My Winter Hair Woes: Tips to Solve Common Winter Hair Problems
A couple weeks ago when the temperatures started dropping, I noticed that I was shedding a lot of hair.
Just running my finger through my hair in the shower would result in a handful of lost hair.
That was a bit of a freak-out moment for me.
I have relatively fine hair as it is and have to keep it short so it has nice volume, so loosing more hair than I should naturally be shedding was just not okay.
image credits: photo 1, photo 2
In addition to the hair loss, thanks to the new frigid temperature and a few afternoons out at the park on windy days my hair was starting to feel pretty dry.
After a bit of reading and google-ing I took matters into my own hands to remedy the situation.
5 Tips to Solve Common Winter Hair Problems
1. Decrease Your Stress and Improve Your Hair
Winter can be an especially stressful time of year with all the holidays, meal prep and family get togethers.
Unfortunately, Stress can cause hair loss.
Take a look at your life and see if there are ways you can simplify your days.
What are you spending time on that isn’t important?
Spend that time on something that you find relaxing instead.
For me that is taking time to read in the evenings before bed.
I’m also trying to be more organized and not over extend myself by taking on more than I can handle.
Ways to help manage stress:
- Drink the recommended amount of water: half your weight in ounces per day. (i.e. a person weight 120 lbs would drink 60 ounces water per day). See: Tips to Drink More Water
- Take your daily vitamins
- Get plenty of sleep
- Exercise to release pent up stress
2. Don’t Wash Your Hair Every Day
Washing your hair strips your hair of natural oils and dries out the scalp.
You don’t really need to wash your hair every day.
About 6 years ago I began washing my hair every other day.
After another couple of years I began washing every two days.
It can take time for your scalp to adjust to your new routine.
It’s used to overcompensating and producing extra oil because it is washed every day.
In time, it will stop producing so much oil and your hair will not feel too greasy to skip a washing or two.
When you do wash your hair, rinse with cold water to seal in moisture.
Winter is an especially great time to try this experiment, because if your hair rebels and is extra greasy for a few weeks, you can throw a cute knit hat or ear warmer head wrap over your greasy scalp.
If I wake up with particularly crazy bed head, I will just wet my hair in the shower and restyle, but most days I get lucky and a little round brush, water spray bottle and hair dryer action can fix things right up.
3. Lavender and Rosemary Essential Oil Scalp Treatment
I combine about 4 drops each of rosemary and lavender with a few drops of either liquid coconut oil (such as Fractionated Coconut Oil) or olive oil and massage it into my scalp before bed.
Do this 2 – 3 times a week depending on the severity.
Wash like normal in the morning.
For more about the benefits and uses of coconut oil, check out these 7 Easy Ways to Use Coconut Oil in your Beauty Routine.
Rosemary Oil is supposed to help stimulate hair growth.
Lavender Oil helps calm a dry, itchy scalp.
The two combined with coconut oil or olive oil will also help tame dry ends and static.
I like doTERRA’s Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade Essential Oils (click the link if you’d like a free sample.)
Tip: Sleep with a towel over your pillow to avoid dirtying the pillow case.
4. Getting a Regular Haircut Improves Hair Health
It doesn’t have to be extreme, but just getting my hair trimmed last week and adding a few more layers since it is kind of thin right now really thickened things up.
My locks looks full and healthy.
In addition to taking a little length off that weighed my style down, it removed most of the dry ends.
Since I have short hair, I like to get a trim every 5-6 weeks.
5. Use a Leave In Conditioner
I like to use a leave in conditioner on the ends of my hair and the strands directly next to my face.
Those are the areas that see the most heat damage from my hair dryer and flat iron.
Leave in conditioners help protect against heat damage and also add additional moisture to help combat that winter’s static prone hair.
How do you combat winter hair problems?
