
Even “harmless” water can be a shine stealer. That’s because too much moisture swells the hair shaft and causes the cuticle to buckle. The more frequently you wet your hair, the less shine you’re likely to have.
2. Shampoo Scrubbing
Scrubbing bubbles seem cute but all that rub a dub dub lifts the cuticle even more. Using a conditioning shampoo can help because the hair shafts won’t snag against each other when you’re lathering up.
3. Careless Under-conditioning
Ok, not everyone needs to condition EVERY time they wash their hair. BUT, if your hair is dry to begin with it’s much more likely to be damaged during and after styling if you skip conditioner. You’re just giving shine away!
4. Death by Towel Drying
So, now your hair is wet. What do you do? Blot, don’t rub! A rough towel can cause an amazing amount of damage on wet hair.
5. The Brush Off
Don’t fall for that old myth that you should brush you hair 100 strokes every night. While brushing does temporarily help by distributing natural oils, in the long run it strips off layers of cuticle and weakens hair.
6. Hot Styling Appliances
Heat is the natural enemy of shine. That’s because high temperatures damage the natural lipids (fancy word for oils) that help keep hair flexible and shiny. If you do decide to heat style, use protection!
7. Protective Product Residue
Yes, you do need to use heat protection but be careful what you wish for. Some leave in creams and gels leave behind a dulling residue.
8. Color My World
Chemical coloring is very damaging because it breaks down the inner structure of hair protein. Even if you use the special conditioner that comes with the coloring kit, your hair never fully recovers.
9. Wave Bye Bye
Permanent waving is another chemical process that’s highly damaging.
10. Twist and Shout
Twisting and playing with your hair is a dangerous habit as far as shine is concerned. That’s because the torsional forces (fancy word for twisting and bending) loosens the cuticles.
11. I Dig A Pony
Wearing your hair in a pony tail may seem like a hassle free style, but if you pull it back too tightly you may be creating micro-fractures in the hair that will reflect light unevenly and cause loss of shine.
12. Here Comes The Sun
And with the sun comes damaging UV radiation that can wreak havoc on natural hair lipids like 18-methyleicosinoic acid. Without these lipids hair dulls quickly. If you can’t stay out of the sun make sure you’re protecting your hair with a good conditioner.
{ 30 comments… read them below or add one }
Awesome new look, guys! I love it!
Re: shiny hair… what’s the point of having super shiny hair if you can’t wash it, brush it, style it, dry it, or show it off to the world on a sunny day? Sigh… the great ironies of beauty. No wonder cosmetics is such a huge industry!
brains, i LOVE the new layout!
Want shiny hair? Ask your hairdresser for a semi-permanent colour, or as some call them, a gloss treatment. Semi-permanents sit on the outer (cuticle) layer of the hair and fill in the gaps between the cuticle scales providing a smoother surface and a smoother surface reflects more light, thus, shinier hair. If you live in a area of “hard water” use a claifying or deep cleansing shampoo to remove mineral/impurity deposits which will dull your hair. Next, towel dry your hair BEFORE you apply conditioner. Why? A conditioner is acidic and closes the cuticle (making it smoother)thus locking in moisture and smoothing the surface. It takes about 5 seconds to towel dry the hair but the benefits last months, and a conditioner will also contain moisturisers etc which will not penetrate the hair if it is full of water. Hope this helps.
i love love love the image you chose… that’s so me!
i have.. hehehe.. efficiently damaged my hair! it’s permed, dyed, and highlighted..
but hey, it looks good and funky!
Yeah, I am so screwed.
It’s truly a wonder, given all of this, that my hair doesn’t exhibit so much dullness that it actually saps away the shine from nearby glossy objects. Kind of like a black hole.
Informative post, though. (No need to shoot the messenger, right?)
Love the new site!! Regarding the comment about using a towel to dry your hair- I learned a tip that if you use a T-Shirt to squeeze out your hair (not scrub with it like we do with our towels) it will be less frizzy too.
Interesting… how come my hair seems shinier after heat styling? I guess it might be because my hair is wavy/curly and straightening it would probably make it shinier? Doesn’t straight hair reflect more light? Also, my hair always seems shinier after using hair dye… any ideas?
Straight hair is more shiny because it reflects light in a more uniform pattern. And hair dye changes the color so your eye is naturally going to make you believe it is shinier. It may or may not be.
I found that doing a final rinse in cold water makes my hair shinier and less frizzy. Plus the cold blast will make sure I am definitely awake.
I have super glossy, shiny hair. My two tricks are rinsing with vinegar, and using a flat iron to straighten. My hair feels like silk after the iron, and is SO shiny. I just love how it looks and feels. And the vinegar – it takes off all the shampoo and conditioner residue so that it doesn’t dull the hair shaft.
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i really loved this page.it gave me more information on how to take care of my hair but also explained why not to do thoese things. thanks again!
*/aubrey
This is a great list of to-dos and not- tos for keeping your hair healthy and shiny.
If you have unruly locks, check out the naturallycurly.com web site for great advice on how to take care of your hair.
It’s not so hard to avoid the Dulling Dozen once you got into the habit.
Basically, but gentle with your hair. After wash, gently finger comb your hair to detangle the snarls, then smear on some coconut oil and then finally comb with a horn comb.
Wear a bun/updo daily. Wear hat for high sun exposure days.
