Chiconomical

Hello guys! How was Holi? I hope you had a great time and enjoyed yourself with your loved ones! While I'm sure you took adequate precautions to safeguard your hair and skin but if you haven't I've got you covered. I've got a few tips that always help to heal the damage that harsh Holi colors may have caused and hopefully, bring back the shine to your hair.



1. Wash gently
While you may be tempted to scrub all the colors from your scalp, dont! Instead let the water rinse most of the colors out of your hair and then gently shampoo it using a mild shampoo. Ideally, use a non-foaming shampoo to avoid further harming your scalp and rinse your hair thoroughly with cold water.

2. Conditioning is everything
The most important thing to do after holi is to condition your hair using a moisturising conditioner. This is extremely important since the sun and fun will have stripped your hair of its moisture. This is the single most important step in bringing your hair back to life.

3. Mask the Problems
If you've got the time then I highly recommend using a hair mask. This is basically like the normal face masks but for your hair. This may take time if you've got long hair like me but trust me, its worth the effort. If you think the damage to your hair is high, then get a natural hair mask suitable to your hair type to start fixing the situation.

4. Serums are your Friend
After you've washed and conditioned your hair, make user to use a serum on the ends. If possible try and use a leave in conditioner as that will form a protective layer around your hair for when you go in the sun. However, if you don't have one, then definitely throw on some serum ( I absolutely love Livon btw). The idea is to make sure that your hair isn't exposed to direct sunlight.

That's all folks. I know these tips sound simple but since a lot of people seem to miss these, I thought it was a good idea to list then down for easy reference for all you guys! I do hope these help you mend the damage if any!

Hello readers!! Are you ready for another edition of Sunday Haircare? I'm really grateful for all the positive response I've got from you guys! While I'm no expert when it comes to hair, it really is quite important to me. So here's my list of the most common mistakes people make when it comes to hair care. Sometimes, you don't even know you're doing something that's causing hair fall. Hopefully, my list will enable you to find out the reasons why you're hairbrush has just slightly more broken hair than usual.

1. Over-washing: This is the most common mistake people make. Its a myth that washing your hair everyday keeps it healthy and shiny, no matter how much your shampoo bottle tells you. If you have a lifestyle that does require frequent washing, I'd suggest doing it every alternate day. Over washing is one of those things you don't even think of but it does make your hair brittle and more susceptible to breakage. Hey, you make be a clean freak, but you wouldn't want to be one without any hair right?

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2. Tight Braids and Buns: Imagine someone continuously applying a strong force and pulling your hair. That's what you do when you have tight braids or ponytails or buns everyday. This is literally you, plucking your hair with a little help from gravity. Even hair needs a little breathing time. If you must have a high ponytail, try using a hair-tie that doesn't give you a headache.

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3. Over styling: Not to sound like a broken record, but I cannot stress this enough. What happens to your skin when you touch a hot vessel? Exactly. You keep using those heating irons and curlers, your hair is going to lose all its sheen. Also, lets get another styling faux paux out of the way, hot irons and wet hair, DO NOT MIX!

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4. Brush Brush Brush: Over brushing is something we're all guilty off. While you may have seen those 'Arabian Nights' movies where the princess has a thousand brush strokes that make her hair shiny, it isn't true. All that's gonna do is break a whole lotta hair and no shine!

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5. Avoiding Trims: If you're like me, you probably hate going to the stylist to get your monthly trim. I mean, between buying that new bag as soon as it goes on sale and working and running errands, where is the time? I'm sorry to tell you, but you cannot mend split ends and this just means that getting your regular trims actually keeps your hair healthy. It even makes it grow faster. Believe me, I've tried it both ways.

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I hope these tips make you that little bit more aware about things that all of us do, but never really think of. So you want gorgeous, shiny, long hair (who doesn't!!)? These little things may seem like nothing, but they do go a long way in keeping your tresses and in turn yourself happy! Hope this helps!

Hello readers! So you've seen me talk about giving yourselves a nice oil champi (an oil massage for all you non-Hindi folks out there) and protecting your tresses with different oils (No? Read that post here). Today I'd like to talk about the next step. Everybody knows about shampoos and uses them all the time. Fragrant, functional, frivolous, you're spoiled for choice in today's world! But which ones do the work they're supposed to? While I'm no expert, I did go through a little shampoo searching a while back and here's my not so expert opinion on what worked and didn't work for me.

