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How to Get Healthier Hair in 2021

7 Best New Year’s Hair Care Resolutions

how to get healthier hair

Good-bye to 2020 and Hello to 2021! The year we learn how to get healthier hair.

Ring in the new year with easy-to-achieve resolutions that will have you letting your hair down and waving your luxurious locks all around. Not only will you get healthier hair that’s Zoom-perfect; your glorious mane will turn heads when you are able to strut back to the office, restaurants, and post-pandemic parties.

Resolution #1 – Swap Out Silicones

Here’s a great first step for anyone wondering how to get healthier hair: Avoid using products containing silicone. Here’s why:

Silicones are basically plastics that form a film around individual hairs to make them artificially soft and shiny without providing any real treatment, according to Leonor Greyl R&D Director Tom Brooks.

The problem, Tom says, is this film becomes a barrier against hydrating and nourishing ingredients. Silicone build-up also can weight down strands, reduce the absorption of hair coloring, and even prevent the scalp from “breathing.”

Silicones are sneaky. They make your hair temporarily smooth, but really they are hiding damage. Go silicone-free by avoiding ingredients that end in “-cone” or “-siloxane.” Dimethicone, trimethicone, amodimethicone, cyclomethicone, and cyclopentasiloxane are just some examples. 

If you’ve been piling on products with silicone, get a clean start to 2021 by following these tips from Leonor Greyl Educator Kat Savano:

Step 1:  Do a deep-cleansing treatment by applying a 50/50 mix of Huile de Germe de Blé and Concentre Energetique once or twice a week.

Huile de Germe de Blé is formulated with wheat germ oil, jojoba oil, and avocado extracts, helping volumize fine or limp hair. Concentre Energetique targets the scalp.

“It’s the fastest way to remove impurities,” Kat says.

Apply the cocktail to a dry scalp and leave it on for 15 minutes. Then gradually add water for a gentle lather, massage, and rinse.

Step 2: Fight dehydration and frizz on a regular basis with a moisturizing shampoo like Crème Moelle de Bambou and a conditioning masque. Leonor Greyl offers Masque Orchidee for thick dry hair, Masque Fleurs de Jasmin for thin dry hair, Creme Regeneratrice for damaged hair, and Masque Quintessence, our gold standard for extra-deep conditioning.

Step 3: Style without silicones. If you have fine or normal hair, opt for  Sérum de Soie Sublimateur. It’s a favorite of celebrity and runway stylists because its hydrating silk proteins create a protective barrier around individual strands and instantly smooth hair without weighing it down. If your hair is thick or curly, choose Éclat Naturel, rich in shea butter and jojoba oil to tame even the most unruly hair.

Resolution #2 – Learn How to Get Healthier Hair with a Pre-Poo

Pre-Poo. It’s fun to say, essential to do!

Treat your hair to a protective, enriching weekly or bi-weekly pre-shampoo ritual that involves applying a rich conditioner on dry hair (the length and ends) and letting it sit for 15-30 minutes or overnight before washing it out.

Deep penetrating pre-poos are especially great for curly, natural, thick, and overprocessed hair that tends to be dry.

Try a cult favorite like L’Huile de Leonor Greyl. This award-winning pre-shampoo treatment oil is a delicately scented blend of botanical oils, including refined copra oil from cold-pressed coconut kernels and mongongo oil from the nuts of an African tree. Both are clinically proven to possess excellent hydrating, regenerating, and restructuring qualities.

Resolution #3 – Self-Care Sunday Scalp Massage

One of the things we learned from 2020 is the importance of self-care for mental and physical health. We’ve been trying to slow down, check in with ourselves, breathe deeply.

In 2021, resolve to add a soothing weekly scalp massage ritual to your self-care routine. It’s another way to get healthier hair and a happier you in the new year.

Massaging with firm fingers or an ergonomically designed tool like Leonor Greyl’s scalp brush helps lather up shampoo, exfoliate, and improve oxygenation, thus promoting hair growth.

As Vogue points out, French women for decades have relied on the luxurious custom scalp massages offered at the Leonor Greyl Institute in Paris. Now, you can recreate the experience at home!

The key to a great massage is working a small amount of shampoo or treatment product into the scalp for a few minutes. Avoid rough scrubbing, as it might stimulate over-production of oily sebum.

Try one of these specialized rituals: 

  • Detoxifying for all hair types: Add a few drops of Régénérescence Naturelle , our stimulating and purifying scalp oil. Ingredients include Chilean rose to dilate blood vessels, detoxifying red thyme, and rebalancing borage oil. Massage in gently for five minutes without scrubbing the scalp to avoid stimulating sebum production. 
  • Pampering for thinning hair: Along with applying Régénérescence Naturelle, our hair care educators also recommend using Complexe Énergisant for two to three months (one vial three times a week after washing hair.) This complex contains natural extracts hand-picked by Leonor Greyl co-founder Jean-Marie Greyl for their energizing effects on the scalp.

Resolution #4 – Stop Brushing Wet Hair

If you love hair breakage, by all means, skip this resolution. For the rest of you, we beg you to stop torturing your strands when they are dripping wet and at their most fragile.

Instead, brush out tangles before shampooing and conditioning. After your shower, use a wide-tooth comb (of course, we love the Leonor Greyl comb) and a leave-in conditioner like Lait Luminescence Biphase for protection, shine, and manageability.

Resolution #5: Break Your Addiction to Suds (a.k.a. Sinister Sulfates)

You know those shampoo commercials that promise over-the-top froth? Beware. Many super sudsers use sulfates to create foaming action. Sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) is a strong cleaning agent that can clean too well and strip oils hair needs to be soft and supple.

All Leonor Greyl shampoos are SLS-free. What they lack in lather, they more than make up in hydration. One of educator Kat’s favorites is Crème aux Fleurs, a two-in-one shampoo and deep conditioning treatment enriched with sage and chamomile. She’s seen it take dull, unmanageable tresses from frizzy to glossy and smooth.

Resolution #6: Embrace Your Natural Texture

When pandemic-related restrictions shut down salons, many of us were forced to embrace our natural hair texture. And guess what? We kind of loved it!

Going au natural – without chemical treatments and hot styling tools ­– turned out to be the answer to how to get healthier hair. So, resolve to keep working with those god-given beautiful waves, curls, and textures in 2021.

Check out our Curly Hair Collection with Algues et Fleurs curl spray, which earned top marks from Refinery29’s beauty editors for creating soft, defined curls. Also try Tonique Hydratant, a leave-in moisturizing and vitalizing mist that’s rich with seaweed and amino acids. It does wonders for controlling frizz.

Resolution #7: Send That Pony Out to Pasture

Sweeping your hair into a daily pandemic ponytail may have been de rigueur for 2020, but please set it free in 2021.Perpetually tight updos can cause hair breakage and headaches.

So, give it a break. And when you need strands out of your face and off your neck, use fabric-covered ties like our chic Gold Hair Cuff. Alternate between high, low, and loose ponytails.

While you’re at it, resolve to go big with the hottest hair fashion trend of 2021: statement accessories. Dallas-area stylist and LG Partner Julie Chung says more clips, sophisticated barrettes, headbands, sparkles, pearls, beads, and florals will be adorning heads in the new year. Have fun with it!

We’re excited to hear how you progress with your hair resolutions, so keep in touch! Post your pics and tag @leonorgreylusa.

For more 2021 inspiration, follow us on Instagram and Facebook.


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