How to Keep your Coloured Hair Healthy! - These 5 Simple ways

Hair dye is damaging, it is a well known fact that colour damages hair, especially the more abrasive permanent colour. So it is very important to take extra care of your hair if it is being regularly coloured.

Here are a few tips for keeping your coloured hair as healthy and full of moisture as possible...

1. The single most important thing to remember when going for a hair colour change is to get your hair coloured by a professional!! A good hair stylist / hairdresser knows exactly what they are doing, hair is their livelihood, they are paid good money to know about hair and colour hair styles and have been trained to use the harsh chemicals safely. Healthy hair is important for lasting style and a good stylist knows this! What's more they are using professional products that are a lot less harsh on the natural collagen fibers in the hair. So, please, please, please visit a stylist and get your hair dyed by a qualified professional rather than doing it D.I.Y. style at home in your bathroom sink.
2. Secondly I would recommend that you don't wash your hair too often. Shampoo is designed to strip the hair of dirt and impurities... this unfortunately includes your hair colour as well. Over washing will strip the hair of its natural, essential moisture which is vital in maintaining lasting rich colour tones.
3. Use a leave-in conditioner when combing through wet hair as this will help to detangle and offer lasting protection by locking in moisture that will ultimately keep your hair in good shape.
4. Take extra care brushing or combing through your hair when it is wet. Colour treatments make hair brittle and it will therefore break and split very easily, this is especially true of wet hair.
5. Use good quality, professional products on your hair to ensure moisture and lively colour.

Here are some top professional products which we recommend you try on your coloured hair...



Coloured hair Shampoo

• Simply Zen Whiteness Shampoo. Gently cleanses light coloured hair leaving it healthy and bright looking.
• Keratin Complex Colour Care Shampoo. Protects coloured hair and fights to keep it frizz free.
• Milkshake Colour Maintainer Shampoo. Cleans hair and leaves it bouncy and with vivid colour.

Coloured hair Conditioner

• Keratin Complex Colour Care Conditioner. Detangles coloured hair and leaves it soft, moisturised and ready to be styled.
• Milkshake Colour Maintainer Condtioner. Keeps coloured hair well hydrated. A great daily conditioner.
• Milkshake Hair Leave-In Conditioner. Perfect for coloured hair as this will make hair more manageable and leave it in much better condition after washing.

Coloured hair Treatments

• Milkshake Yogurt Mask. A treatment to be left on for 5 minutes. This restores damaged hair and leaves it soft and shiny.
• Milkshake Intensive Conditioning Foam. A real treat for dry and damaged hair!
• Milkshake Active Milk Treatment Mask. A restructuring treatment mask desgined to bring damaged hair back to life.

Coloured hair Style

• Keratin Complex Thermo Shine. Use this to avoid doing any further damage to your coloured hair.
• Milkshake Hair No Frizz Glistening Serum. A wonderful, smoothing product to be used before or after styling. Use this to lock in the moisture.
• No Inhibition Fluid Gloss. Protects all hair from hair dryers and straighteners, from sun damage and from every day dangers that our hair has to endure.

Follow these steps and try out some of these brilliant, professional products for coloured hair with maximum moisture!



Picture by spettacolopuro on Flickr, used under a Creative Commons Licence.

Professional Hair Care's Top 5 Golden Secrets!

Ok, so looking after your hair seems like fighting a losing battle? It is one bad hair day after another and you are lost for ideas on what to do next. Well, fear not, because help is at hand. We at Specialist Hair have had a meeting on our top 5 exclusive hair care tips and have decided to share them! There are a few basic rules when it comes to hair care, and these rules must be followed if you want to keep a beautiful head of hair. So, in a completely organised fashion I am going to put these secrets into a simple list of '5 golden rules' so that you know exactly where to start when looking after your hair. If you get these right, you are onto a winner!

Our Top 5 Exclusive Pro Hair Care Tips

• Don't Overwash - Right, so to kick things off we are going to start with this age old tip. Now it might sound like a cliche, or it may seem counter-intuitive but ignore this hair care tip at your peril. It is a simple one, don't wash your hair more often than you need to. Ok, so that sounds vague, so let me put some method behind it.
  
  As this rather handy hair care tip explains, there is no hard and fast rule for how many times a week you should wash your hair. Within your hair and on your scalp you will find your body's natural oils. When you use shampoo you are at risk of taking away these natural oils and thus causing your body to over compensate when it works the natural oil back into the hair. Too much of this and your hair will become greasy. The trick is to wash only dirt and daily grime build up from your hair, and as such it is advisable not to shampoo more than once every two/three days. It does, of course, depend on your type of hair but generally this golden rule is true across the board.