Hi everyone! Sorry for having been MIA for the last few days. I've been trying to manage my new Uni schedule and assignments that have poured in right from day one. Also, my camera decided to stop working, and since I can't afford to buy a new one, I've gotta try and fix this one. Hopefully, I'l be back with new outfit posts as soon as I get a camera. (You wouldn't have one you're not using and willing to lend now would you!?)

Remember when I spoke about my hair care regime (or lack of it)? No? You can go back and refresh your memory here. Well, here's the next part in the same series.

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Today, I wanna talk about oil. Ever since I was a little kid, I remember mom (and pretty much everyone else) telling me to oil my hair regularly. Schools always have a 'oil your hair' rule in India, which I used to hate, but did it work in my favor long term. Most of my childhood memories have me with my hair up in two tight braids on my head, with copious amount of oil, tied with white ribbons. I figured while its important to talk about washing your hair, this little pre-hairwash routine is just as important in my book.

Now over the years, I've experimented with variations of oiling everyday (school rules), to alternate days (me being cheeky in school) to just before I wash my hair (hello college life!), and to not oiling it at all for days (cos of course my assignment was more important than the hair on my head!). How has it worked out for me?

I've seen serious decline in my hair quality since I stopped oiling it before washes. This year, I plan to oil atleast twice a week before washes because it works as a great conditioner and come on, who doesn't like warm oil massages right?!

What hair oils to use?
I've been using Parachute Coconut Hair Oil for years now! It was my go to during school days and well into my teens. However, here are a few things to keep in mind before you go find out which oil is best suited for you.


1. Find out your hair and scalp type: I cannot stress this enough! You need to know what kind of hair you have before your go out to buy products for it. You wouldn't go out and buy food without knowing whether your allergic to something or not right? This is something like that. Is it naturally fine and poker straight? Is your scalp oily or does it flake a lot? You need to figure out what type of hair you have, and also whether you have some specific problem areas (excessive hairfall, dandruff, frizzy hair)

In case you haven't noticed, I have long hair (wow! way to go with the revelations huh?). For quite some time, I've been asked by various people about my haircare routine. Well, embarrassing as it is to say, I ...erm...don't have one.

I know! Shock! Call the hair cops! I really do need to get one, in all honesty. So, I've decided to do a regular shall we say, hair watch routine on the blog (hey! If my friends have to hear my hair tales, so do you! I mean, you guys are my friends too right?). In this first post, I wanted to highlight some of the things that have been known (mostly yelled at me by my friends and mom) to help maintain long hair.

1. Become a Grease Monkey! At home!
No, it isn't learning how to fix car problems that will help your hair. Although I'm sure that skill does come in handy at times (but its got nothing to do with hair!!). However, oiling you hair does help. Its not for no reason that this idea has survived through the dark ages (read when there was no electricity, I'm literal like that). I usually oil my hair once a week (okay okay, once every 15 days or so) and then wash out the oil the next day. While it does require a bit of elbow grease while washing out, its worth the happiness you feel when your hair doesn't fall out.


2. Ten hairstyles in a day, oh so cool! (NOT!)
So this applies to any kind of hair to be honest. This is strictly my personal experience, but overstyling is quite bad for the hair. While I'm all for trying out new hairstyles everyday, please don't start using heating irons and mousse everyday. It will keep your locks nicely coiffed, but the long term results are horrible. Think dry hair that looks like its been put in the grinder. If you must, try one of those all natural mousses. I haven't used one ever, but I'm sure your neighbourhood durg store will come to your rescue. (Note to self: research hair styling products)

3. A big pony a day keeps the hair away, literally.
I used to be one of those girls(who am I kidding, I still am) who gets easily annoyed with the hair in her face and (quite angrily) puts it all into a tight ponytail high up on the head. While this is great while your travelling on public transport, I recommend a simple braid that doesn't pull your hair too tight instead. The ponytails keep your hair off your face, but they also slowing pull them off your head! Yikes!


4. Under my umbrella
Finally, this is something we (I) often forget. Hair is supposed to protect us from the harsh sun and all those other things that may be trying to fry our brains. However, this doesn't mean we forget about it. I've seen my aunt use an umbrella and a headscarf everytime we go out in the scorching heat and believe me, her hair is so much better for it. Always try to protect your hair from harsh sunrays (especially in the afternoon in a sunny country) using a scarf or a hat. Believe me, it works as a fashion statement and a hair care technique. Score!

So these are my very general hair care tips. I promise I'l do a detailed post on each of these, and other little things that have helped me. In the meantime, don't forget to let those locks shine!

PS: If you have any questions, you can talk to me on Twitter and Facebook