Your Cart is Empty
Happy Winter!
Or isn’t it? As the pandemic drags on, more of us more directly affected than ever, and no end in site? Well, we’re trying to stay positive and hope that you are too. We’re limited our news to newspapers and focusing on all that is special in the world while doing good as much as we can. That means letting the people around us know that we care about them, maximizing our time in nature, and staying involved in our efforts to protect our waterways, plants, and habitat for wildlife. You may have heard that ANTIDOTE is now plastic neutral and that every shipment is carbon neutral! Woo hoo, learn more about that here.
Another way we are staying positive is by taking care of our hair. Who wants to be around a bed head all the time. Every season has its challenges, but winter has got to be one of the hardest. Still, with a little thought, you can enjoy your best hair days every day.
We tapped ANTIDOTE professional stylists and their networks looking for 3 ways to take care of your hair this winter. Here’s what they had to say. Spoiler alert: We’ve included one bonus tip if you read to the end.
Winter can be tough on your hair. Cold, dry weather takes a toll on your scalp just like it does the rest of your skin. And moving between the heat from indoors and the cold outside makes staying moisturized a legitimate challenge. Changes in our environment easily affect our hair and scalp.
Not to mention the static and friction that comes from hats, scarves, and coats! During this season your hair is especially prone to breakage and frizz.
A big challenge is staying hydrated. Dry weather makes your scalp flaky and itchy. If you’ve ever found yourself saying, “nope, it’s not snowing, that’s my scalp” then these tips are for you.
So here we go… 3 easy ways to care for your hair this winter:
Tip #1: Use a hair mask every 7 days this will help to hydrate and strengthen your hair.
What’s a hair mask?
Hair masks are deep conditioning treatments meant to restore elasticity and moisture to hair. Masks contain rich natural oils, usually more concentrated than your everyday conditioner, and work best when left on the hair for longer. Hair masks are fun! You can definitely make them from ingredients that you might find in your kitchen. Eggs, bananas, olive oil, and honey work great. Homemade masks can be messy so you can also use a high quality conditioner as long as it is made with similar ingredients.
Hair masks have many benefits.
While the benefits can depend on your hair type and ingredients, here are a few advantages to hair masks and why recommend them so much for winter.
According to Healthline, the best ingredients for hair masks include:
“Avocado oil. The minerals in avocado oil, such as folic acid, iron, and magnesium, may help seal the hair cuticle. This can help make your hair more resistant to damage and breakage.“
“Aloe vera. If you want to calm and soothe your scalp, consider a hair mask with aloe vera, which has anti-inflammatory properties. It also contains vitamins C, E, and B-12, folic acid, and choline, which may help strengthen and nourish your hair.”
You’ll find Aloe Vera and Avocado Oil in every ANTIDOTE Conditioner and our Avocado Styling Cream.
If you are making your mask at home, Healthline recommends using these ingredients:
"If you want to reduce frizz, bananas are a good ingredient to include in a hair mask. The silica in bananas may also help make your hair softer and shinier. According to a 2011 study, bananas also have antimicrobial properties. This may help reduce dryness and dandruff."
"The nutrients in egg yolks, including vitamins A and E, biotin, and folate, may help promote hair growth, while the protein in egg whites may help strengthen your hair. "
"Honey is considered a humectant, which means it can help your hair pull in and retain more moisture. It can also stimulate the growth of skin cells, which may help promote stronger hair follicles.”
All ANTIDOTE Conditioners are full of great ingredients and can do double duty as a hair mask. What makes them masks is the length of time that they are left on your hair before rinsing.
For very dry scalp, use ANTIDOTE Chamomile Conditioner, it’s naturally hypo-allergenic.
One of our favorites is ANTIDOTE Jojoba Hair Repair Conditioner because it is made with Jojoba seed oil - a power ingredient for hair and skin.
What’s in it:Jojoba seed oil, aloe vera, shea butter, and provitamin B5.
What it does:Repairs dry and damaged hair in less than 10 minutes. Leaves hair soft and smooth without silicones. Locks in moisture. Nourishes hair and scalp.
How to use it:Apply to damp hair, comb through and leave-in for 5-10 minutes. Rinse with cool water to lock in your color.
Make sure that you wash your hair before your mask. For the hair mask can work, you need to remove product build-up with a good clarifying shampoo like ANTIDOTE Rosemary Shampoo. This will ensure that the luxurious ingredients can penetrate the hair shaft.
Tip #2: Apply a nourishing oil to the ends of hair to reduce breakage and reduce frizz.
