There’s a good chance that any show on commercial TV will feature some kind of hair care product during its ad breaks. If the show is aimed at women they will be shampoos and conditioners; if it’s a blokes’ programme, it will more likely be addressing greying or, increasingly, balding. Assuming companies don’t blow their advertising budgets on a whim, they have hit on a simple fact when it comes to our appearance – our hair is up there with our skin when it comes to they way we feel about our appearance.

Hair care products can broadly be divided into four categories: washing, colouring, conditioning and repairing. It all starts when we are babies and our mothers and fathers pop that little blob of baby shampoo onto our scalps before washing it all away, usually in a blaze of tears and tantrums. It follows us through our adolescence when greasy locks are our biggest enemy, and on to young adulthood when we’re trying to look our best as we scramble up the employment ladder. And then as we approach middle age and the sound of other people scrambling up the employment ladder becomes deafening, some of us might be tempted to tease away those grey hairs and thicken up a little.

Throughout all this, we still insist on treating our hair something like a half-loved friend who owes us a favour. We overwash and overcondition it. We have perms and straighten it; we curl and crimp it. And just to make sure it knows who’s boss, we’ll fire hot air at it for five minutes once or twice a day.

Not surprisingly, there are dozens of products on the market that promise to repair damaged hair. The words frizzy and fried are often used to describe the exact way you would imagine hair to look after the treatment mentioned above, and split ends feature heavily too. The cure for such an outcome involves reintroducing the natural balance of oils that keeps our hair lustrous and stops it from drying out.

People who go without doing anything to their hair for several months (e.g. those washed up on desert islands) often claim that over time their hair starts to repair itself and the natural oils which daily shampooing strip away start to come back. The only down side is that in the meantime, you will probably go through a matted and, of yes, dirty locks, and most people are not prepared to go though this or start from scratch with a crew cut.

So while we might be able to remove the need for most of our hair care products, we would be limited to having long hair, short hair, a pony tail or pigtails as it is the very act of styling that makes us require it. In other words, no more kooky bobs; no more bottled blonde; no more carefree tousles; no more curls. And that sounds hellish. The best thing we can do is to choose products well and go for the ones which are the kindest to our hair and our scalps, and maybe, just maybe, ease back on the styling a little.

Author Bio: Tracey is an experienced haircare professional and writes about trends in haircare products and practices for different hair care and skin care providers.

Category: Wellness, Fitness and Diet
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