Since I have a lot of hair (thanks to the combination of my hispanic-arabic genetics) and even more dry shampoo buildup, I use quite a bit (about 3 grape-sized dollops’ worth) during my weekly wash and massage it onto my scalp, letting the formula sit for about a minute to give it enough time to tone down the brassiness.
You don’t need a purple conditioner, but if you want an extra tone-cooling treatment for your blonde hair, it certainly helps to have one. The Davines Heart of Glass Rich Conditioner has the same blueish tint from Jagua blue extract, just like its matching shampoo, to boost the vibrancy of your color while neutralizing brassy pigments. I squeeze out the excess water in my hair and leave this hyper-moisturizing conditioner on for five minutes, letting my strands soak up its baobab extract-fueled formula. This key ingredient seals in moisture and contains antioxidants to boost color vibrancy, shine, and softness. While the extract softens and plumps each strand, Davines’s Biacidic Bond Complex, a composition of maleic acid and antioxidant liposol maleate, helps seal the cuticle along broken areas of the hair shaft, leaving my hair with a silky-smooth texture the moment I rinse it out.
My Blow Dry Blueprint
One of the biggest pain points in my post-bleach hair-care routine is dryness. Even before the bleach, my hair had a dry, fragile texture—and putting it through a time-intensive bleaching process inevitably exacerbated the issue. So, moisturizing hair products are essential, especially if I need to prep my hair for usual heat styling.
Whether I’m pulling out my heated tools or not, I always apply Oribe’s Supershine Moisturizing Hair Cream after I wash my hair, which is equal parts leave-in conditioner and heat protection at up to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Like all Oribe products, it contains the brand’s Signature Complex, an antioxidant-rich concoction of watermelon, lychee, and edelweiss flower extracts that hydrate, soften, and leave a glossy finish behind. It’s also infused with moisturizing moringa seed extract, another antioxidant-rich ingredient that boosts color vibrancy.
Just like my hair, my scalp is dry and, therefore, frequently flaky. It’s been an issue even when my hair was 100% virgin, and the blonde has actually been a saving grace in disguising it (flaky-headed readers, take note). I’m a firm believer in healthy, shiny hair starting at the scalp (the follicles live there, after all), so I make sure to moisturize it with a scalp treatment like the Maria Nila Head & Hair Heal Soothing Serum. Its combination of hyaluronic acid and aloe vera hydrates my skin and calms itchy spots in need of relief. It’s safe to use daily without creating oily roots, but I like to use it only when I feel dry, flaky, or itchy since my hair is grease-prone.
Sure, the Oribe Supershine Moisturizing Hair Cream is a heat protectant, but I find that my dry hair needs extra support against the heat of my blow-dryer no matter how low I set its temperature setting. For good measure, I mist the Sutra Heat Guard Heat Protector all over my hair before reaching for my dryer. Each spritz covers my hair in a hydrating, weightless veil of hyaluronic acid while plant-derived proteins protect my hair against heat of up to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
My Beauty Sleep Prep
To give my hair a break from heat, I only rough-dry my hair after washing it (since that’s usually at night, and I certainly don’t want to sleep with wet hair) and save any further heat styling for the morning. Even after my pre-heat products, my lengths and ends can feel quite crispy even though I use the lowest heat and speed settings—yet again, a big difference from my pre-bleach days when I’d dry my hair with reckless abandon at the highest temp.
To soften ‘em up after my rough-dry, I slather on a hefty dose of Amika’s Superfruit Star Lightweight Hair Styling Oil—don’t worry, a light hand isn’t needed with this fast-drying formula. I’m in love with this hair oil because it’s one of the few that softens my hair rather than sitting on top of it like a greasy film. That’s all due to the oil’s key ingredient, sea buckthorn oil, a weightless conditioner Amika uses in all of its formulas that makes hair smooth to the touch and as reflective as glass. Its weightless formula smooths out all of my frizz, flyaways, and brittleness so I can give less Garth from Wayne’s World and more 90s-runway-model with my hair.
Here’s a tip for your beauty sleep routine: your cotton-based pillowcases most likely causes hair breakage, so do your strands a favor and upgrade to some silk pillowcases. Rex Jimieson, a colorist at Maxine Salon in Chicago, says that using a silk pillowcase or scarf reduces friction on the hair. “Friction is one of the leading causes of manual damage,” he says, which leads to split ends and breakage, especially on already breakage-prone, color-treated hair like mine.