Wash your hair less frequently, weekly wash is enough for me.
Oh, and I cringe upon hearing the word straightening/curling iron.
Sure, your hair would probably be really shiny and healthy if you only wore it in a bun every day and only washed it once a week, but where’s the fun in that? I would have great hair, but who would know if I just wore a coconut oil-smeared bun every day? What’s the point of having healthy hair if you don’t want it to look nice? It’s not like having less-damaged hair is good for you in any way other than having pretty hair. I like my hair to look nice. To do so, I need to tame it some ways… some ways besides smearing it with oil and tying it back, which means curling irons or hot rollers and blowdryers.
Wearing in a bun everyday does seem a little extreme for the the price of shiny locks.
Sasha does have some great advice:
1. Do not shampoo as frequently
2. Only comb through conditioned, wet hair
3. Coconut Oil is a wonderful leave in conditioner, but might be too heavy for some hair types.
4. Protect hair from the sun
What I do:
1. Deep Condition once a week
2. Use only water solable hair care products like DevaCurl, Jessicurl, and Batia and Aleeza’s lines.
3. Avoid blow frying or frequent use of hot appliances of your hair.
4. Read and practice “Curly Girl” techniques by Lorraine Massey, or go visit the NaturallyCurly.com web site.
5. Learn to embrace your hair and not fight against it.
Here’s to many great hair days!
Just a couple of things to keep in mind for healthy hair.
1: I recently learned that Hot Oil treatments are actually damaging to the hair. The oil molecules slip under the cuticle of the hair and get stuck in there. When the cuticle tries to flatten / close it breaks off due to the oil molecule being in the way.
I would be careful about other types of oils, you don’t want to use something with a molecule that is too large. Crazy as it is, I was a huge user of hot oil in the 80′s and 90′s.
2: Yes your hair will appear shiny when using hot tools such as your flat iron, blow drier, curling iron…this is because the cuticle is being flattened completely, however there is also damage being created.
I think the reality of having healthy shiny hair is largely genetic. Sure you can coat your hair with all sorts of professional and non-professional products, never use heat, keep it up in a bun, what ever you like, but ultimately you were born with the hair your born with. The environment plays a huge factor in your health, hot or cold climates, dry or humid all promote some damage to hair.
hmm…i see its interesting.
hair r so hard to take care of..ughhh
lol but i will and always will try.
BASICALLY WAT THE ABOVE ARTICLE IS SAYING IS:
water, shampoo,towel drying, brushing too much, heat, chemical coloring, permanant waving, twisting/playing w/ur hair, ponytail too tight, sun are not too good for the hair all the time.
conditioning shampoo – yes.
HAPPY HAIR CARING EVERYONE!!
haha im serious though because i have long hair myself so i gotta take care too.
Using coconut oil when your hair starts to get dry can help. Really good is the Tahitian Monoi oil, which is in Hei Poa product range.
This says hair NEVER fully recovers from coloring. Would you please clarify? Are you speaking of the hair that has been dyed that will never recover? Or does it change the balance of the hair that has yet to grow and it will literally NEVER be the same?
Only the treated hair will never be the same. New hair growing out will be “virgin” and the same as the hair pre-coloring.
One of the great tips I got from hair forums years ago is to use an old, soft, cotton T-shirt to blot your hair dry, instead of a thirsty, cotton towel. An old T-shirt will sap out much less water than a towel.
I never knew that working up too much lather with your shampoo would cause damage and I study this stuff all day.
Thanks.
@Mariposa: an old tshirt may be better because it creates less friction than a towel but it’s not really a question of how much water it absorbs. Either way the hair will equilibrate to the ambient humidity.
I have the prettyst hair in my school and this stuff doesent do shit i did all that and noffin happend then i got aussi shampoo and my hair is awesome try it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!XD
I don’t do anything to my hair. I stopped dying it a couple of years ago, and cut it short to give it a rest from all the hell I’ve given it. Now I’m growing it out again and it’s still dull. Expensive shampoos and even more expensive conditioners, I air dry and treat with heat protection before touching it with my chi (on an appropriate setting) this is total crap. If I take one more fish oil pill I’m going to gag.
I think it is best to eat healthy oil rich foods like avacodo, olives, mayonaisse. Like the drug tests everything goes to you hair. Gelatin in good for your hair and nails and bones and delicious too. I am sitting here will baby oil on my hair. It’s the best thing for my skin. Sounds like I probably just damaged it more. It will try the olive oil next time.
I have thick natural blonde (now ash and some silver on top) and very shiny hair, as does one of my grandsons. I am 68 years old, have kept it salon colored (weaved mostly) every 3 or 4 mos. since my teens, wash it almost daily (cheap shampoo and no conditioner), and blow dry it. I eat a well-balanced diet for the most part – probably more oil & butter than I should, but just enjoy food.
My hair is very thick and smooth. I wear it in a shoulder-length bob. It grows fast enough that I need a haircut about every 4-5 weeks. My nails are very hard and they grow very long very fast.
This just tells me that it is absolutely a genetic thing. Perhaps the regular cutting makes a difference, but the Good Lord blessed me with beautiful thick hair (like my dad). I am so very grateful. I am not in any way beautiful – in fact I’m old and now chubby! However, I always get compliments on my hair and nails. We are all blessed with something. Don’t stress over what you don’t have, but please enjoy what God and nature provided.
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