75 Essential Hair Care Tips for Healthy, Beautiful Hair

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Hair care is an integral part of our lives. As a beauty blogger who has spent over a decade creating and editing content in this industry, I have learned exclusive hair care tips from various hairstylists and dermatologists. Today, I’ll be sharing most of them with you. You might want to bookmark this page, as I will keep updating it often with more tips and hacks!

Exclusive Hair Care Tips To Keep Your Hair Healthy

I have divided the tips into different sections to make it easy to follow. Without further ado, let’s get to it!

Know Your Hair

Understanding your hair is essential for maintaining its health and managing it effectively. Here are some tips to get to know your hair better:

1. Hair Type: Start by finding out your hair type from 1A to 4C. Knowing whether your hair is straight, wavy, curly, or coily will help you find the right products for your hair.
2. Scalp Type: Pay close attention to your scalp, whether it’s dry, oily, normal, itchy, or flaky. This will help you in forming the right routine tailored exclusively for your hair and scalp type. 
3. Hair porosity: It helps you know how well your hair absorbs water or other products which in turn will help you pick just the right set of hair products. Your hair can be low, medium, or high porosity.
4. Elasticity: Elasticity affects how well your hair stretches and bounces back. Your hair can have low to high elasticity depending on how well it stretches and returns to its original state without breakage.
5. Thickness: Understanding your hair’s thickness is essential because it influences how you care for, style, and protect your hair. Here’s why finding out your hair thickness matters:

• Fine Hair: Needs lightweight, volumizing products to avoid weighing it down.
• Thick/Coarse Hair: Benefits from heavier, moisturizing products to combat dryness and frizz.
• Medium Hair: Typically works well with a balanced routine but still benefits from customized care.

Right Way Of Washing Your Hair

Now that you know your hair and scalp type, let’s talk about the first and most important step of any routine, hair washing. 

1. Pick The Right Shampoo: Start by analyzing your hair and scalp needs and pick from different types of shampoos one that cater best to your hair and scalp needs. However, one tip I would like to add is try picking a shampoo that free of SLS or SLeS and has low acid content and one that helps maintain your scalp’s pH balance (mild one is the one you should opt for).
2. Temperature Of Water: It is best if you use lukewarm water or room temperature water before using your shampoo and rinse with cold water for better results. Lukewarm water would help open cutlicles of your hair shaft for better penetration of shampoo and effective cleansing the dirt, sebum and grime and rinsing with cold water will help the pores to seal in the remaining moisture. 
3. Washing Frequency: Ideally you should only wash your hair twice a week. Washing your hair more often would result in your natural sebum and nourishment getting stripped off and your hair and scalp health might weaken overtime. 
4. Right Water To Wash Your Hair: If you only have access to hard water or soft water at your place for washing your hair, then add neem leaves to your water boil it for couple of minutes and wash your hair with it or you can simply use mineral water as well. This is because hard water has the tendency to leave layer of mineral deposits on your hair and soft water does not have the ability to deep cleanse your hair which in turn weighs down your hair.
5. Right Way To Shampoo: Dilute your shampoo and use shampoo on the scalp and length of your hair but not on the ends. This is because when your rinse off the shampoo from scalp and entire hair length, it actually cleans your hair ends while getting rinsed. And over lathering of shampoo at the ends might lead to split-ends or hair breakage. While washing your hair, do not scratch your scalp with your fingers. Otherwise you end up harming your scalp as well as your fragile wet hair.
6. Reverse Washing Works Best For Long Hair: If you have long hair and you often have to deal with split ends, then make sure you use conditioner on your hair concentrating more on the ends before you shampoo your hair. This way you will not have dry ends and won’t end up losing your hair length.
7. Co-washing Is Ideal For Curly, Wavy Or Damaged Hair: Co-washing is when you use just your conditioner to wash your hair. This way your hair and scalp gets cleaned effectively without losing more moisture with each wash. 
8. Befriend Dry Shampoo: If your scalp or hair feels greasy, instead of washing your hair, you can simply use dry shampoo to refresh your hair. 
9. Have a clarifying and moisturizing shampoo in your vanity. Use Clarifying shampoo once a month to remove product build-up and moisturizing shampoo to nourish your hair for other times.
10. Add Different Ingredients To Your Shampoo: Adding different ingredients to your shampoo can actually benefit your hair more.

