Guide to men's winter hair care.

Winter is here.

While you’re making big plans to shred some powder, build a snowman, or escape to the Caribbean, it’s important to remember that self-care in the winter months isn’t exactly the same as in the summer months.

Regardless of where you live, you’re more likely to experience dry skin and hair in the winter, and that means you need to plan around it.

So, we’re coming at you today with a few tips to help you take good care of your hair in the winter.

Too much heat is bad

This sounds really counterintuitive considering that this whole thing is about winter hair care, right? We get that, but the thing is, wintertime actually comes with extra heat for your hair.

When you’re cold, you might feel motivated to spend more time in a sauna at the gym. Or, more likely, you’re going to take longer and hotter showers. It’s human nature, and pretty much everyone does it.

We are not here to tell you that you need to freeze in the shower.

But, it helps if you know how hot water impacts your hair so that you can make informed decisions.

It really comes down to hair oils, and this is going to be a bit of a theme throughout the article.

If you have oily hair, then you probably spend a lot of time trying to control that hair. After all, nobody wants to be the greasy dude in the room. But, the oil that exists in your hair is there for a reason.

By all means, it’s possible to have too much oil in your hair, but it’s also possible to have too little. Even though water isn’t particularly good at dissolving oil, if you heat it up, it gets better at the job. So, as your showers get hotter and longer, they strip more oil from your hair.

Even if you have naturally oily hair, this can be a bad thing that dries out your hair and your scalp. And, that leads to damaged hair.

Long story short, take the edge off of the heat and duration of your winter showers, and your hair will thank you.

UltraPremium™ Shampoo + Conditioner

On top of that, you want to use a good shampoo and conditioner when you shower. Good options have hydrating formulas and infuse your hair with nutrients that make it stronger and healthier. Our UltraPremium™ Shampoo + Conditioner does both of these things.

If you wash your hair with this when you shower, it will mitigate the harm of any hot water (hard water is a problem too), and it gives you a little more flexibility with how long and hot your showers can be before your hair suffers for it.

If you’re really looking for an indicator, your skin will give you warning signs before your hair (in many cases). If you feel itchy shortly after a shower, then your showers are too long and hot. They’re drying you out.

You can over-wash your hair

First off, if long showers can be bad for your hair, then it stands to reason that too many showers are also a problem. And, that’s exactly the case. If you shower too much, your skin will get dry and your hair will get brittle.

How much is too much?

Most guys only need to shower about five times a week. If you’re particularly active and sweaty, then you might need to shower every single day. The trick is that you want to avoid multiple showers in the same day.

Even if you wash your hair with every shower, it’s still going to get dry and unhealthy, and there’s a clear reason why.

When you wash your hair, the general idea is to intentionally scrub away some of the oil. This causes your hair to reset its natural oils, and this constant resetting is actually very good for hair health.

If you're showering and washing your hair multiple times a day, then your hair never truly gets to reset, and you’re just stripping it of oils. We’ve already talked about why that’s a bad thing.

Most guys can get away with washing their hair every other day. Again, if you're really active, then you might need to wash your hair every day to control the smell.

If you absolutely have to shower more than once in a day, try to keep the water temperature down, make it a quick shower, and don’t wash your hair. In fact, if you can keep your hair relatively dry in the extra shower, you won’t strip too much oil, and your hair can do its thing.

Use products outside of the shower

Hang on a second. Our shampoo and conditioner is a product designed for when you shower. Don’t throw it in your hair and leave it all day. It’s not designed for that.

No, what we’re saying is that there are leave-in conditioners and hair oils that are designed for use outside of the shower, and you should experiment with them. There are a whole bunch, and they’re designed for different kinds of hair, so you might want to shop around a bit before you settle.

Also, you’ll have to experiment with how often you use them. For some of you, daily use is best, but for others, you might only need a weekly deep-conditioning treatment. There are too many hair types and options to break it all down here. Just read the labels and be willing to go through a bit of trial and error. Once you get it right, your hair will thank you.

Sleep on something better

Have you ever considered what your pillow does to your hair when you sleep?

Of course not. That’s our job.

But, we have some news for you. Cotton pillowcases (and most of them are cotton) can actually absorb moisture from your hair. That can lead to drier hair, and that’s the recurring problem that we’re trying to solve today.

If you switch from cotton to satin or silk, you avoid this particular problem. You also might find these materials more comfortable and sleep better.

Avoid wool hats

Wool is pretty similar to cotton in this regard. It can absorb moisture from your hair while you wear a hat. Actually, it’s fine for a hat to be made from wool or cotton. The trick is that you don’t want the wool or cotton to come in direct contact with your hair. 

If the hat is lined with satin or silk, then that’s enough to protect your hair, and you can still wear a warm hat in the cold weather. And if that’s not an option, then limit the time you wear your wooly hats.