Every hair type is beautiful. But what it takes to enhance that beauty is different for everyone. What a curly-haired person does to make their mane look flawless is not the same thing that a straight-haired person does to keep their locks on point. It’s plain and simple: your hair care routine should be customized just for you.
And it’s not just about what hair type you have. Your hair care routine also needs to center around your hair goals and how you like to style your hair. Let’s discuss hair care tips for your hair type and ways to add a little extra TLC for promoting your particular hair goals.
What’s Your Hair Type?
Before we delve into crafting your ideal hair care routine, you first need to know what type of hair you have. Just like there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution for skin care, the same goes for hair care. ICYMI, there are four different hair types: straight, wavy, curly, and coily. Within each of these main types are subcategories that contain specific characteristics.
Along with its texture, your hair type includes other factors, including structure, hair porosity, and scalp moisture. Use our helpful guide on how to determine your hair type, which will help you better understand your one-of-a-kind mane.
Straight Hair
Also known as type 1 hair, straight hair is easy to style— most of the time. But when you want to change it up and add some curls or waves, things start to get a little tricky. That’s because type 1 hair can be stubborn. It’s often pretty resistant to any product or process that’s trying to bend its naturally stick-straight structure.
When you want to add some body or volume to your straight locks, you’ll usually have to use curling irons and hair dryers at higher heats. Unfortunately, studies show that the longer and hotter you use your hair dryer, the more damaged and dry your hair can become.
If heat styling is something you do often, it’s best to use a heat protectant that helps prevent damage. And to combat dryness that occurs when you heat your hair, it’s also important to moisturize your locks often.
Wavy Hair
Wavy hair is the perfect in-between of straight hair and curly hair— or is it? If you have type 2 hair, you’ve probably had challenges either getting your hair to be curlier and more voluminous or taming it to become more sleek and straight.
Those with looser waves may struggle the most to define their texture. That’s because their roots tend to be flatter and straighter and the waves usually don’t start forming until eye or ear level. It’s almost like half your hair is straight while the other half is curly, making it hard to decide which hair texture to go with.
If you have wavy hair from root to tip, volume is not something you lack. However, you probably have to deal with a lot of flyaways and frizz. When styling, you don’t want to flatten your natural waves or weigh your hair down. What you do want to do is to add softness, shine, and hydration without minimizing volume.
Coily and Curly Hair
What can we say about curly and coily hair? It’s gorgeous, full of body, and yes, sometimes a little unruly. Having hair with so much body and personality can be a handful. But when you understand the nature of your curls and coils you can start achieving a healthier, more beautiful version of your hair.
Unlike straighter or wavy hair types, you can’t just brush out curly or coily hair to detangle it. Doing so can result in inflated, frizzy, or damaged hair that’s nearly impossible to style. So how do you go about detangling your curly locks without causing frizz or unwanted volume? By brushing in the shower.
When your hair is wet, brushing your hair with a wide-tooth comb can help you maneuver tangles without breakage and achieve a smoother texture without adding a bunch of unwanted volume or frizz. But before brushing, make sure your hair is properly coated with a conditioning agent. (More details shortly.)
What If You Lighten Your Hair?
If you bleach or highlight your hair, you need a hair care routine that helps you maintain your color and keeps your locks from looking damaged. Colored hair has gone through extensive chemical treatments that penetrate the inner layers of the hair shaft and wear down the hair cuticles. This often leads to dryness, frizz, and a general lack of shine.
If you have blonde, highlighted, bleached, or balayage hair colors, you’ve probably had to deal with brassiness — you know, those unflattering shades of yellow and orange. Lightened hair can get brassy over time because of environmental factors such as hard water, sun exposure, and chlorine in swimming pools.
While some people have it worse than others, brassiness generally has a dulling effect that takes away shine and radiance, and leaves hair looking like a dye job gone wrong. Fortunately, it’s possible to maintain your lightened locks and prevent brassy hues from taking over. (More on this in a bit.)
A Hair Care Routine for Every Hair Type
No matter what hair type, texture, or color you have, it’s essential to have a hair care routine that caters to your unique hair needs. Once you understand your hair type, you can choose hair care products that will help you reach (and maintain) your hair goals.
While there isn’t a single solution for everyone, there is one rule every hair type can follow: Do not use hair care products with sulfates (they strip your hair of natural oils), parabens (they don’t promote healthy hair), and other questionable ingredients. Check out our list of five hair care ingredients to avoid.
Straight Hair: Minimize Damage
Straight hair types need a strong base to help fight damage when they want to apply heat styling. With this in mind, a hair mask may be the perfect way to minimize dryness and damage. Masks generally offer better hair cuticle penetration and help protect the inner layers of the hair shaft from the damage that occurs when you blow-dry or curl your hair. You could also allow your hair to air dry instead of using the blow-dryer.
Function of Beauty’s custom hair masks are formulated with a hydrating blend of Japanese sake extract, argan oil, and jojoba ester oil to give your locks the moisture they need. And because you can fully customize this moisturizing hair mask, it can also address any of your other hair goals, such as protection against split ends.
Wavy Hair: Tame Frizz
Wavy types need a moisturizer to help tame frizzy hair and bring out those natural waves. You can achieve this using a leave-in conditioner. Its deep conditioning powers can help protect your hair from damage and breakage caused by blow-drying, curling, or straightening. You can also use it on dry hair to help tame flyaways and frizz.
Function of Beauty’s leave-in conditioner is the perfect third step to add after shampooing and conditioning your wavy locks. Because this product is lightweight, it won’t flatten your natural waves or weigh down your hair. It’s a great way to get extra hair hydration without sacrificing volume.
Curly and Coily Hair: Improve Shine
Curly and coily types need a hair care product that promotes shine and controls tangles without causing product buildup. That’s where hair serum comes in. A serum can coat the surface of your natural hair to add a smooth, sleek finish to every hairstyle.
You can customize your Function of Beauty hair serum to accentuate your natural curls and coils while minimizing frizz and boosting shine. Thanks to its blend of argan oil, jojoba oil, and sunflower oils, this serum seals in moisture and gives you that glossy, glass hair look.
Lightened Hair: Tone Down the Brassiness
Highlighted, blonde, or bleached hair needs a shampoo and conditioner combo that helps protect and preserve color. To address this situation, consider a purple shampoo to enhance shine and extend the life of your color.
Purple shampoos work because they contain violet pigments that neutralize yellow and orange tones that naturally occur in lightened hair. Because purple is on the opposite side of the color wheel as yellow and orange, combining these hues counteracts brassy tones. For instance, our purple shampoo neutralizes yellow and orange tones to give you fresh, vibrant-looking locks.
Find a Hair Care Routine Just for You
Straight, wavy, curly, coily, and color-treated tresses have different hair needs, so it’s silly to think that a one-size-fits-all routine works for everyone. That’s why Function of Beauty creates products that are 100% customizable for your unique hair needs. We create special formulas designed around your hair texture, porosity, scalp moisture level, and goals. Take our hair quiz to build your hair profile and create a custom formula for your ultimate hair care routine.
