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HAIR HEALTH

I used to be a blunt cut bob girlie but have changed my ways the last two years, Protein & Moisture; super important, these two helped w strength & retention protein treatment every 6 weeks followed by deep conditioner same day, hair mask once a week (something w NO protein!! just moisturizing) Reducing heat and manipulation; heat style twice a week maximum if you can help it with the help of good heat protection (NO OIL PROTECTANTS!!! Kenra professional has my fave products - the blow out spray is amazing & worth its price) use sleep styles to protect your hair (im curly but do a blowout once a week- I maintain it by using a oversized pillow scrunchie at the top of my head pineapple style and my hair wrapped around the actual scrunchie- play around with it & how you sleep + how you want it styled in the morning + make sure that your hairline isn’t getting tugged around) itll prevent damage from heat constantly, friction from sleeping and i promise will make mornings way easier. Scalp care: Rosemary oil will be your best friend!! Studies came out that it’s similar to 2.5% minoxidil - which is a OTC hair loss treatment. Mix oil of choice w dried rosemary (add dried buckroot & mint if you wanna get fancy, olive oil and jojoba havent steered me wrong yet!!) I like to do a cold infusion which can take two weeks but it’s cheaper and I know what’s going on my scalp. Put it on your scalp and massage for a few minutes, leave on for a few hours but if you want you can overnight, use a clarifying shampoo & follow up with protein/moisture depending on where you are in the cycle! Taking care of my scalp, reducing hair & tbh- taking a solid multivitamin helped me a lot! Products I luvvvvv; Kendra Blowout Spray Kendra Blowout Lotion Rosemary oil DIY Satin pillowcase & oversized scrunchie (you can find these on Amazon or Ulta! They will be life changers….) Also- silk/satin scrunchies over regular hair ties, try to avoid any tension :)

@persephones

Feb 21, 2024

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Moisturise, avoid heat styling

First, make sure your products work for your hair texture and type— fine or thin hair may get overloaded with lots of product, so start with less, add as needed. I use Prose— I like the custom products, the hard water and air pollution checks, and the option to go silicone free. I use a pre-shampoo mask, shampoo, and conditioner, and I have a leave in conditioner for when I heat dry (I try to do this sparingly, a few times a month). The important thing about wash products is really that you like them, you use them, and that they work for your hair type— doing a little research, or getting sample sizes of products to try out, can really support your wash routine. In winter, I wash twice weekly, in summer I wash as needed (after exercise/swimming, etc.) Overnight, I use a heatless curl rod— it’s like a low maintenance plait, it’s easy to sleep in, and it minimises heat styling and breakage. I don’t use hair spray or styling products— I find they weigh my hair down and make it necessary to overwash, which strips/dries hair. Briefly: 1. Avoid heat styling, and use protectants+low heat if you do 2. Try silicone free soaps, that work for your hair type 3. Try heatless and protective styling 4. Be consistent, give it time

@nadiyaelyse

Jul 29, 2024

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Do less but do it well

Wear clothes that fit and drape well on your shape. Replace sloppy looking or worn out staple pieces with things that look a little more intentional and serious but are still comfortable and feel true to you (ex: instead of sweatpants wear pull-on cigarette pants). Wear fewer accessories and let the simplicity shine through. A nice signature scent might help. Keep your skin clean, moisturized, and exfoliated (try peel pads like the ones from First Aid Beauty or Nip/Fab). Wear sunscreen or whatever 🙄 If you wear makeup, do a tinted moisturizer, use an angled brush to fill in your brows with cool-toned shadow for some light definition, curl your lashes, wear mascara, wear a flattering shade of red lipstick and pat that lipstick onto your cheeks as blush—maybe do a shimmery pale or a smoky brown shadow tapped onto the lid with your fingertips (cream shadow is great for this) + some pencil eyeliner at the roots of the lashes and on your upper waterline. Keep your hair looking as clean as you possibly can. If you’re using dry shampoo, do it preemptively before you go to sleep to absorb oil rather than in the morning when you wake up—spray it all along your roots and massage it into the hair in the morning. I actually do not brush my hair because it stretches it out and makes it lose its shape; I put it up in a bonnet when I go to sleep to keep it from getting tangled but still looking tousled, textured, and voluminous at the roots. I do comb through it with my fingers and I use a wet brush before I shower, as I rinse, and when I condition. My wash routine lately has been Trader Joe’s cleansing conditioner then Giovanni 2chic ultra moist shampoo! Learn to style your hair with a round brush (I know this is a really tough one but it makes a big difference)!!!! I really enjoy the hot styling brush tools but they’re apparently damaging to the hair because they have no heat settings and they put a lot of tension and friction on the hair. If you have a few hundred to drop though I’ve heard great things about the Shark FlexFusion and FlexStyle. But whatever you do… use a heat protectant. I style my hair if I have somewhere important to go but otherwise I do air dry— I put it up in a cotton T-shirt to soak up most of the water—and I use an air drying crème while it’s still damp. I think having a good hairstylist is also really important and will take you a long way. My relationship with mine is probably one of the most precious things in my life and I’ve been going to him for about three years now. I’m honestly never going to look put together like other people seem to naturally be able to do and I’m always going to remain feral on some level but this is what works for me! My version of doing the bare minimum 🫶

