Do you wish your hair had more shine and brilliance? Shiny hair is a sign of healthy hair, but there are ways to fake it until you get there. To make your hair shiny, we’ve compiled a list of things you can do to help your hair catch the light and give you a star-like quality.
We’ll start with those that improve your hair health. And while those are working, there are several methods towards the end of the article that can quickly make your hair shinier, so you can get the look you desire. Let’s start!
1. Brush Every Night to Make Your Hair Shiny and Soft
Why does brushing help your hair become shiny? It’s because you’re moving the hair’s natural conditioner, sebum, from your scalp down to the tips of your hair with each stroke. So it’s a good idea to do this every night.
Then if you have oily hair, you can wash the roots in the morning, but leave the sebum on the ends as much as possible. Next, you’ll need a bristle brush. Consider a boar bristle brush, or if you’re a vegan, you can invest in a sisal brush or a gentle nylon variety.
Bristle brushes will move the sebum down the hair, whereas brushes with prongs are made for styling or blow-drying. Always brush gently and move the brush from your scalp to your ends.
2. Get a New Wash Routine for Glossy Hair
Many times, if your hair is dull, it’s because of excess buildup. Try a clarifying shampoo once a month, but not very often as it strips the hair. If used too often, a clarifying shampoo can cause dryness of the hair and scalp, which leads to oil imbalances.
For a regular cleansing day, use a moisturizing sulfate-free shampoo. Whether your hair is oily or dry, moisture helps maintain hair health and build gloss. Try to rinse your hair in cold water, as it will help to close the cuticles. When the outer sheath of the hair is closed and flat, you have the main factor in creating luster.
Avoid rubbing your hair back and forth when drying it as this roughs up your hair cuticles. You need them to lie flat to produce the gleam you’re after. To avoid dry, dull hair, try not to wash your hair more than once or twice a week.
3. Alternate With a Natural Hair Rinse
Over-shampooing the hair can cause dullness, and a great alternative to shampoo is a hair rinse with a solution of apple cider vinegar. You can try this hair rinse mid-week instead of using shampoo. A vinegar rinse cleanses the hair and scalp of oil and removes buildup.
It also closes the hair cuticles due to its acidity. Vinegar rinses are great after shampooing because shampoo often leaves the hair alkaline, which produces a charge between the hairs on your head and makes detangling a chore.
Try a solution of one part vinegar to five parts water for the best effect. Rub it into your scalp and smooth it down the length of your hair. Leave it for five minutes, then rinse it thoroughly.
4. How to Get Shiny Hair? Remember a Few Don’ts
Sleeping on regular cotton pillowcases will make your hair dry. It can lose its sheen this way. Instead, try to use silk or satin pillowcases when sleeping. These types of pillowcases also help prevent frizz. The second don’t is more difficult: avoid heat tools.
Some damage takes place each time you use a flat iron or blow dryer. It’s just a matter of how much. Of course, you can use the cool settings, but honestly, they don’t work as well. Instead, try braiding your hair after adding a little leave-in conditioner at night. You’ll wake up with beautiful, polished curls.
6. Condition to Add Hydration and Extra Brilliance
Just any conditioner won’t do, but you’ll be surprised how easy it is to create luster in your locks with the right variety. These will make your hair shiny and soft:
- Coconut oil mask: Coconut oil penetrates the hair strands gradually and helps to repair protein bonds within the hair. This makes your hair healthier and helps produce gloss. Smooth a few tablespoons into your hair, covering every area. Leave it in for two hours, then shampoo.
- Deep conditioner: The right deep conditioner can greatly improve the health of your hair. Look for those that have penetrating ingredients like coconut oil, black seed oil, shea butter, and hydrolyzed proteins. Avoid those with silicones and polyquaterniums, as these will coat the hair and prevent good ingredients from entering the hair shaft. Always deep condition hair that’s damp and has just been cleansed.
- Sealing treatment or serum: This product works to seal hair cuticles if you have damaged or missing areas. The hair cuticles are made of little shingles that lay across each other to protect the inner core of the hair. When the cuticles are in place, and flat, gloss is produced. If shingles are missing, the hair won’t be as lustrous.
- Hair oil: Using a hair oil at night when brushing can help coat your hair in a thin layer of sheen. Try an oil that sits on the hair’s surface instead of penetrating. Jojoba oil is a good choice here. Then, to ramp up the sparkle, add a few drops of castor oil to it.
5. Take Hair Vitamins for Improved Hair Health and Luster
For improved hair health, it helps to have a better quality of hair growing out of your scalp. This is where hair vitamins come in. They give your hair follicles an abundance of what they need to produce healthy hair, and healthy hair is shiny hair.
Look for hair supplements that contain biotin, vitamin A, vitamin E, and omegas. These vitamins give your hair follicles the building blocks to produce hair that has a natural shine. And don’t forget to drink plenty of water.
If you’re dehydrated, your body is going to put the water where it needs it most: to the vital organs. According to your body, your hair is not a priority. This is one of the reasons that hair quality is an indicator of overall health.
Hair is one of the first things to suffer if the body undergoes dehydration or nutritional deficiencies. To ensure your body can carry nutrients to the scalp to produce healthy hair, you want to be properly hydrated.
What Causes Dull Hair?
Turning dull hair into shiny hair can be a serious battle. If you’re chemically treating your hair or heat styling daily, you’re causing damage to your hair cuticles. If parts of the hair cuticles are missing or corroded with chemicals, the hair can’t produce its natural luster.
Using too many styling products can also make the hair dull due to product buildup. But the main reason hair fails to radiate is that it needs a boost in moisture and overall health.
FAQs About Hair Luster
Here are some questions that are frequently asked about hair and its shine:
It takes a little more effort to make gray hair beam because it is transparent, having a lack of melanin, and thus does not easily reflect light.
A gloss treatment, which is a special coating added to the hair, might help here.
Black hair might have a blue cast when light enters the black particles of the hair dye in your hair. Hence, it might glow blue in this circumstance as the sunlight makes the black particles lighter.
You probably have brown hair with strands that are thin in diameter. In this case, your hair will definitely look gold in the sunlight.
This is because the hair is thin enough for the sunlight to penetrate and go through melanin particles. This creates a much lighter color in the sunlight.
Black hair doesn’t occur naturally but instead is actually a very deep brown. So when the sunlight catches the pigmentation inside hair that looks black, it lights up as brown. This is especially so if the hair strands are thin.
Acidic essential oils are great for imparting luster because they close the hair cuticles so that light can reflect off of them.
Acidic essential oils like grapefruit, orange, bergamot, and lemon act similarly to apple cider vinegar. However, they are used in lower concentrations, so they are not as strong.
At home, you can add shiny hair products that contain silicone to your hair cuticles. Try a few drops of a silicone heat protectant once a week. Then brush your hair thoroughly.
You can also try a hair glaze. It acts like a temporary dye but is clear, without color. It coats every strand of your hair to produce a gloss similar to clear nail polish. It washes out in a matter of weeks.
You can request a gloss or toner treatment to add brilliance to your color-treated locks at your salon. Want to read more about how a salon can make your hair sparkle? Find out more about hair glosses and glazes here!
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