The Science of Good Hair Days: How to Style Smarter, Not Harder
Good hair days aren’t just reserved for salon visits or perfect hair conditions. With the right tools and products, you can extend the life of your style.
To achieve a longer-lasting style, understanding the hair you work with is key. Knowing how to apply the best hair styling products for your hair type is simple and will not only style your hair but also work to protect it from damage as you style. Today’s hair care products are formulated with light-weight, non-greasy formulas that allow hair to be styled in the way you desire while also working to protect your hair from heat styling damage.
The Science Behind the Strands
While a simple understanding of hair could allow you to employ typical hair styling methods, true mastery of your hair or “mane” requires an understanding of the simple yet complex composition of your locks. Most hair is comprised of roughly 97% keratin, a hard protein which is found in majority of your skin as well as your fingernails and toenails. The simplest form of hair consists of three primary components: the outermost layer known as the cuticle, followed by the cortex and then the medulla.
Knowing how your hair is put together will help you to style your hair better and also help you to look after your hair.
The Cuticle: The outer layer of the hair, commonly referred to as the hair “porch”, the cuticle forms the hair’s surface. The cuticle resembles a roof, and it is this flat hair surface that gives hair its greatest shine by optimally reflecting light. It also is responsible for hair’s susceptibility to friction or tangling, as well as to becoming dull when it lifts from the hair shaft.
The Cortex: This part of the hair shaft contains the moisture within the hair as well as the melanin that gives your hair its natural color. Hair bonds are contained within the cortex of hair and they determine the hair’s natural shape. That means straight hair, wavy hair, curly hair and even coily hair all have different hair bonds.
The Golden Rule of Styling: The Styling of hair depends on the temporary change of the hair’s hydrogen bonds. These hydrogen bonds are split by water, and then are re-set by heat or drying. Ambient humidity will re-set the bonds for you if you do not control this process.
From Wet to Reset: The Critical Drying Phase
When hair dryers were first created they used to blast air at extremely hot temperatures in order to make the moisture in your hair evaporate the fastest in order to dry your hair. However, when hair dryers use hot air they can actually cause the water inside of your hair to boil. And when water boils it turns to air. So, when you use a hair dryer to dry your hair and the extremely hot air hits a drop of water on your hair, the water can boil and turn to air inside of your hair. When this air builds up in your hair it causes your hair to split. When hair splits it can make your hair become very brittle and even cause it to break off. This is often referred to as “bubble hair.”
This type of damage is often referred to as “Bubble Hair”. These air pockets within the hair shaft cause hair to become brittle and prone to split ends or breakage. Even minimal stress on hair that contains a large amount of air pockets can cause serious hair damage.
Traditional hair dryers for example use extremely high heat to very quickly dry hair. However, the water in hair is boiled and then turns to air in the hair shaft. This air in hair creates tiny air pockets or bubbles within individual hair strands. These bubbles of air create ‘bubble hair’ and can cause hair to become very brittle and prone to splitting and even to break. However, there are hair dryers available that have high-velocity airflow and intelligent heat. These types of hair dryers are perfect for quickly evaporating the moisture from hair without causing damage to hair. As the moisture is quickly evaporated from hair the outer layer of hair is able to smooth and close in on itself. As the hair’s natural moisture is sealed within the hair shaft it will have a healthy shine and hold a style very well.
The Ultimate Pre-Styling Blueprint
Many will agree that one of the most important elements of achieving a great hair day is to style your hair prior to completing your hair care routine. How you pre-style your hair can greatly affect your hair for the rest of the day and can either be a positive or negative force. This is why it is extremely important to select the right tools and follow the correct techniques in order to prime your hair for styling and to ensure the best possible hair care for your locks. Think of pre-styling your hair much in the same way that you would prepare a wall to paint. If you fail to apply the correct primer to the wall prior to painting with your final coat of paint then the final coat of paint will fail to adhere properly to the wall, causing it to potentially look horrible. In much the same way you must prepare your hair for styling in order to achieve the best possible results and to ensure that your hair looks its best for the rest of the day.
Don’t Rub Your Hair With a Towel: After you get out of the shower, rub your hair with a towel as little as possible. The friction from the cotton in the towel can open up the cuticle of your hair and cause tangles. Instead of rubbing your hair with a towel, you can use a microfiber towel to dry your hair. You can also use the front of a soft cotton T-shirt to dry your hair. Once you have dried your hair with the towel or T-shirt, you can either let it air-dry or style it as normal.
Detangle Hair for Styling: Detangle your hair after washing with a wide-tooth comb or flexible wet brush. When detangling hair from wet to dry, detangle from the bottom up to prevent hair from experiencing snap-breakage.
Apply Your Shield – Leave-in hair products can not only protect your hair from heat damage, they can also hold your style in place for hours. Leave-in hair products create an invisible shield on your hair and this allows heat to be distributed evenly, preventing hot spots. A good leave-in hair product for hold is lightweight and can be applied to both wet and dry hair and used on a daily basis.
Locking in the Look (And Outsmarting Humidity)
Locking in Your Style: To guarantee that your style will last until you reach the front door (and by front door I mean until you step outside of your house) you must lock in your style. The biggest enemy of hair styling is humidity. Humidity penetrates the hair shaft and instantly breaks the hydrogen bonds you worked so hard to reform in order to style your hair as desired.
But wait, there is more. The Cool Shot. The release of cold air at the end of your hair styling regime can be your hair’s best friend. When you release the cold air it will set the hair you have styled in place. It will lock the cuticle of the hair so that it has the most reflectivity. And then apply a small amount of hair oil to the mid-lengths and ends of your hair. This will form a protective layer on your hair that will be able to prevent any external moisture from affecting your hair.
By following a great hair care regime and using the right hair styling tools and hair styling products you can have salon quality hair every day of the year without the risk of damage from heat styling.
