Beauty / Give Your Locks The Right Care For Fab Holiday Hair

Give Your Locks The Right Care For Fab Holiday Hair

Beauty Dec 24, 2021

by Meena Khan | Features Editor - Beauty

Long, dark, lustrous locks are the beauty trademark for many South Asian women, and rightfully so. Our hair colours range from honey to obsidian, and the textures can be pin straight, Goa beach girl wavy or bouncing curls, and the conclusion remains the same: “Wow, what a crown!” As we head into the bowels of winter when the air is dry and tuque head is a daily reality, the challenge becomes how to maintain our lustrous locks and be on point for holiday parties.

The tricks you pick depend on the state of your hair. Remember that a person with freshly coloured locks has different hair issues than someone who does not. Hair care is a bespoke exercise, and this blog explains how to optimise your hair beauty if you colour your hair; possess a crown of bouncing curls; or love to create a sleek mane.

COLOURED HAIR – FORGET THE HENNA AND DYE YOUR HAIR … OR NOT

**Give Your Locks The Right Care For Fab Holiday Hair: Dimple Kapadia and her classic iconic mane.** Photo Credit: www.vogue.in

Dimple Kapadia is the gold standard for natural looking, coloured hair. When she burst onto the scene as the titular teen heartbreaker in the seminal film Bobby, Dimple’s hair was a lustrous shade of chocolate brown. As her career progressed it became a vibrant auburn, and despite the lightened shade, it always worked well with her skin tone. Her mane was, and is, a sight to behold.

To achieve such colour perfection is no small feat for South Asian women. Our naturally dark locks possess a lot of pigment which must either be stripped to add colour or be subject to strong dyes to stain the hair. Regardless of the method used to arrive at the new hue, what is clear is that the cost in terms of time and money are not small, hence maintenance is essential.

First, you strip your hair of its colour by washing daily. Hair should be washed twice, at most thrice weekly. Personally, I wash twice weekly during the winter, and use dry shampoo between washes. Remember that with each wash, you fade the intensity of the colour, in particular red shades which fade the fastest.

The best way to maintain coloured hair, is to use shampoos, conditioners and masks that add a pigment which falls into the same colour family as the original dye job. Hair that is reinforced with supportive products, is hair that hangs onto colour. Aveda’s Color Conserve™ Shampoo and Conditioner duo gently cleanse the hair and help the colour to remain vibrant for a longer period of time.

Give Your Locks The Right Care For Fab Holiday Hair: Aveda Color Conserve Shampoo and Conditioner. Photo Credit: www.aveda.ca

If your hair is parched, I recommend the Christophe Robin Shade Variations masks because the pigment is rich and deposits seamlessly onto the hair. Weekly, after washing my hair with a hydrating shampoo, I follow with the Cool Down your Brown mask, and am always stunned by how the various shades of brown in my hair come to the fore when I sit next to the window. This mask leaves the hair silky, shiny and intensely hued.

If you have opted to let your grey show, Dimple remains the gold standard for a great mane.

Her hair looks luminous and voluminous and to achieve this at home, it is important to switch to shampoos and conditioners that are designed for grey hair. Grey hair tends to be more wiry and drier than other hair, and it can veer towards brassiness. A specialised shampoo and conditioner such as Rene Furterer Okara Silver line works with the texture of grey hair to soften it and contain violet pigments so that you only see silver, no brassiness.

Give Your Locks The Right Care For Fab Holiday Hair. Rene Furterer Okara Silver. Photo Credit: www.https://www.renefurtererusa.com/

Dimple amply demonstrates that coloured or grey, you can have a great mane if you choose the products that are designed to work with your colour choice and that enhance texture.