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Sara says
Thank you for this post. This winter has been the harshest on my hair/scalp then ever before. I have never had this much hair shedding and dry scalp. This article really gave me hope for my hair. I will try washing less (Yes, I washed every single day! and with a couple pumps of shampoo for my baby fine hair my whole life) it was never an issue. Now I see using less and less is helping my hair with the extremely cold climate (20 degree days, in Texas where it’s usually never lower than 50 degrees). Thanks for all the tips here.
Caroline says
Great post, loved it, but a little difficult when we’re in the swimming pool each day as the chemicals in the pool plays havoc with our hair (with or without a swimming cap). Will take your tip onboard about using cold water to rinse my hair – thanks for that one!
Tania @ Mom and Baby Beautiful says
Great tips, it’s very important not to wash your hair everyday. If you can go 3-5 day’s that will work wonders. As we age, the amount of oil decreases. The need for regular treatments and conditioner will be so important, to add to your regular beauty routine. Finding the correct treatment for your hair is also just as important. If you colour or highlight your hair, the treatment that you will need would be a protein treatment. This will help to strengthen your hair and rebuild damage that has been done with over processing.Use your protein treatment 2 times per week for a month, then switch to a moisture treatment. Asses your hair every 3 months to see if you are in need of the protein treatment once again. If your hair is just dry, perhaps you only colour your hair, or you use hot elements a little to offer, then I recommend a moisture treatment. The use of this treatment will add lost moisture and add life back into your hair. You can use your moisture treatment twice a week in the winter months. If you are finding a lot a hair loss, then sometimes nutrient loss is the culprit or perhaps your diet needs some work.
Have a great day ladies:)
Cheers,
Tania
Wenderly says
Great tips! I need to stop washing my hair every day.
Sylvie @ Gourmande in the Kitchen says
Oh that rosemary and lavander scalp rub sounds so relaxing!
Aimee @ Simple Bites says
OK, my hair is kinda whack, now that I’m pregnant. I’m shedding! Isn’t that supposed to happen after the baby comes? 😉 Any tips for the pregnant lady?
Katie says
Hmmm that is strange! I’ve never lots hair when pregnant, just afterwards. Try the rosemary oil because that helps stimulate hair growth, but other than that – I dunno.
Casey@Good. Food. Stories. says
You and I have such similar hair issues! But my Italian scalp did NOT take too well to the “don’t wash your hair every day” experiment. I just looked like I was wearing nasty hair gel for days at a time – it never stabilized!
Angela says
Oftentimes when you quit using shampoo “cold turkey” your hair can get greasy very fast. When I decided to stop I just started using less and less shampoo every day until I didn’t need to use it anymore. Now I only use a sulphate free conditioner to wash my hair. It’s been at least a year since I last used shampoo and it looks and feels better than ever! 🙂
Kadee says
I also only wash my hair a few times a week, and on particularly greasy days a little bit of baby powder is my savior! I just put a bit in my hands and run it through near my scalp. The powder absorbs grease and tends to add some volume in doing so – similar to dry shampoo, but cheaper and more effective than any brand I’ve tried yet. It doesn’t make your hair look powdered either, once it absorbs, so long as you aren’t dumping half a bottle on your head!
Maggie @ A Bitchin' Kitchen says
My hair occasionally will start shedding like crazy as well, and when that happens I always break out the biotin supplements. Biotin is supposed to be really good for your hair, skin, and nails.
Thanks for the tips! 🙂
kankana says
Great tips ! I had no idea about the rosemary and lavender mix. I too have fine hair.
Zarah says
Good tips!
Just one thing: wringing out your hair like in image two is a HUGE no-no. Wet hair is very fragile and wringing it will cause it to break and split.
Best thing I do for my hair is to get a good intensive care conditioner or hair mask and using it while in the sauna or wraping my head with a moiset, warm towel. The heat will help the moisture to penetrare the hair.
I also always rinse my hair in cold water after finishing with washing it, to close the hairs. Seems to keep my hair a lot less frizzy & prone to splitting. 🙂