Life is so incredibly busy as a mom that it’s easy to forget to take care of ourselves. We make a lot of sacrifices, when it comes to our time, our body, our sanity, and everything in between – but luckily, our hair doesn’t have to be one of them. Of course you probably won’t be able to commit the same amount of time to getting ready every morning as you used to in the past (remember those days?). You’ll want to cut corners and save as much time as you can and there’s so many ways to do that and still have fabulous hair each day! Here are my top 5 hair tips for busy moms.
1. Don’t shampoo every day
This is probably one of those tips that isn’t even worth mentioning here because every new mom goes through the phase of never having time to wash your hair and ergo forcing their hair to get used to fewer wash days. But if you’re currently shampooing your hair every day or every other day, consider extending the time between washes. It’s not only good for your sanity, it’s also good for your hair to let it get used to working with its natural oils again. I wash my hair every third (sometimes fourth) day and my hair looks great on the first two days and even pretty decent on the third day (I sometimes put in a bit of dry shampoo, but not always).
It’s also important to pick a shampoo and conditioner that is gently on your hair and works with you to get the most out of those precious showers. Since my recent salon visit (which included a ton of highlights being put in my hair), I use the Garnier Whole Blends Honey Treasures system to help repair and strengthen my damaged hair. I especially love that the entire Whole Blends line is paraben-free with natural ingredients that are gentle on my hair. It also has honey as one of the main ingredients, which is a rich source of minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants. It’s also known to boost hair growth and strengthen the hair follicle. Plus it just smells amazing, which is obviously a major bonus.
2. Make sure to deep-condition
It’s so tempting to skip your deep conditioner since it takes a few minutes longer, but don’t. My hair always looks better and is more manageable when I don’t skip it. Right now, since I just coloureds my hair and it’s pretty dry as a result, I even deep-condition every time I shampoo (so twice a week). I use the Garnier Whole Blends Honey Treasures Mask and I love it. Especially because it only needs 3 minutes to work it’s magic. My hair feels shinier and so much more manageable when I use this mask.
3. Embrace your natural texture
Did you hear? Bedhead is in. So give those hot tools a break every now and then and let your hair do its thing. Washing hair at night and putting in braids is a great way to achieve those easy waves in the morning. Plus it means getting an uninterrupted shower (since the kiddos are in bed), which is pure gold.
4. Master simple styles
When you want your hair out of the way or it’s looking a little too crazy au natural, it’s good to have a few tried and true hairstyles on hand. Make sure the styles are simple and easy to do in a hurry and then practice, practice, practice. For me that usually means a top knot (the quintessential mom hairstyle, amirite?), a half up pony or bun, and I’m working on mastering a few braid hairstyles – I love crown braids and my hair is now long enough for them!
5. Keep hair maintenance to a minimum
I’m constantly debating whether or not to cut bangs into my hair, but ultimately, I don’t have time for them. They need constant work – more frequent washing, styling every morning, lots of trips to the salon. Same goes for hair colour that is pretty far from your natural hair colour or is not blended in with highlights or balayage. Stick with a cut and colour that will grow out nicely and can keep you away from the salon for a few extra months (I can’t believe I just said that – the pre-kids me is cringing haha). I keep my hair long for this very reason – my hair is thick and the texture pretty unruly, but length weighs it down and I can let it air dry pretty well at this length. And even though I’ve gone a bit lighter this time, I went with really thin highlights that blend well into my roots. Last time I went ombre which is prettty much the perfect mom colourings technique since you can grow it out for a year and it still looks the same haha. But I wanted something different this time, and they’re still looking great one month in.
How do you take care of your hair whilst you’re busy running after your kids? If you want to try out Garnier’s new Whole Blends line (they have 8 amazing blends for every hair type), you can grab yourself a coupon code here.