• You can add few drops of rosemary essential oil if you are losing more hair,
• add few drops of tea tree essential oil if you are dealing with itchy scalp or dandruff,
• add few drops of lavender essential oil if you want your hair to grow faster,
• add crushed aspirin if you want to protect your hair color

Hair Conditioning Hacks

1. The Right Conditioner: Choose The conditioner as per your hair needs. Pick one that is free of silicones to prevent product build-up and check for nourishing and hydrating ingredients like shea butter, argan oil, honey, and hyaluronic acid. If you have colored your hair recently opt for conditioner with glycerin as its active ingredient.
2. Refrigerate It: Keep your conditioner in the refrigerator for 10 minutes before using. It will hydrate better and minimize frizz. 
3. Apply Only From Mid Section To Ends: Never ever apply your hair conditioner on your scalp as it might add to greasiness or disrupt your scalp’s natural pH level. Always apply your conditioner from mid-length to ends leave for 2-5 minutes and then rinse it off with cold water. 
4. Use Wide-tooth Comb After Applying: After applying the conditioner, use wide-tooth comb to evenly spread your conditioner and remove any tangles and knots from your hair. This in long run will minimize breakage and split-ends. 
5. Steaming Goes Long Way With Conditioners: Before rinsing your conditioner, if you pamper them with some steam using either a thermal steam cap or hot micro fiber towel, it will allow better penetration of conditioner to your dry manes,
6. Use Conditioner For Hair Spa Like Effect: Refrigerate your conditioner for 10 minutes, apply on your hair, Leave it on for 20 minutes, pamper with some steam for 2 minutes and rinse it off with cold water.
7. Works Well As Leave-in: If you run out of your leave-in conditioner and want your hair to be manageable, soft and silky, just dilute your regular conditioner with equal quantity of water, add few drops of argan oil and essential oils to it and use it as a leave-in for soft frizz free hair. 
8. Use It As Heat Protectant: Dilute your conditioner with equal quantity of water, add few drops of rose water, aloe vera gel, and rosehip oil and spray it on your hair before heat styling. It will protect your hair from getting damaged with heat styling.

Hair Drying Hacks

1. Air Drying Is Best Over Blow Drying: Let your hair air-dry for 20–30 minutes before using a blow dryer. This reduces heat exposure and speeds up the process.
2. Divide And Conquer: Divide your hair into manageable sections. Dry one section at a time for faster and more even results.
3. Use Micro Fiber Towel Or T-shirt: Instead of regular towel, go for micro fiber towel or soft t-shirt to dry your hair. This will minimize friction and will help prevent breakage. 
4. Don’t tie your wet hair up as it weakens your fragile hair and will lead to split ends and hair breakage in the future. 
5. Do Not Sleep With Wet Hair: Do not sleep with your hair still wet even damp hair… a big NO. This results in split ends in the long run.
6. Avoid Stepping Out With Wet hair: Never step out with wet hair. The wind makes your hair frizzy and prone to damage and breakage.
7. Blow Dry The Right Way: Go for an ionic or ceramic blow dryer, which reduces drying time and frizz while being gentler on your hair. Stop drying once your hair feels about 90% dry to avoid overexposure to heat or over-drying your strands. Always use a heat protectant before using a blow dryer to prevent heat damage. Use the cool setting on your blow dryer and point the nozzle downward while blow-drying to smooth the cuticle, reduce frizz, and add shine.
8. Flip For Added Volume: Blow-dry your hair upside down or lift the roots with your fingers while drying to create volume.
9. Try Plopping And Diffusing Your Curly Hair: After applying styling products, wrap your hair in a T-shirt or microfiber towel and let it sit for 20-30 minutes. Then using the diffuser attachment dry your hair for best curls.

Hair Brushing Hacks

1. The Right Hair Brush: Choosing the right hair brush can be a game changer. For fine hair paddle brush works best, for thick hair brush with wide-spaced bristles is ideal and for curly hair, a wide tooth comb designed for preventing curl patterns works well. 
2. Wooden Comb Is Must Have: Wooden combs helps distribute the natural oils from your scalp to your hair which protects your hair from damage. it also doe not cause any static effect on your fragile manes. 
3. Brush the Right Way: Begin brushing at the tips of your hair and gradually work your way up to the roots and always divide your hair in sections. This prevents pulling and reduces breakage.
4. Be Gentle With Your Hair: Don’t pull your hair harshly while brushing especially if you come across any knots. Be gentle. If needed use a leave-in or serum to gently detangle your hair. 
5. Brush Before Your Sleep: Give your hair a gentle brush before sleeping to distribute natural oils and prevent split ends or breakage. 