• Use The Right Tools! - Hair care product makers spend lots and lots of time slaving over pots of shampoo and conditioner, developing the best concoctions with all types of hair in mind. With all of this expert development going on, there is no reason not to use a hair product that is targetted specifically at your type of hair. That's right, whether you have the most common type of normal hair, or you have completely unique locks, you can bet there is a hair product range just for you. So, stop wasting time with average products, invest a little care when purchasing your products and you will completely get what you pay for! Always wanting to give practical advice, we have decided to give you a little list of ideas depending on hair types to show you how to choose your products!
  
  For Dry and Damaged Hair - Macadamia Hair Products for dry and damaged hair
  
  For Coloured Hair - Milkshake Colour Maintainer Hair Products for coloured hair
  
  For Frizzy Hair - Keratin Complex Hair Products for frizzy hair (now in the UK!!!)
  
  You get the idea, have a shop around and spend your money wisely!



• Trim - Yup, looking after your hair means giving it a trim from time to time. We suggest that every 6 (ish) weeks you pop into your local hair salon and get a trim. The reason behind this is to fight split ends. Split ends are one of the top reasons for making hair look tired and dry, so what better way to stop them spoiling your style than just cutting them out? At the same time, take caution not to over cut your hair as this will start to have a negative effect on your hair. Just give your hair a trim from time to time, a simple yet sweet golden secret!



• Colour With Care - Hair colour is obviously important, but there are two things to keep in mind. One is that you cannot underestimate the power of a professional hair colour expert. Not only will the expert be able to colour your hair without making a mess of things, but they will also be able to take care of colour care rule two: choose your hair colour carefully. There are some colours that you just won't suit, and others that you definately will, get some professional advice and have a good ol' think about it before you colour your hair.



• Hot Hot Hot! - Heat styling tool are everywhere we look now. You can't move for hair straightening irons these days, and that is ok, as long as you use the tools carefully. Make your hair look and feel great by using a proper heat styling hair product that will work wonders for your hair. Just spray a decent product on to your hair before styling and you will ensure that your hair wont be damaged by the heat and it will also make your hair look and feel amazing, it is a simple step that is definately worth taking!

So, that concludes our Top 5 hair care golden secrets, follow these and your hair will look and feel amazing all of the time! Be sure to spread the word because after all sharing is caring :-)

Picture by Leeni used under a Creative Commons Licence!

How To Get Hair Like...Katy Perry!

So, she is all the rage at the moment, she has even made an honest man of Russell Brand, so she must being doing something right. Now, we don't know if her hair has had anything to do with her success, but we certainly love Katy Perry's long, dark locks and we want to crack open the secrets behind her perfect hair. So, without further ado, here is our take on how to get hair as beautiful as Katy Perry's!

• The One With Shampoo...
  
  Ok, so with most guides to getting great hair, you are best to start with a clean set of locks, you can't get beutiful hair that isn't properley cleansed beforehand! Katy Perry has consistantly jet black hair that is always full of body and has a shine that draws you in to the deep dark beauty of her hair.
  
  It is important to take care of your hair colour, esspecially with a style like Katy Perry's that relies on having a consistant deep tone. As such, we decided to use a colour protecting shampoo that would cleanse and moisturise without taking away any of your hair's hue.
  
  The shampoo we used was the fantastic Milkshake Colour Maintainer Shampoo. Colour Maintainer Shampoo, as the name suggests, protects the colour of your hair whilst you cleanse. Milkshake Hair Products use a mixture of natural ingredients and all of the ones in here are going to be gentle to the colour tones in your hair whilst also leaving you with a natural shine and moisture, it is the only place to start really!



• What Condition is it in?
  
  Next we need to sort out a decent conditioner that is going to give your hair the vitality and lift it needs to achieve those effortless, full bodied loose curls that Katy Perry seems to achieve with ease. We need a conditioner that is going to make the most of your hair by adding a bit of oomph and moisture to stop any unwanted frizz.
  
  We have decided to use Montibello Ultra Rizzo Instant Mask. Ultra Rizzo or Very Curly (in English) is specially developed to add some real body to your hair as well as bringing together some salon professional ingredients that will promote the generation of healthy curls. We also love how this conditioner gives hair an amazing elasticity meaning your curls look like they have a genuine boost in body that is flexible and strong, this conditioner really put a smile on my face!



