7 Things You Should Do When You Start Your Healthy Hair Journey

Once you decide that it is time to get your hair healthy again it might be confusing on just where to start. I remember there was a point in my hair journey right in the beginning when I stared at the mirror asking myself what in the world was I going to do about my hair.

My hair was breaking, it was shedding like crazy and I was suffering from hair loss due to a bad perm. Where do I start?

In this post I want to answer just that question because getting your hair healthy, believe it or not, is a process. It takes time and you have to have a plan in order to be successful.

I know that everyone’s situation is different so my level of ‘un-healthy’ might not be the same as yours or vice versa, but there are a few general things everyone needs to consider when they decide to start a healthy hair journey. Here are the top 7 things you need to do to start:

1. Get a detailed consultation from a recommended stylist

Even though we are a family of DIY’ers, it helps to get help from a professional who will assess your hair and scalp and give you a list of recommendations.

We suggest getting more than one consultation so that you can cross-check between stylists and check off what was common between both. You have to know where you are to determine where you are going so a consultation is a great place to start.

2. Say no to chemicals

I know it is hard to hear but you cannot fix damaged hair with more damage. Chemical treatments like, relaxers, color or extreme heat treatments demolish the structure of the strand. This means that if your hair strand is so thin that it is breaking without a relaxer if you add a relaxer to your hair you are only making things worse.

There is no such thing as a healthy relaxer, but there are relaxers that have been developed to cause less damage in comparison to others.

If your hair is struggling to get healthy do not use any relaxers, color or extreme heat in an attempt ‘to fix’ it.

3. Get a hair cut

Some women need just a trim others need a down right cut, when you consult with a stylist on the state of your hair they will make the best recommendation for you.

Hair cuts are not a bad thing especially if you are starting over from heat damage, chemical damage or haphazard hair loss.

To start out fresh you need to cut off all the damaged ends, and give your healthy hair a chance to thrive, it is much better to have healthy shorter hair than long unhealthy hair.

4. Develop a regimen

A regimen is a simple plan on how you are going to care for your hair once you have made the decision to get healthy again. A regimen is very specific to your own situation and is custom made to fit your own lifestyle and your own hair needs.

This might mean cleansing your scalp weekly, deep conditioning* weekly, massaging your scalp weekly or even seeing a stylist every two weeks to get your hair back on track.

Read all about building a regimen here, here and here.

5. Pick your products carefully

It is easy to purchase everything and anything once you decide to start a healthy hair journey but I would suggest doing some research before buying the whole store.

Frankly, you want to stick with healthy hair products that are as natural as possible. If you are going to get healthy you might as well do it chemical free right? This means reading the labels of products and making sure that the ingredients are healthy for you and your plan.

Choosing products can be tricky, but as long as you are not headed to the store without a plan you might be able to shuffle through the fluff and get the best products for your hair.

6. Follow your regimen

If you want healthy hair it is important that you understand it does not happen overnight just like damaged hair does not happen overnight. You have to be very consistent about your regimen making it an absolute priority in your life. There is no other way to get your hair healthy if you are not consistent with your regimen.

7. Assess your progress

It helps when you see progress in your hair to remain diligent to the process, so this might mean taking pictures on the day you decide to start your hair healthy journey and throughout your journey as well.

Sometimes it is easier to see progress through pictures than it is just looking in the mirror, so you better get used to taking a few selfies!

Have you decided to start your healthy hair journey yet? Comment below!