Hair Care Tips For Oiling Your Hair

1. Choose The Right Hair Oil For Your Hair Type: Access your hair and scalp needs and pick the one that is best suited. If you are unsure, you can choose lighter oils like argan oil, jojoba oil for fine hair, for thick hair coconut oil, castor oil works well, for dry hair, for for avocado oil, argan oil, for curly hair pick jojoba oil, almond oil, grapeseed oil. 
2. Warm the Oil Before Application: Slightly warm the oil (either in your hands or in a bowl) before applying. This helps the oil penetrate the scalp and hair more deeply, boosting its benefits
3. Right Way To Apply Hair Oil: Detangle your hair and divide them in multiple sections. Using your finger tips gently apply the warm oil to your scalp covering your hair length and concentrating well on your ends. 
4. Use Shower Cap: After applying hair oil, leave it on for at least 10-15 minutes while covering it with shower cap. This will help the heat from your scalp to better absorb the hair oil. 
5. Follow Up With Scalp Massage: 30. Do regular scalp massage to stimulate blood flow in your scalp. For faster hair growth you can massage using inversion method. 
6. Apply 2 Drops Of Oil Daily To Your Ends: This will prevent split ends and help protect your hair length. You can use argan oil, rosemary essential oil or rosehip oil for the same. 
7. Avoid Keeping It Overnight: If you apply hair oil keeping it on for longer duration might make sense but keeping it overnight might lead to breakouts or pimples especially if you have sensitive skin. 
8. Combine Different Oils For Added Benefits: Mix different oils to create a customized blend for your hair. For example, combine coconut oil for hydration with few drops of lavender essential oil for growth. you will find different hair oil blends on our blog, be sure to check them out,
9. For Deep Conditioning Treatment: Add 2 tsp of hair oil and deep conditioning mask and apply it on your hair, leave it on 10 minutes, pamper with some steam and rinse it off with cold water for deep nourishing treatment at home. 

Mask It Up

1. Use a deep conditioning mask once a month to restore health to your hair.
2. Do protein treatment every three months. Don’t over do it as it might lead to protein build-up.
3. Use a keratin mask for chemically treated or frizzy hair.
4. For extra dry hair mask a coconut milk and rose petals hair mask treatment for extra hydration.

Hair Rinses For The Rescue

1. If you sweat a lot or have greasy hair and do not have time to wash hair that often, try using lemon juice hair rinse. 
2. Do ACV hair rinse to remove product build-up and soothe your itchy scalp.
3. Do rosemary water rinse or fenugreek hair rinse if you are losing more than 100 strands of hair per day. 

Style Your Hair Right

1. Change your part regularly to prevent hair thinning in one spot.
2. Avoid tight hairstyles like swoop ponytails that stress the hair follicles. Do not tie your hair too tightly (especially not with those fine elastic rubber bands). This will weaken your hair shafts and increase your hair fall.
3. Avoid hairstyles where you need to tie your hair too tightly with too many bobby pins. (Once in a while is fine but try minimizing it.)
4. Opt for simple hairstyles like a ponytail, headbands, or simply leave your hair open as much as you can. 
5. Tie your hair in a pineapple bun while sleeping.

Tips For Coloring Your Hair

1. Do Not Condition Before Coloring: While you color your hair it is best to avoid hair conditioners before using hair dye. Conditioners may leave a layer of build-up on your hair and won’t allow the dye pigments to penetrate deep in your shafts. So you might see your hair color either not turning out well or fading quickly. 
2. Apply Dye On Hair 2 Days After Washing: after you wash your hair wait for two days for your scalp to product natural oils. This natural oils helps dye to leave better pigments on your hair shafts. 

Protect Hair From Damage

1. Seasonal Damage: Take into account the seasonal changes and alter your hair care routine accordingly. For example add products with SPF in your routine in summer, nourish more in winters, and follow the right routine for monsoon. 
2. Protect Hair From Pollution And Environmental Factors: While stepping out cover your hair with scarf to protect from pollution and sun damage. 
3. Always use satin or silk pillow covers. Cotton pillow cases soak your natural oils and leave your hair dry and damaged in the long run.
4. Do not cut your hair every 6 weeks like everyone advocates. Your hair doesn’t grow from its ends but it grows from the scalp. Thus if you keep trimming your hair occasionally, you will eventually slow down your hair growth journey.
5. Meditate: Meditation helps to lead and stress free life and it also promotes faster hair growth. Set aside 5 minutes daily in your routine for better health and meditate. 

Diet

1. Eat a healthy diet preferably whole grains, fruits, veggies, vitamin C, and Omega 3 rich food. also Include plenty of biotin-rich foods like eggs and nuts in your diet.
2. Drink plenty of water to keep your hair hydrated from within.
3. Add leafy greens to your diet for iron and zinc, which help hair health.
4. Avoid excessive sugar and processed foods that cause hair loss.
5. Include vitamin E-rich foods like almonds and spinach for healthy hair.

Hope you found these hair care tips and hacks helpful. Make sure you bookmark it for future as I’ll be updating this post often!

Have a lovely day!