@taterhole

Feb 4, 2025

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Top Recs from @nadiyaelyse

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You are only mundane to yourself because you are so familiar— to everyone else you are new

Firstly, I’m so sorry you’re feeling that way— that’s really crummy, and I’m sure that once you feel that way everything feels like confirmation of being unspecial. But in a very very real way, you might be bored with yourself because you know yourself so well— other people don’t know you. You could walk into a bar or a cafe or an event and you would be new to at least one person there. If you feel like you aren’t interesting conversationally, are you a good listener? In a very honest way, the people I’ve found hottest and most intriguing are always good listeners, and people who are quiet and incisive. It’s okay if you don’t talk on and on; a lot of “interesting” people are just filling space with noise. Noise is always briefly exciting or interesting, but that doesn’t mean it has substance or adds value. Trust me on this, I’m a performer and frankly so many nights I’m just making noise. So first piece of advice is, approach yourself as if you were a stranger— look at everything about you like you’ve never ever seen it before, and start to notice what you like. Then build on those things. Like, it’s okay if you hate your clothes, but do you have one jacket/shirt/earring that you love? Wear that so much, and slowly look out for pieces that make you feel like the thing you love— it’s okay if it takes time, the outfits that make me feel dynamic are all cobbled together from stuff I found over years. Then look at other people, what do you find interesting about them? I am a knockoff of every woman I ever thought was cool— my summer camp counselor, my gender studies TA from my first year of college, my mom, and literally everyone else. That’s okay though, mimicking what you like is a way of developing your taste, and you will put yourself together in a way that’s a little different and totally your own. It’s okay if it takes time— sometimes we have seasons where we don’t like ourselves a ton, but they do pass, and who you will be in a year is a brand new person— you haven’t met them yet, and you might love them. Tiny practical advice? Go for walks; it’s good for your body, it releases endorphins, and it gives you a chance to people watch/observe nature. Read something small; it can be a single poem, or an essay, or a children’s book— I love Howl’s Moving Castle and if I’m feeling stuck in a rut I read that, even though it’s a children’s book. If reading isn’t your thing watch a movie or a TV episode, but whatever you consume, watch it and take notes, like you‘re a secret critic— note what you liked, whether it’s costumes or language or the vibe, and what you didn’t, and then you can find more things like it— that’s how you develop your own taste, and it’s a good way to develop language around art and media. All critics and essayists and everyone whose job is to write interestingly about art started with shit they liked in middle school, and built on that to find their own language— you can do that too. Sorry for the hugely long post, but I promise that you are more interesting than you give yourself credit for, and there are people in the world who will see that.

@nadiyaelyse

Feb 19, 2024

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transparency is not the same as intimacy

This was really impactful for me; the analogy is, your life/your heart is a room (or an apartment, a space, etc) and relationships are all about inviting people into that room. Intimacy is letting them into the room and knowing that they might touch stuff, move furniture around, or change the way you’ve laid the room out. Transparency is letting people see the room, but keeping a glass between them and the space— they can see, but not touch. I think relationally we all have impulses toward transparency instead of intimacy, and it’s easy to say “I let you look at my room, that was intimacy,” while maintaining the glass that separates people from the room. Be intimate! Let people pick up the tchotchkes in your heart and move the furniture.

@nadiyaelyse

May 28, 2024

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Let it die

I like to let my phone die— I often don’t charge it overnight, and try not to plug it in during the day. If you’re able to access work/school through only your laptop, let your phone die, or leave it on the plug in another room. I also delete most apps from my phone for periods of weeks, and minimally use social media— if this works for you, it can feel very liberating, and makes me feel much less constantly accessible (which I think is a good thing). Something that helps me is thinking about the flattening of correspondence; before social media, if you wanted to communicate to a friend, it was one-on-one— you might write a letter, or call, or email, but what you were doing was conversational and relational. When we use social media, we flatten a lot of individual relationships into one relationship between us and our “audience.” Instead of sharing a thought or comment intended for one person, and designed for them to reply and continue the correspondence, we put out press releases on our own lives: “this is what I had for breakfast,” “this is a meme about my mental health,” and we become part of a passive audience in our friend’s lives. We end up feeling like we’ve just seen our friends, because we’re “viewing” their lives, but actually apps leave us feeling very isolated and anti-social. Try deleting your most used social media apps, and also schedule a walk/movie night/coffee with a friend. Outside of radical deletion, pick an audio book to listen to, and pair it with a hands on/tactile activity: you could load the dishwasher, or draw, or try embroidery.

@nadiyaelyse

Jul 29, 2024