I’ve spent the last 7 months trying to bring my hair back to life with Wink’s Director, Lorna, and here are our top tips for strong healthy hair again…
Since August 2019 I’ve been on a mission to get healthy hair again. I’ve never really suffered from damaged and poorly conditioned hair, but after a disastrous trip to my (previous) hairdressers last summer, my hair was left in a bit of a fiddle and feeling extremely sorry for itself.
Over the past 7 months, I’ve learnt some of the greatest tips and tricks from Wink’s Queen Director in hair and colour, Lorna, to get my hair back on the road to recovery. And boy, what a transformation it has been!
My Hair Transformation – From Damaged To Strong
To put things into perspective, here’s what my hair looked like before I visited Wink last August…
A very poor balayage with some questionable cutting and dry strands. 
And here’s what it looked like just 3 hours later…
Glossy shine and a beautifully blended balayage. 
Fast forward to now (7 months later) and my hair is the best it has ever been. It’s no longer damaged, grows quicker than ever, always boasts a beautiful shine and rarely suffers from split ends. That, and it looks bloody smokin’ (thank you, Lorna).
Since my time at Wink, Lorna’s guided me through the process on how to keep my hair healthy, how to maintain it’s colour and most importantly, to get the very best from it. As well as regular 8-week trims, I also keep on top of my colour to make sure it stays away from brassy colourings. Here’s a quick look at its current condition…
A blonder LA balayage with shine and darker roots. 
With the help of Lorna (who has more than a decade of experience under her belt), here are our top tips for getting healthy strong hair again…
How To Get Healthy Strong Hair Again
Invest in high-quality hair care products
Until a year ago I was a true user of all supermarket haircare products. Tresemme, Head & Shoulders (especially H&S) and Pantene, were just a few that would be hiding away behind my shower glass door. And no matter how many times my hairdresser told me to invest in high-quality products, I wouldn’t budge from my £3 bottles. That was until I met Lorna…
“What’s the point in spending lots of money on your hair every couple of months if you’re then going to use cheap haircare products that strip and ruin the condition of your colour (and hair?)”
Lorna, Director at Wink.
Once I became more aware the effects cheap hair products actually have on our hair, I quickly made the decision to ditch my H&S shampoo and Tresemme conditioner and instead, invest in Wink’s advised Kevin Murphy products.
Lorna kindly gifted me a small bottle of Kevin Murphy’s REPAIR.ME.WASH shampoo and RE.STORE conditioning treatment back in August. Since then, I’ve fallen in love with the Kevin Murphy range and have been using it since – apart from the odd moments where my (scalp) psoriasis screams out for pharmacy treatment when the weather turns a little drier. But other than that, my hair loves it and so do I.
Get regular haircuts – and maintain them!
Before Wink, I would avoid getting my hair cut as much as I could. Not because I was lazy, but more so because I thought it was the right thing to do for hair growth. I mean, it makes sense right?
Oh, how wrong I was! The key to healthy hair growth is regular maintenance (again, something else I learnt from Lorna) and with regular 8-week appointments, it’s a rarity for my hair to suffer from split ends (the main culprit for hair breakage).
Wash hair 1-2 times a week
This number 1 rule has haunted me since my early teens.
I’ve always suffered from an oily scalp for as long as I can remember. This meant I had to wash my hair every other day to avoid that greasy look which 9/10 times always led to extreme psoriasis.
Since regular hair appointments and better hair care products, I’ve noticed that I’ve been able to go more than 3 days without washing my hair. For someone who has always struggled with oiliness, this is a dream come true and I’m pretty certain it’s down to the products I’ve been using.
Shampooing your hair two to three times a week allows your natural oils to penetrate your hair, allowing it to hydrate and repair itself. Believe me, it really does work.
Avoid using heat as much as possible – if you do, invest in a good quality heat protector!
I feel like this is a pretty obvious one. Heat ruins hair, right?
As someone who loves to straighten, curl and blow dry an outgrowing fridge, I’m extremely guilty for overheating my hair. But, since my mission to get my hair healthy again, I’ve made a promise to ditch the straighteners when and where I can.
Despite a few slip-ups here and there, I have found that it’s helped obtain the shine and softness in my hair.
Condition those strands
To keep your hair healthy and help maintain its colour, it’s important to keep your strands happy.
Adding a deep conditioning treatment to your weekly routine can protect your hair from their effects but just like your shampoo and conditioner, make sure you’re checking the ingredients for harsh chemicals.
Repair damaged locks with Olaplex
As well as regular conditioning, Lorna also swears by Olaplex.
Designed to treat, strengthen, repair and protect damaged locks, Olaplex No.3 Hair Perfector is a hair treatment that helps to improve the look and feel of tresses that are distressed, damaged or compromised.
Lorna likes to treat my hair to Olaplex every hair colouring appointment and it really makes a difference to the softness and brightness of my hair.
To top it off, Olaplex No.3 Hair Perfector is free from parabens, phthalates and sulfates and is certified cruelty-free and vegan-friendly. It can be used as an at-home-treatment too – the perfect Netflix addition.
Eat nutritious foods
Healthy hair isn’t just down to the products you use, it’s also down to what you put in your body too.
The way I see it, our hair feeds from the nutrition we put in our bodies. Healthy fats, protein, veggies and fruits can really help the growth and strength of our hair. Some nutritionists even argue that a diet lacking in protein can be the main culprit for hair breakage.
To make sure I’m getting in the right nutrients, I like to make sure I consume a pretty healthy diet and supplement with important vitamins like Omega 3, Zinc and Magnesium (to name just a few).
My hair transformation from August 2019 to now, March 2020.
Avoid harsh hair ties
Since the rise of the invisibobble, I’ve ditched the elastic hair ties (that often led to breakages from overuse) and quite frankly, my hair couldn’t be happier about it.
Spiral hair ties = no kinks, no breakage and no hair damage. It’s a no brainer really.