My Hair Care Routine For Frizzy, Dry, Processed, Aging Hair

As I’ve gotten older my hair has changed texture. Some of the change is due to the aging process by which hair naturally gets thinner, coarser, and (gasp!) grayer, and some of it is from coloring and heat styling to hide the fact that it’s thinner, coarser and grayer! As my hair changes, I struggle to find products and tools to combat the dryness and frizz and make my hair look like… hair. I’ve had some success lately, so I thought I’d share the things that are working for me now. So, here’s my hair care routine for my frizzy, dry, over processed, aging hair:

I wear my hair blonde with long layers and side bangs. At 51, some would say I’m too old for this style, but I love it for now although I know there will come a time when it’ll become just too much time and expense to maintain. My focus with this hair style is keeping it looking healthy, keeping the color fresh, and fighting frizz.

At the Salon:

I can’t color my hair it home because the home products aren’t strong enough to lift all the red tones out and my hair comes out brassy. Most professional stylists I’ve been to get it wrong and it comes out with that tell-tale orangey tint. But I’ve finally found one stylist who can magically get it to come out the perfect golden blonde. She uses all foils and puts in 2 shades, a lowlight and a highlight color. To get rid of the brassiness she uses a high-lift developer with an ash blonde shade and a dark ash blonde for the lowlight. She usually doesn’t need to use a toner. I get the color done every 8-10 weeks just because it’s too expensive to go every 4-6  weeks like they recommend, so I walk around with pretty big roots for a week or two.

I only get a big cut twice a year. The rest of the time I just have her do a tiny trim to keep the layers in shape. I like my bangs to be between my eyebrow and jaw, but I prefer them on the long side especially in the summer when I grow them long enough to go into my summer pony tail.

At Home:

I wash my hair every other, or every 3rd day and on the days I don’t wash it, I’ll usually rinse it in the shower and re-style it. Third day hair will usually to into a pony tail or under a baseball hat. I recently tried a new shampoo, conditioner, and styling cream to help with my frizz and I like these products a lot. They are:

Marc Anthony Bye Bye Frizz Keratin Smoothing Sulfate Free Products

The shampoo is non-drying and my hair feels clean and silky rather than like a matted mess. I like the idea that it’s infusing some keratin into my hair, and that it’s sulfate free. The conditioner rinses cleanly leaving my hair feeling like hair. It’s easy to comb through and ready to style.

I also use the Marc Anthony Bye Bye Frizz Blow Dry Cream, and I’m really happy with that too. I only use a bean sized amount for my whole head and after I blow dry it keeps my hair frizz free all day. It’s the first product that even keeps my hair from crunching up over night so I have sleek hair in the morning too. My only complaint about this combo is that it does such a good job at de-frizzing that it makes my hair resistant to holding a bend or curl so I have to plan ahead and switch to a clarifying shampoo if I want to wear curled hair (which is rare).

I put in a few spritzes of L’Oreal EverStyle Alcohol-Free Volume Root Lifting Spray to get a little lift and hold near the roots. It’s convenient to use, non-sticky and gives the right amount of lift for me.

Hot Tools:

I recently got a new blow dryer from Hot Tools which I’m loving! It weighs only 14.4 ounces so my arm doesn’t get tired half way though my blow out, and the control switches are on the back of the handle so I’m not constantly switching it off unintentionally. It’s cut my “rough dry” time in half, and if I take the time I can actually do a complete blow out with just the blowdryer and round brush that looks good!

But, my hero, my savior, my go-to styling tool is my John Freida Salon Shape Hot Air Brush. I received it as a gift last christmas and it instantly became a favorite. It makes that stuff on my head that usually looks like straw look like hair, and it’s so easy to use! To create nice volume with soft waves, I rough dry my hair with the regular blow dryer to about 90% dry, then I put the John Freida Styler on the middle setting (high heat & high air) and brush it through all over to smooth my hair. Then I take sections and starting at the ends, roll the styler down to the scalp and hold it there until I can feel the heat. Then I switch it to the cool setting for a bit to cool and “set” the wave. Unroll the hair and move on to the next section. You can easily create straight, wavy, or curly styles.