Have you recently dyed your hair, or at least thinking about taking the leap?

I’m not going to lie. It’s a lot of hard work, but all the work required to keep up with your new hair is totally necessary to not only ensure that the color is looking the best it possibly could, but also to maintain the health of your locks. Hair makeovers are fun, but hair health always come first.

Without further ado, here are all the tips to keep your bleached hair as beautiful and healthy as possible:

Use tinted shampoo & conditioner

Do you ever notice your bleached hair turning into red and orange tones over time? That’s a sign that you’re using the wrong shampoo. Unless they’re specifically for color treated hair, most shampoos tend to strip dyes, turning your hair brassy, whether you bleached your hair blonde or brunette. To avoid those brassy tones, you need to use a tinted shampoo and conditioner. For those with blonde hair or highlights, purple shampoo and conditioner are the way to go. And then for those brunettes, blue products will maintain the brown.

Wash your hair less

Regardless if you have the right shampoo and conditioner, the best way of maintaining the vibrancy of your bleached hair is actually washing it less. Not only does it prevent you from washing out your color, it also lessens the need to heat style your locks. So feel free to delay your washes and use some dry shampoo when your hair is looking a little too greasy. The natural oils are good for you, but the greasy look is a little off putting. You can also go for a high bun or ponytail to hide the fact you haven’t washed your hair in a couple of days.

Invest in a good hair oil

Bleaching leaves your hair really dry, so your hair can use all the extra hydration it can get. While weekly deep conditioning treatments are recommended to restore any lost hydration, you can also apply a hair oil as part of your shower ritual. Most people will apply the hair oil after the shower, but it also works as a pre-shower treatment, as it adds extra moisturizing elements to the shampoo.

Protect your hair from the sun

Just as the sun can change the pigment of your skin, the same happen can happen to your hair. And with your hair being lighter and all, it’s much more susceptible to the darkening effects of UV rays. Thus, when you’re out in the sun, remember to wear a hat.

If you’re not much of a hat person, you can also buy sunscreen specifically for hair. That way, you can spend time outdoors without worrying about your hair changing color once you go back inside. Just remember to reapply every hour or so.

Don’t forget your heat protectant

It goes without saying that a heat protectant is necessary for heat styling, whether you’ve bleached your hair or never dyed it in your life. But it becomes that much more important when your tresses are significantly lighter. Bleaching itself is already pretty traumatic for your locks, and may become more prone to breakage if they aren’t protected properly from the potential damage of heat styling.

Experiment with no-heat styles

Or better yet, if you want to step back on all the blow drying, curling and straightening, there’s always the option of no-heat styling. There are tons of tutorials out there, and with the help of braids, socks, t-shirts and headbands, you can essentially leave your hair to set overnight to cut down the time you normally need to get ready in the morning.

Add some shine to your hair

Glossy, shiny hair is much more evident on brunettes, so when you go lighter, the color tends to look a little more matte and flat. To bring that healthy shine back, consider finishing your hair with a shine spray. Bleached hair requires a lot of maintenance, if you haven’t noticed already, but the results are totally worth it if you take care of your hair properly.

For more hair care and other beauty tips, feel free to visit our section on beauty guides and reviews.

Have your curls seen better days? You might have stopped straightening your hair, but there’s more to curly hair management than minimizing heat styling.

A lot of people believe that curly hair is too high maintenance, when in actuality, it’s just a matter of knowing what works best for your hair.

Here’s how to care for your gorgeous curls:

First of all, get to know your curls

Are you a 2C or a 3A? If you have no idea what those classifications mean, it’s about time you got to know the texture and pattern of your curls. While knowing this piece of info is not totally vital in looking after your curls, it does give you insight on how to make your waves or curls look their best. It also gives you clues to styling, how much moisture your curls need, as well as other styling options.

Forget the chemical treatments

Growing up, you were probably made to believe that your natural waves and curls were ugly, and that this “flaw” would be corrected by permanently straightening your hair. One of the worst things you could do to your hair is chemically relaxing it. After all, the clue is in the name. While the first treatment might look stunning, the more often that you get the chemical straightening, the more damage you inflict on your tresses, leaving them dry, lifeless, and sometimes an even kinkier and frizzier texture than you had in the beginning. With such brittle, dry hair, breakage is very common, and the only way to get rid of it is regular trims and a new, healthier hair care routine.

Sleep on silk pillowcases

Even though on average curly hair tends to be thicker than straight hair, wavy, curly and kinky textures are more prone to breakage than straight hair. And something as common as a cotton pillowcase can be pretty destructive to your strands. Tossing and turning causes friction, which weakens the strands by roughening up the cuticle, which then leads to frizziness, split ends and breakage.

On the other hand, silk fabrics are gentle on the cuticle, thus much less likely to cause the damage that a cotton pillowcase would.

Another thing about cotton pillowcases is their tendency to absorb your hairs natural oils. Those oils are important for strengthening and moisturizing your hair, and sleeping on a silk pillow ensures that your hair doesn’t lose any of that natural goodness.

Find a hairdresser that knows how to cut curly hair

A hairdresser is meant to be able to work with all types of hair, and with Filipinas hair textures ranging from finely straight to thick and kinky, you’d think that it wouldn’t be hard to find a salon that could cater to your natural curls. Unfortunately, a stylist with knowledge on curly hair care is just as rare as curly hair friendly products in the department store. Often, it takes a bit of trial and error to find the right stylist for you, with many obstacles of hairdressers treating your tresses as if they were straight. But once you find that person, you’ll finally be able to see how beautiful your curls can be in the right hands.

Use the right products for curly hair care

The media never really caters to women with naturally non-straight hair. In fact, how many shampoo and conditioner commercials out there make it seem like strong, long and straight were the ultimate hair goals? Although Dove seems to have embraced a touch of diversity in their campaigns, including women with shorter cuts, we’ve still yet to see the inclusion of kulot sisters in any television adverts.

Despite the overwhelming number of brands catered to ladies with straight hair, there are quite a few companies out there that sell products that help maintain your beautiful curls.

The reason why you really should be sticking to those specific hair care products is because most traditional shampoos contain an ingredient called sodium lauryl sulfate. It’s both a salt and a detergent, and every effective in cleaning hair. The only problem is that it’s way too harsh for most curls.

Another common shampoo ingredient is parabens, which stops bacterial growth. This is also an ingredient for curly haired sisters to avoid, since it can dry and frizz out your curls.

If you can’t find the proper products in your local department stores, feel free to browse on Lazada so you can see all of your options without trekking from mall to mall, only to be disappointed in their hair care selection. One item you could consider is Nature’s Own Shampoo, an organic product which is not only free from sulphate but also parabens.