CURLY QUEEN – BOUNCY, YOUTHFUL AND LUXURIOUS

**Give Your Locks The Right Care For Fab Holiday Hair: Classic Sarita Choudhury.** Photo Credit: www.indiatoday.in

During the eighties, I shared my mother’s sleek straight hair, and we hated our texture. We hated our texture so much that we purchased two curling irons in the hope that we could achieve voluminous curls. Much like Ikarus, we had a great idea, we had the tools and none of the success. My desire for lustrous curls reached new heights when I saw Sarita Choudhury in Mississippi Masala in which she played Mina, a spirited woman who pursued her heart’s desire which came in the form of Demetrious, portrayed by a young Denzel Washington. I truly identified with that Mina … and I wanted her hair! The case remains the same all these decades later, as Sarita demonstrates the sophisticated side of curly hair which fits beautifully into a classic work look,

**Give Your Locks The Right Care For Fab Holiday Hair: Current Sarita Choudhury from *And Just Like That*.** Photo Credit: www.imdb.com

The key to bouncy curls which shine, is to ensure that hydrating products touch each part of the hair, root to tip. It is par for the course for curly haired queens use hydrating shampoo and conditioner but between washing, how does one maintain the hydration?

The first step is to ensure that the natural oils on the scalp are evenly distributed along the length of the hair. A wide-toothed detangling comb such as the Fable & Mane Detangling Neem Comb is designed to distribute treatments throughout the hair. This tool can be used daily to massage the scalp and to drag the natural oils along the length of the hair. The width between the teeth and the thickness of each tooth ensures that the comb will not become ensnared in the curls. I suggest dividing the hair into quadrants and to lightly comb each section once, making sure to not pull on a curl.

**Give Your Locks The Right Care For Fab Holiday Hair: Fable & Mane Detangling Neem Comb.** Photo Credit: www.fableandmane.com

A lightweight product such Essence Absolue Universal Hair Balm from Shu Uemura is great for hydration touch ups. All you need is a dollop of balm that you massage between the palms and then pat along the length of the hair, adding a few extra pats on the tips, which is the oldest and driest part of a strand of hair. The hair will look soft and possess extra sheen that is eye-catching and gorgeous.

**Give Your Locks The Right Care For Fab Holiday Hair: Shu Uemura Essence Absolue Hair Balm.** Photo Credit: www.shuuemura.ca

STRAIGHT TO THE POINT

The seventies never go out of style, and rightfully so … It was a glamourous and colourful decade which heralded the emerging power of the modern woman. Parveen Babi was part of the seventies wave and her daring film roles coupled with oodles of glamour landed her on the cover TIME in 1976. Her straight, swingy, glossy hair was an integral part of her look, and it is easy to achieve at home.

The key differences between Parveen’s straight hair, and that of fellow seventies icon, Cher, is that the former had volume at the crown and bounce along the length of the hair. The first step is to wait for the hair to be 70-80% dry. At this point, work a ball of Kérastase Mousse Bouffant Hair Mousse into the roots, and then spritz the length of the hair with the Shu Uemura Izumi Tonic. The Mousse creates the appearance of thicker hair, which is particularly attractive when you aim to add lift.

**Holiday Hair is Easy and Glamourous. Kerastase Mousse Bouffant Mousse.** Photo Credit: www.kerastase.ca

The Tonic contains rice water which strengthen the hair, so even though the hair is under the duress of heat styling, this Tonic reinforces each strand. The combination of both products creates base which permits you to blow dry and end up with a comparable mane to that of Parveen.

THE MANE EVENT

Gorgeous locks are just part of our DNA, and with a couple of products we can turn our hair into manes of glamour. The keys are to identify your hair needs, and then select the correct products to achieve your goal.

Main Image Photo Credit: HBO Max, www.fableandmane.com, www.christopherobin.com

Meena Khan | Features Editor - Beauty

Author

Meena (@meenalaregina) always loved the idea of exploring the non-conventional idea of beauty. Having grown up as a pimply chubby teenager, she wanted to see the change in the world that best reflected your uniqueness as well. Her well-received collection of blogs where she tries on various beauty p...

COMMENTS

Holiday Gift Guide 2021: 9 Sundar Beauty Gift Ideas

The Hottest Eye And Lip Beauty Looks Perfect For The Holidays

Skin Diversity Learning Series Aims To Enhance Canadian Dermatologists’ Knowledge & Understanding On What Diverse Skin Needs

Our 2021 Roundup: Fuel Your '90s Obsession With These 5 Iconic Beauty Books