Hair Care Routine – Ravena Bailey

As a model, my hair is constantly having hairspray, heat and rough hands on it all the time. This is the exact hair care routine that I’ve been doing for several years that keeps my hair extremely healthy, soft and damage free! I’ll share with you what my hair used to look like, the products I use and exactly what I do to maintain my hair. Enjoy!

Keep in mind that this is what works for me. If you have similar hair, I would give this routine a shot! Even if your hair is slightly wavy, this could work for you. If you have curly hair, you’ll find that some of the things I say in here won’t work for you. But there are still some things that might be helpful, like using a cotton shirt to dry your hair!

My hair type

I have thin, straight hair. But the individual strands are thick… but I don’t have a lot of them. Am I making sense?

Basically, I have thin, straight hair. If you have similar hair then keep on reading!

Products I use

• Shampoo and Conditioner:
  • I use Tresemme or Pantene as my shampoo & conditioner. I know, these are apparently really bad for your hair, but I’ve been using them consistently for over 8 years and they work for me!
  • Whenever I try to use a ‘better’ or ‘healthier’ brand, my hair feels dried out or just dirty.
• Wet brush:
  • This is my go-to hair brush. I’ve bought so many of these over the past few years just so I can always have them on hand. I keep one in my car, in my gym bag, I have a mini wet brush in my makeup bag, I have one in my photoshoot bag… you get the idea.

That’s it. That’s the list of my hair products. Less is more when it comes to my hair. Keep reading to see the exact steps of how I wash my hair + additional tips that can help you figure out what you should do with your hair!

Products I don’t use

• Hair oil
  • I used to use hair oil all the time, but after years of doing my hair care routine, I don’t need oil anymore! However, if you have dry or color treated hair, I would suggest starting with oil such as Argan Oil. This is the brand I used to use and it was great; they have plenty of options to choose from!
• Hair masks
  • I would always do hair masks. Whether I was buying them in the store or doing a ‘home-made remedy for longer hair’, I was putting something on my hair weekly. I quickly discovered that my hair didn’t like any of them.
• Deep conditioners
  • Same thing for deep conditioners. My hair didn’t like them and they left my hair feeling greasy. They were also always hard to get out of my hair which was irritating.

What my hair used to look like

If you’re having doubts about this routine so far, here is a before and after picture of what my hair used to look like vs. what it looks like now!

In the first picture, my hair was BLONDE. I’m honestly surprised that the hairstylist was able to get it that blonde. It was also pretty crispy if I say so myself. Because it was so dry, I would always curl my hair, since dry hair looks healthier when you curl it (if you know, you know). So not only did I have dry hair, I also had heat damaged hair! How lovely.

In the second picture, my hair is long, healthy and thicker than before! I still curl my hair pretty often and I don’t use heat protectant (I should probably start doing that), but my hair is able to withstand the heat much better.

You’re probably thinking, “Well Ravena, these pictures are taken years apart. Of course your hair is healthier now.” Although this is true, I’ve told my friends and family who have struggled with thin, damaged hair about this routine and they’ve also noticed a significant difference in the way their hair looks and feels!

Even before I died my hair blonde, it was thin, dry at the ends and always getting tangled. This was because I was so rough with my hair and I din’t even notice.

Although these pictures were taken years apart, this routine has helped my hair become and stay healthy.

Hair Care Routine

This is the exact step-by-step hair care routine I use every day.

