Icky hair

What I've been noticing a lot lately in my clients is their dry, brittle hair. There are a lot of factors to cause your luscious locks to dry up, however, there are plenty of products out there to help put the supple back into your strands. We tend to put our hair through a lot these days. What with flat ironing, curling and chemical processes, not to mention stress, changes of weather and Arizona's hard water.

But before you head off to an expensive salon or beauty supplier to find the "best" (read: most expensive) hair care products, you should actually look no further than your local Sally Beauty Supply store. Especially in these tough financial times. Though most of their products are off brand, I've found that some work just as well, if not better than the more pricey name brand products. Here are a few of my favorites that work wonders on your damaged, dry, brittle, or all of the above, hair.

1. Hask Henna & Placenta:

I know the name is weird and may seem like a gross idea, but placenta actually has a lot of protein and vitamins which nourish and condition the hair.

2. Ion effective hair treatment. This ones my personal favorite as it brought my hair back from the grave after some heavy duty bleaching I did on my jet black hair to make it fire engine red.

You can purchase it in a 1-2 time use packet to use as a deep conditioner on your hair for about 15 minutes under a plastic cap. You can also buy larger sized bottles to use every time you shampoo.

3. Beyond the Zone's Last Call Hair masque.

Beyond the zone is based off the Bed Head products and, in my opinion, are formidable products. The hair masques not only conditions and repairs your hair, it also smells delicious. Plus there's a whole line in the Last Call family which you can use together for optimum hair treatment. We have the shampoo as well as a leave-in conditioner.

These are just a few of my personal favorites, and trust me, my hair has been to hell and back and I have used all three, if not more, of one of these products at one point or another.

Most of us hold our hair in high regard and we need to take care of it, so keep your 'do in tip top shape.

*Tip*: When taking a shower, after you shampoo your hair first, apply your conditioner starting at the ends and working your way up to the scalp. Often times we don't pay much attention to the ends and that causes breakage and split ends. Leave the conditioner in your hair while you bathe, shave and whatever else you do in the shower, then rinse out right before you shut off the water. This should help your hair with feel softer and smoother.

*Tip*: If you use a flat iron to straighten your hair, you'll start to notice the tips of your hair start to take on a sizzled hair sort of look. One way to help alleviate that is to use a comb when straightening. Run a comb through the section of hair you're straightening following the flat iron. Just a small tooth comb should do the trick.