• You've Got Style!
  
  Really, there is only one more stage to achieve the loose curls of Katy Perry. You have washed your hair using a good quality, colour care shampoo and you have bathed it in a luxury conditioner that has set your hair ready for some curls. You will need to now prepare your hair to keep the curls, whether you have natural curls or need to coax them out with a curling iron.
  
  The product we have chosen as the styling tool for the loose curls look is Milk shake Curl Passion Designer. Milkshake Curl Passion is a specially formulated hair styling product that will work absolute wonders on curly hair styles.
  
  We simply applied a small amount to damp hair (can be applied to dry hair) and styled it as we wished. The hair was left feeling soft, looking full of body and it had a genuine strength and a lot of bounce in it! Milkshake Curl Passion is also another of my so called 'friendly' hair stlying products that wont ruin your hair in any way and uses really good ingredients that will stop your hair becoming frizzy.

So, there you have it. From flat and lifeless to the Katy Perry, full bodied, loose curls look in three painless steps. Let me know how it goes and we will be back next time with even more good hair advice for you!

The Hair Products We Used:

Milkshake Colour Maintainer Shampoo - £10.10 from milkshakehairproducts.co.uk

Montibello Ultra Rizzo Instant Mask - £12.40 from Specialist Hair Supplies

Milkshake Curl Passion Designer - £12.39 from Specialist Hair Supplies

Picture by: http://www.flickr.com/photos/machechy/ - Used under a Creative Commons Licence.

How To Get Hair Like...Audrina Partridge

Over the hills and far away are the secrets for you to have a good hair day. That's right, they might be rich, they might be pampered and filmed all day long but there is no reason why you can't use a little bit of magic to get hair as beautiful as the girls in the hills. This week we have picked the sleek dark hair of Audrina Partridge to try and emulate and here is how we did it.

Colour:

Audrina constantly has a beautiful deep, dark colour to her hair. The first thing you need to do is bring out the dark, smooth tones in your hair. For this we use a shampoo that is designed especially for brunette hair. We have chosen Toni&Guy's Dark Brunette Shampoo. It is from Boots and is an easy product to get hold of. Even though this is only an 'off the shelf' shampoo we were impressed with its quality and its promise to 'add shine' was a fair claim. The shampoo isn't too strong and will simply enhance the dark tones in brunette hair.

Shine:

The main element of Audrina Partridge's hair is perhaps its amazing, seemingly never ending shine! It is the shine that stops people in their tracks and makes her hair noticible for all of the right reasons. There are plently of ways to ensure good shine in your hair but we want lasting shine that will last the whole day. Our advice is to start with a really good quality conditioner.

Only last week we were telling you how important a good quality conditioner is. It is always worth spending the money on a good conditioner for your hair and this is truer than ever now. We have been using a bit of a special product called Voila Color Kult. Color Kult is a specialist conditioner for brunette hair and it is an amzing product. This conditioner is infused with colour which will add to the tones in your hair already.

As well as dealing with colour, Color Kult is also a great quality conditioner. Your hair will be left silky smooth and most importantly; shiny!

Straighten

WAIT! Don't touch the straightening irons yet. One of the biggest mistakes women make when they want to achieve the 'Audrina Partridge look' is to get the irons out and straighten the living daylights out of their hair. Yes, you can use irons to straighten your hair, but it is not the be all and end all. Before you even look at the heated irons, there is a strict regime to follow.

Only after you have properly washed your hair and conditioned it with a good quality conditioner should you move onto the straight stage. Before using any kind of heated tool on your hair you should make sure you protect it. For straightening irons there are hundreds of good quality products on the market that will protect your hair from damage by using tools.

For this job we want a spray which will add protection as well as promoting frizz free, shiny locks. We went for Milkshake No Frizz Glistening Spray, a natural hair spray that will protect against damage from heat tools. The great thing about this heat protecting styler is that it adds a beautiful glisten to your hair, perfect for achieving the Audrina look.

Summary:

• Use a shampoo that works with the tones in your hair to deepen your colour



• Follow shampoo with a good quality conditioner to prepare your hair for shine!



• Protect your hair before going near straightening irons

This is quite a simply style but there are important steps to follow. The most important thing for smooth, frizz free hair is that it is healthy, this means not too much straightening with irons and using good qualitys products!

Picture: Used Under Creative Commons Licence