ANTIDOTE’s concentrated Nourishing Oil is full of good stuff like Avocado oil, grapeseed oil, jojoba seed oil, vitamin E, squalene, grapefruit oil, bergamot oil, cedarwood oil.
We blend it just right to replenish dry skin and prevent frizz. It’s a deeper treatment than a mask to repair dry ends and lock in moisture.
Use it by massaging 1-2 pumps of oil into the ends of your hair. It can be applied to dry or wet hair. For very dry, brittle hair, we recommend that you apply to damp hair. This oil is very concentrated, so a little goes a long way.
Also works great on beards. Rub a few drops in between your palms, then stroke it into your beard to soften and smooth out your hair.
For very dry scalp, try hair oiling. Hair oiling is a treatment for healthy hair that originates in ancient Ayurvedic medicine. For hair oiling, we recommend virgin coconut oil. It’s full oflauric acid, a fatty acid that easily bonds to hair protein and easily penetrates inside the hair shaft. It’s one of the best oils to reduce hair protein loss. Coconut oil provides deep condition, natural protection, and a works well for most hair types. Healthline explains how to do it:
Tip # 3: Switch to a silk pillowcase to prevent static and frizz.
Switching to silk has many benefits. Claims include:
We asked our friends at Good Housekeeping whether all the hype was true and their responsewas, “In short, yes — silk pillowcases really do make a difference. After we tested the best silk pillowcases in the Good Housekeeping Institute Textile Lab, many of our editors began sleeping on the luxurious bedding and now swear by silk pillowcases.”
Good Housekeeping Institute’s Jessica Teich explains, “Thanks to silk's super smooth texture, hair glides over it without any friction which means you'll be less likely to wake up with frizzy hair, tangles, or bedhead, whereas cotton can snag hair and muss it up into a nest of tangles overnight. Sleeping on silk is a secret that women with textured and curly hair have been using for years to keep styles like braids and blowouts preserved for longer without adding frizz.”
Jessica goes on to explain, “They help keep hair hydrated, and …silk can help with brittle hair. Cotton is more porous than silk, so traditional pillowcases absorb moisture from your hair, while silk leaves that hydration right where it belongs: in your hair. That means if you suffer from dry strands or a flaky scalp, a silk pillowcase will be a godsend.”
As an added benefit, silk pillow cases reduces wrinkles.
“According toDr. Neal Schultz, New York City-based dermatologist and author of It's Not Just About Wrinkles, A "smooth surface with very little friction" means less tugging on skin than with a traditional cotton pillowcase. We get 'crush wrinkles' from sleeping on our side/face, so we may get less of those when sleeping on silk.” Studies show that friction from tossing and turning causes creases in the skin, but a silky smooth surface can reduce that effect in the long run.”
Bonus Winter Care Tip: Embrace your sensitive side.
Hypoallergenic is the way to go in winter. Even if you don’t usually have sensitive scalp, treat yourself this season with the most gentle cleansers, conditioners, and stylers. Products with aloe vera gel bases are especially soothing. Look for ingredients like shea butter in your conditioners and stylers. Avoid ingredients found in most hair care products like strong detergents, irritating artificial fragrance, and nasty preservatives. Toxic ingredients in your hair products aren’t doing you any good when it comes to building strength and encouraging hair growth and thickness. In a lot of cases, they’re inhibiting that by irritating your scalp. And they’re stripping your hair of its natural oils, making it harder to self-regulate.
Go for plant-based products that nourish your scalp and hair. Look for Environmental Working Group Green Ratings as a sign that your product is safe for you and the planet. Here are a few of our most popular winter hair care products:
Chamomile Shampoo and Conditioner
What’s in it:Aloe vera, chamomile flower, grapeseed oil, provitamin B5, vitamin E.
What it does:Improves your scalp health without irritating it. Leaves your hair clean and healthy.
How to use it:Brush dry hair before washing to stimulate blood flow to the scalp. Shake well. Work product through wet hair, rinse.
What’s in it:Avocado oil, aloe vera, shea butter, provitamin B5.
What it does:Reduces frizz and smooths split ends. Conditions dry ends without weighing your hair down. Increases curl when diffused in hair.
How to use it:Work a small dab of product into your palms. Apply to dry or damp hair; let air-dry or blow-dry/diffuse hair to get rid of frizz and enhance texture.
Taking care of your hair is in itself a wonderful form of self-care, an expression of self-love, and an outlet for your creativity.
If you do some mindful maintenance during winter, you won’t be doing damage control come spring.
Looking for more winter hair tips? Check out last year’s blog post.
Drop us a comment below and tell us about your winter hair regimen.
-- Abigail + David
Comments will be approved before showing up.