My Healthy Hair Journey

Why did I start my healthy hair journey?

1. I suffered from thinning hair for many years. It came in various forms. There was a time when a had patchy hair loss, there’s been a progressive thinning middle part, and of course post-partum hair loss.

2. My hair was so dry. To combat this dryness, caused by a raised cuticle. I would straighten my hair, which would somewhat mask the damage. But you could clearly see from my ends that my hair was not in a good condition and over time my blow dry just wouldn’t last.

3. My scalp always felt irritated. Whether it was dry or itchy. And thinking back to it, I had scalp buildup.

4. I had my daughter. This was the pivotal moment for me. My daughter has very curly hair, beautiful spirals. I needed to understand how to take care of her hair, which made me realize, I didn’t even know how to take care of my own curly hair.

I decided I needed to learn to take care of my hair, otherwise my hair would continue thinning and it would get drier thanks to the vicious cycle of blow drying to mask the damage, which was just causing more damage. And lastly, I just wanted to feel comfortable and happy with my hair.

Some mistakes I made when starting my healthy hair journey

No journey is without speed bumps, here were some of mine:

1. I was mixing my own scalp oil. I am not a formulator. My formulation was kind of terrible. I was putting way too much essential oils in it, and the ingredients were not diverse enough to tackle various scalp issues.

2. I was covering the rest of my hair in a heavy coating of oil prior to wash days. The heavy coating of oil on the rest of my hair was problematic because it meant I needed more shampoo for my hair which just defeated the purpose because now I had a combination of dry hair and buildup on my hair which, trust me, looked bad.

3. I was not protecting my hair when blow drying. Early on I wasn’t ready to let me curls lose so I was still blow drying. The thing is, you can continue to blow dry your hair, you just have to make sure that you protect your hair. I was using extremely high heat, not adding a heat protectant, starting my blow dry on very wet hair. This was causing damage. 

4. I was scared of wash days. I thought shampoo is drying and damaging to hair.many times I found news that would demonize shampoo and promote more use of conditioner. I would shampoo my hair but do it “lightly”. I would also try to increase my time between wash days, again, because shampoo is “bad”.

5. I would sleep with my hair open, on a cotton pillowcase. I had no clue about the recommended “nighttime hair routine”

Suffice to say, I really didn’t notice much difference in the health of my hair due to a lot of these small errors.

Things I did that made a difference 

I want to preface this to say, I’m not an overly involved person when it comes to beauty routines. I want something that I can stick to, something that I understand and something that is simple. Also, I don’t have naturally easy hair. I cannot just wash my hair and go. All that said, let’s go through the things that worked, and continue to work for me:

The night before my wash day

I lightly coat my scalp with the Pressed™ Scalp Elixir and give myself a head massage. I also add a very light coating of hair oil (by the way, the Pressed™ Hair Oil will be launching later this year!!!)

I’ll put my hair in a loose braid, tie it with the Pressed™ Satin Scrunchie and sleep on my Pressed™ Satin Pillowcase

Wash day

On wash day I apply shampoo and use the Pressed™ Shampoo Brush. The Shampoo Brush not only cleans your scalp so thoroughly, is so fun to use and feels like a gentle massage too. I also shampoo twice, the first shampoo lifts a bulk of the dirt, the second round of shampoo lathers more indicating that your scalp is perfectly clean.

I’ll then add my conditioner to the hair only, avoid the roots. And leave the conditioner on for about 3 minutes.

I wash my hair around 3 times a week because I work out 5 times a week and I just feel it works better for my scalp.

Styling post-wash

This part is going to differ for everyone. I wear my hair curly these days, so I don’t use any heat styling. If you are blowdrying or using a hot tool I would recommend you add a heat protectant to your hair. When blowdrying do it on semi-dry hair so that the hair dries quicker. If you’re braiding your hair, make sure your braids are not too tight (they shouldn’t hurt) and I would avoid microbraids or heavy braids.

Nighttime/daily routine

Before I sleep, I add a small amount of hair oil to my ends, which are the oldest part of your hair, to protect them from drying. I tie my hair in a high loose bun with a Satin Scrunchie to sleep in. You can also opt to braid your hair and do a low loose ponytail. I also sleep on a Satin Pillowcase (personally I don’t like sleeping in a satin bonnet)

As you can see, the routine isn’t anything particularly special. It’s more about elevating each step or swapping current habits for healthier ones. 

Benefits I noticed over time

I’ve kept to this routine for roughly a year now, here is what I have noticed:

1. My hair texture has changed. I have curly hair so frizz is always part of my life, but my hair does feel healthier, softer and easier to manage 

2. My scalp feels wonderful. Always fresh, no itching, no dryness. I remember I used to be scared of massaging my scalp because of my hair fall and now I have a stronger, happier scalp

3. I was excited to see an increase in new hair. My edges were filling up again, and I noticed new hairs across my scalp too. Because I had a lot of hair follicles that came alive again at the same time, I had all these baby hairs sticking out but hey, I’ll take that over no hair.

4. My confidence has increased. Understanding how something works and knowing how to take care of it, is very empowering. 

5. I am so happy to be able to share this knowledge with my little girl who will never be confused about how to take care of her hair.

Some things to keep in mind

• Change take time. Be patient and stick with it.
• Don’t obsess. I’ve kept to a simple routine because it’s one that I can manage and stick to.
• Keep active and eat healthy, this is also so key!

I hope this was helpful and as always, reach out with any questions. You can do so by leaving a comment down below or emailing us at hello@pressedbeauty.com