Every woman wants long healthy hair but very few people talk about the elephant in the room. When you have long and thick hair you will also have to contend with spending a much longer time styling it. It’s not uncommon to take upwards of two hours from washing your hair to styling it and everything in between.
Some women simply lack the time for it and opt to cut down their hair. But what if I told you that there was a faster way to style your hair and that you need not consider the chop?
Get ready for some amazing hacks that will change your life.
1. Air Dry Your Hair
Now I know we said a faster way of styling your hair, but the most important part of this is to ensure that your hair is in tip-top shape. Heat is bad for your hair especially when the hair is wet. Using a blow dryer immediately you walk out of the shower will do more harm than good in the long run.
If you wash your hair two or three times a week, then chances are you will have some time to spare. Once you are out of the shower, take a cotton t-shirt, and pat your hair. It will absorb the water without causing too much strain on your hair.
If you don’t have a cotton t-shirt lying around, pick a towel, and pat it on your hair instead of rubbing. Now allow your hair to air-dry.
2. A Better Time for Your Hair Masks
First off, hair masks are a great way to provide our hair with nourishment. It results in beautiful long, healthy, and silky hair. That said, very few women incorporate hair masks as part of their hair care routine. And the reason is simple, it takes a bit of time, time that most of us may not have.
However, once you find out a few clever ways of doing your hair masks, you will notice that it is just an excuse you’ve been making.
Look at it this way: by wearing your hair mask before going to the shower, the heat from the hot water will open the cuticle layer allowing your hair to absorb all the goodness and nourishment from the mask.
And it doesn’t end there, you can wear a hair mask when going to the gym or to the sauna. It’s all about allowing the heat allowing all the good stuff to work their magic on your hair.
3. Apply Products When the Hair is 80% Dry
Another great way to ensure that your hair is simple and quick to style is to apply your hair products before it is completely dry. If you were to apply products when the hair is completely dry then they will not offer the full spectrum of benefits and you will only be adding moisture to your hair.
For example, a great time to apply hair products is after you’ve patted the hair with a cotton t-shirt.
4. How to Blow Dry
There is a proper way to blow dry your hair and you will often see this method with your hairstylist. Take the blow dryer and remove the nozzle. This will stop the blow dryer from concentrating the hot air onto a long thin stream. With the roots upside down blow dry your hair as you move closer to your roots. Once you get to about 80% take your round comb and use this to dry your hair.
5. Bring Down the Heat
After blow-drying your hair with hot air, change it to cool setting and blow cold air. This helps to close up the cuticle resulting in a shiny look. The sealed cuticle also means that the hair will not absorb pollutants as much from the environment. This leaves it healthier and makes it easier to style.
6. How to Curl Long Hair
Now let’s get down to the styling. If you have long hair, you may want to rock those curls but never get around it because it takes time.
However, you can make things a whole lot easier by dividing your hair into two or three sections. You can do this by holding it up in two or three ponytails.
This makes it easier for you to work on the different sections. It is more manageable and you will find that you will get your curls much faster.
7. How About the Roots
So we looked at how to curl long hair but what happens to the roots. Since the curling iron will not go this far, you will need to add volume to your roots as the hair here will be flatter.
There are a couple of ways that you can do this. First off you can use a texturing powder. Another alternative to add volume in our hair is to use a natural dry shampoo.
Make sure that you massage the powder well into your roots.
8. How to Get Wavy Hair
The first step towards forming those sexy beachy waves is to use the right equipment. The iron should have a barrel with a standard width from top to bottom. Avoid using an iron with tapering on the barrel.
Next, take your hair and split it in tow. Take sections of different sizes from any of the two initial sections and start creating waves.
Take the hair, wrap it in the barrel away from the face, and ensure that you leave a straight section at the end of your hair.
Now finally take the hair of the barrel of the iron. Drop the hair onto your hand and allow it to cool for a bit. Note that it is important to not drop your long hair as the weight will weight down the curls when hot.
Now repeat the process with another section and so on and so forth. Finally, spray a bit of texture spray to your hair and you are done.