To me a bad hair day really is a bad day. I’ve been obsessed with taking care of my hair ever since I was little and lusted over long locks. Except the occasional times my parents insisted on me trying out a shorter do, I’ve stuck with longer hairstyles. As I got older and started dying my hair more, I’ve had to put extra effort into maintaining it. It does take a fair amount of bleach to lighten my naturally dark brown hair. In recent years, I’ve been going lighter and lighter and it wasn’t until recently that I realized how much damage it was doing to my hair. I decided to focus on transforming my hair to it’s naturally healthier state by making small changes to my beauty routine and so far, I’ve been seeing great results.

Here are 5 Steps To Healthier Hair

1. Go longer between coloring appointments: Bleach has been my friend and my worst enemy. I love my balayaged color, but after going lighter and lighter at each appointment, my hair finally started to break off and growing it out has taken way longer than it used to. I was going every 2-3 months for color touch-ups, but I’ve scaled that back to 5-6 months to give my hair some reprieve. The beauty of balayage is that is that color never really touches your roots so that grown out look is intentional. You can get away with fewer color appointments and no one really knows the difference (including me!).

2. Stay closer to your natural color: My love affair with bleach has dwindling down. I’m probably never going to give it up entirely, but I will be limiting how much time it stays on my head for (I’m no longer pleading with my stylist to leave it on for longer). The result has been a much more natural looking color which I’ve been loving (much to my own surprise). I can finally throw my hair up in a ponytail or bun and not worry about having a blonde bun and dark roots.

3. Use this not-so-secret secret product: You’ve probably heard me talk about it before, but Olaplex has been a lifesaver. It strengthens your hair in the dying process and the at-home treatment protects it from breakage. It’s the only product that I can truly say I notice an almost immediate difference with.

4. Use styling tools less often: I’ve been washing my hair less often and experimenting with new styles as I try to forgo using a curling iron every single day. Straight hair is really in right now and I’m really loving the lower maintenance vibe. I do run a straightener through my hair every other day, but I put the temperature on lower and don’t hold it on my hair for as long.

5. Fake it ’til you make it: I’ve been wearing extensions for years and I don’t see myself giving them up anytime soon. I prefer the clip-in kind because overall they are way less maintenance not to mention every celeb stylist I saw while I lived in LA suggested I refrained from using them given my natural hair is pretty fine. To avoid breakage and costly maintenance, clip-ins are the way to go. I wear mine every day and they literally take 5 minutes to clip in. I currently wear these by Beauty Works (in the color “Mocha Melt” – use code “Maria10” for 10% off).

xo, Maria

Outfit Details

Parker Black & White Top (wearing an XS)
FRAME Skinny Jeans (wearing a 24)
Christian Louboutin So Kate White Heels
Saint Laurent Sunglasses
Gucci GG Marmont Mini Bag
Baublebar Yellow Tassel Earrings

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