Drop your blowdryer and step away from the salon chair!

Secrets about haircare that the beauty industry doesn’t want you to know

If you have a long face you shouldn’t have hair longer than your shoulders. You must have a style to fit your face. If you’re over 40, you shouldn’t have long hair. Long hair looks old-fashioned. Really long hair is unhygienic. You should wash your hair every day. Layering and piecey-ness are the solution to all hair problems. If your hair is curly, it must be straightened. If your hair is straight, it must be curled. Never go to bed with wet hair. For hair to grow it must be trimmed regularly…

We’ve all heard these rules about hairstyles and haircare, and likely we’ve probably heard many others as well. We’ve also probably subscribed to all or most of them at some point in our lives. Maybe you still do. What you won’t hear many people tell you is that every single one of these “rules” is a lie. A complete falsehood. God only knows who made up some of these ridiculous rules, but I have a few theories.

Sometimes I think the beauty industry is trying to keep their monopoly on looking good by giving the rest of us bad advice and then profiting massively from our discontent. Conspiracy theories aside, here’s a look at some real beauty truths that will have you looking great with less money with your original factory features.

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Many short styles make you look heavier than you are. Regardless of your face shape, most cuts and styles above shoulder length draw up your face making it look rounded and making you look like you weigh more than you actually do. The only exception to this is very short “pixie” styles which don’t frame the face. Pixie styles will show your face shape for more or less whatever it is. Long styles, meaning anything that falls below the shoulder, have the distinct advantage of making almost any wearer of that style look immediately thinner.

If your hair is very thick or on the curly side, the further below the shoulders your hair falls, the better, not only for the benefit of making you look thinner, but also the added weight makes curls more manageable and the added length can make very thick hair lay flatter and appear less thick (regardless of whether or not your have layers) because the thickness is better distributed over a greater area.

Length on thinner or straighter hair, especially when the health of your strands is maintained (and this really applies for all hair types), can provide your hair with the appearance of more body or more thickness. It’s amazing how having properly cared for long hair can have the effect of making your hair look fuller or flatter in the direction you actually want it to go with very little or no additional heat styling or product usage!

Speaking of styling and product and trips to the salon, letting your hair grow and caring for it properly can save you TONS of time and money! Forget those myths that you have to trim your hair if you want it to grow and that you have to wash your hair every day if you want it to be healthy. Who do you think made those “rules” up? The salon and product industries, of course, so you would buy their goods and services more often so they could make more money! So go ahead and only wash your hair every other day (or every two days…or whatever works for you), skip the regular trips to the salon to get a trim and spend the money on a mani-pedi or a new pair or shoes, instead! You really only need a trim once or twice a year, if that.

Oh, and your blowdryer and your curling iron and your flat iron? Stash them. Sell them. Give them away. You don’t need them. Keep them around for dire emergencies or special occasions only if you have to, but quit using them so often! Your hair hates them, and it cries every time you use them! (Really! You have to listen very carefully, as hair isn’t very loud, but while I was watching a friend of mine flat iron her hair I could hear her strands crying, “Stop! It burns! Why are you doing this to me? I didn’t do anything! Why do you hate me so much?”)

Also, once you start caring for your hair and giving it what it needs, and you stop trying to force it to be something that it’s not (I mean, how would you feel if someone forced you to be something you’re not?) you’ll find that it’s more cooperative. This significantly reduces the need for anti-frizz serums, super-hold hairspray, hair gel, shine serums, and almost any other product you currently put on your hair to make it do what you want it to do. So you can take the money you just saved on all of those products that you no longer need to buy because you have accepted your hair for what it is and are supporting its choice to be that way and put it in savings, donate it to charity, take a spa day, buy a pretty clip for your hair…whatever!

So the next time someone tells you that short hair is better for someone with your face shape/with your hair type/your age/your height/your whatever, or how you should do such-and-such to your hair, you can let them know that they’re full of crap. Additionally, you can let them know that the awesome outfit you’re wearing and your immaculate nails are just a fraction of what your savings on keeping up a short ‘do that makes you look heavier than you actually are has helped pay for.