1. Brush your hair before you get in the shower. This will help prevent your hair from coming out as much while you’re shampooing.
   • When you brush your hair, start brushing from the ends and work your way up. Do not brush your hair from the roots down. You’ll pull and break off so much of your hair. You’ll also probably get a headache.
   • If you’re one of those people who piles up your hair in the shower and sticks it on the walls, this might be the end of doing that for you!
2. When you shampoo your hair, only shampoo your scalp. Don’t bring the ends of your hair up and start shampooing them. If you shampoo all of your hair, it can dry out the ends really fast; this is especially true if you have died hair.
   • Massage the shampoo in really well and let it sit there for a minute or two. I usually wash my face while the shampoo sits and then rinse out the shampoo.
3. When you use conditioner, twist out as much water as you can from your hair and apply a decent amount of conditioner throughout your, but not on the scalp. If you put conditioner directly on your scalp it will make your hair turn greasy significantly faster. When I apply conditioner, I run my fingers through my hair and sort of comb it to try and get as many strands as I can.
   • I let the conditioner sit for 3-5 minutes while I’m washing my body.
4. Once you’re out of the shower, it’s time to dry your hair. There are a couple ways you can do this, but here are two of the ways I recommend.
   • First, when drying your hair, please, be gentle. Do not rub the towel back and forth. This will cause frizz and split ends. If you always have fly aways and don’t know why, it’s most likely from rubbing a towel on your hair.
   • Towel: This is what I use to dry my hair. I simply flip my hair upside down and twist the towel around it. I don’t rub the towel back and forth. Once the towel is twisted at the top of my head, I do my skincare routine and put lotion on. By the time I’m done with this, my hair will be damp, but not dripping wet.
   • Cotton T-shirt: This method of drying hair is the same as the towel method, but it’s way gentler on your hair. It will also not leave flyaways or cause frizziness. I used to do this for a year, but it always left my hair dripping, because the shirt I was using wasn’t big enough. But if you have sensitive and very thin hair, I would recommend buying a large cotton shirt and using it.
5. After your hair is damp, let it air dry. Don’t brush your hair when it’s wet unless it’s absolutely necessary. If you have to brush it while it’s wet, definitely get a wet brush and start from the ends of your hair.
   • Otherwise, wait until your hair 90% dry before brushing it. If you have hair like mine, brushing it while it’s wet can cause it to snap very easily.

Tips

• Be consistent. This is the most helpful tip I can give you. You cannot try this routine out for 4 days to decide if it works for you or not. Give it a real shot and make adjustments as you go! Everyone’s hair is different, but I’m sure you will find what works for you along the way.
• Use oil on the ends of your hair! As I mentioned before, I don’t use oil in my hair. This is because I’m at the point where my hair is healthy enough to not need it. But when I had blonde hair, I always put oil in it, because my hair was so dry.
  • If you decide to put oil in your hair, wait until your hair is dry to use it. This will allow your hair to actually soak up the oils. This will also allow you to use way less product. When you put oil in wet hair, your hair as no room to soak up the oils; it might be able to soak up a little, but you’ll see better results if you use oil on dry hair.
• Your diet is important. If you’re not eating healthy foods, your hair can be suffering no matter how much you take care of it. Here are some foods that are known to promote hair growth that you can add to your diet:
  • Nuts/seeds
  • Eggs
  • Spinach
  • Fish oil
• Use a wet brush. These brushes are amazing and saved my hair. I used to use regular paddle brushes with horrible bristles. My hair would fall out so much with these brushes. Wet brushes are very gentle on your hair; they don’t rip out or pull your hair. They’re also great for brushing your hair when it’s wet (hence, the name). Although I don’t recommend brushing your hair when it’s wet, using a wet brush will be the way to go.
  • You can buy a wet brush at Ulta, Target, CVS, Amazon and several other places. They have plenty of options to choose from.
• Brush your hair starting from the ends and working your way up to the roots. I cannot stand when I see people brushing their hair from their roots and then wonder why their hair is falling out/breaking all the time.
• Massage your head to promote hair growth! This actually works. I promise. When my hair was short, I would lie on my bed with my head hanging off and massage my head for 5 minutes before I showered. I would sometimes go longer. I did this for 2 weeks and my family even commented on how fast my hair was growing. Read this article to see how this promotes hair growth.
• Trim your hair every few months. This is so important! If you want long, healthy hair you have to get it trimmed. Especially if you have split ends. If you don’t trim your split ends, they’ll just keep getting higher and higher on your hair and leave it looking and feeling damaged. The healthier your hair is, the less you’ll have to trim it.

Wrap-up

As I mentioned before, this is what has worked for my hair. Everyone’s hair is different! Try out this hair care routine for yourself and see if it works for you! You can always tweak certain parts of this routine to adjust it to your own hair needs.

*Feel free to leave any comments or questions down below so I can answer them for you!*

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