The Top 6 Reasons Why Home Hair Care Is So Important

We all know that we should be taking care of our hair at home, but exactly how important is it? Will your stylist actually even realize that you still haven’t gotten another can of thermal protectant spray? In this post I’m going to explain the importance of taking care of your hair at home.

At the end of this post I’ve linked some of my other blog posts that will go into further detail on that particular situation. It would have been way too long of a post to try to list everything you need to know here in one post!

The importance of home hair care

Home hair care is extremely important. You may partially think that your hair stylist is just trying to sell you products when they make recommendations, but in reality you do need them. What we can do for you in the salon is completely dependent on how you care for your hair at home.

You won’t achieve maximum results if your hair isn’t in top notch condition. You can’t have your cake and eat it too.

Also, you should know that if you haven’t been taking care of your hair, your stylist will know. I catch my clients all the time not following the rules. It is always funny because I’ll ask them something like “have you still been using your thermal protectant?” and the response is always “dang it how did you know!!”

I know because the hair doesn’t lie! I can usually see the effects of following the rules or not following them. This also means that when my clients do follow the rules, I always let them know that their hair looks great and I can tell that they’ve been taking care of it.

Hair condition

If your hair is in bad condition, not only can we not achieve as great of results, but the results won’t last either. The better condition your hair is in, the better results we can give you, as well as the better those results will last.

Below I’m going to cover the top considerations regarding home hair care.

***Since I’m sharing the products that I love to use with you guys, this page includes affiliate links to these products. If you take action and purchase a product through clicking one of my links, I’ll make some commission money from it at no extra cost to you. This enables me to be able to continue giving you awesome hair tips, so thanks! ***

1. Hair color

Depending on what route you go with your hair color will determine how you need to care for it at home. Some hair colors are more high maintenance than others. If you’re a blonde, not only will you need to regularly use purple shampoo, but you’ll also need to do conditioning treatments and masques every time you wash your hair. This is to maintain the integrity of your hair so that it doesn’t become damaged, as well as maintaining the color for your next appointment.

If you’re a red head or a colored brunette, you’ll need to take extra measures to ensure that your hair color doesn’t fade too quickly. You’ll also likely want to use a color toning conditioner to freshen it up yourself at home.

2. Heat tools

Heat tools are hands down the most common cause of dry and damaged hair that I see in the salon. I have learned that most people use their irons at too high of a temperature without using a thermal protectant.

This causes breakage to the hair, and typically looks like flyaways traveling up your entire hair strand. The ends will have more flyaways and they will gradually get less prominent as you go up the hair strand. This is because the hair closer to the root has been ironed less than the hair towards the ends.

I actually recommend using 2 separate thermal protectants. One before your blow dry your hair, and another one before you iron it.

3. Chlorine & the sun

This topic is not as commonly well-known as thermal damage, but it is still just as important. I always recommended my clients to get their hair done after they go on vacation, not before. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve colored someones hair to their ultimate goals, to have them go on vacation the next week and the color immediately fades away.

Chlorine, the sun, and even salt water will all pull your hair color out immediately, no matter if you’re a blonde or a brunette. To give a good example of what happens to your hair under these circumstances, think of what happens to a black t-shirt when it’s left in the sun for too long. The color drastically fades.

And not only do you risk your color fading out, but your hair can actually become sun burned as well. The difference between your hair and your skin becoming sun burned is that your hair doesn’t grow back in several days.

I’ve experienced this first-hand in one day before, floating down a river in the Arizona sun. At the end of the day, my hair was severely fried and I had to do a hefty haircut afterwards. LESSON LEARNED. So my message to you is to cover your hair if you’re going to be out all day!

4. Messy buns

Since covid, messy bun damage is slowly creeping up to take the spot as the most common cause of breakage that I see in the salon. Putting your hair in a messy bun on top of your head is terrible for your hair and you need to stop it immediately.

The amount of damage caused is usually dependent on the type of hair tie or clip you use and the position of the messy bun. The tighter it is, the more damage you’re causing. Elastic is a lot worse than a scrunchy, so if you haven’t embraced your inner 90’s child with scrunchies yet then I highly recommend it.

Clips are okay, as long as you aren’t twisting your hair super tight before clipping it.

Buns are also worse than pony tails are. This is because in a bun, the hair hits the tie multiple times throughout the hair strand. This causes damage and weakness to multiple areas along the hair strand. With a pony tail, the only area of tension is right where the hair is tied.

Wearing your hair on top of your head is also a lot worse than a low bun or pony. When the hair is tied on top of the head, you have the weight of all your hair working against you. When the hair is tied in a low pony, there is significantly less tension against your hair. This is due to gravity. It may not be the look you’re going for, but a low and loose pony is your best bet.

To take it one step further, put in a braid. When the hair is braided the hair tie is placed at the very bottom of the braid. This provides the least amount of tension possible.

5. Haircuts

I’m going to make a bold statement here and say that at least 75% of people don’t get their hair cut as frequently as they should. If you are already seeing breakage on your ends, then you’ve waited too long and you’ll likely need to have more cut off than if you had come in sooner.

When the hair begins to split on the ends, it travels up the hair strand. The more it travels up, the more you need to take off. This is why we say that you should cut your hair more often if you want it to grow long. It’s not that it will actually come out of your head quicker, but it will stop breaking off of the ends.

6. Hair products

Not only do hair products matter, but the brand of the hair product makes a huge difference. Using cheap products is sometimes worse than not using them at all. This is because cheap-o brands usually contain additives that can cause buildup on your hair, which blocks it from receiving the moisture that it needs.

The cheap brands swap out higher quality ingredients for lower quality ones. They also water the products down, causing you to use much more while thinking that you’re getting more for your buck.

Professional grade hair products will last you much longer because they’re more concentrated as well as higher quality.

Mentioned Blog Posts

1. High Maintenance Hair Color – Everything You Need To Know
2. 5 Useful Tips For Blonde And Bleached Hair
3. 7 Ways To Maximize Hair Color Longevity
4. The Ultimate Guide To Heat Tools
5. Is The Summer Causing Damage To My Hair?
6. 10 Causes Of Breakage And How To Stop It
7. How Frequently Should You Actually Get Your Hair Cut?
8. How To Grow Long And Healthy Hair
9. The Best Hair Product Brands

Home Hair Care Conclusion

Home hair care is more important than you probably realize. Your hairstylists’ ability to give you amazing hair is totally dependent on what condition your hair is in when you come in.

The 6 factors of why home hair care is so important are:

1. Hair color
2. Heat tools
3. Chlorine & the sun
4. Messy buns
5. Haircuts
6. Hair products

If you have any further questions on home hair care, leave them for me in the comments! As always, Have A Good Hair Day!