Your Essential N4 Guide to Cold Weather Hair Care

BONJOUR DAH-LING! Slip into your favorite pajamas and wrap up warm; the seasons are changing, and it’s time to switch up your hair care routine. Do you know how to prepare your hair for the upcoming cold months? Transitioning from one season to another can dramatically damage your hair and scalp, leaving you suddenly dry, itchy, and flaking. But no matter how cold it gets, N4 High Performance Hair Care is here to help you learn how to take care of your delicate tresses.

Our Top 6 Cold Weather Hair Care Tips

1. Keep Moisturizing

Moisture is a must. A cooler, dryer climate can leave you with cracked hands and chapped lips and damage your hair causing it to become straw-like, frizzy, and itchy. Re-hydrate thirsty, dried-out hair with the Reconstructing Hair Masque, perfect for restoring shine and strength to hair that has taken a battering by bad and cold weather or simply as a protective product that helps prevent your hair from becoming dry in the first place. Shampoo as normal, rinse and apply the Masque, allowing it to sit for 3-5 minutes before rinsing. Perfect for a soak in a warm bath to help thaw your frozen toes.

2. Protect Your Hair Indoors Too

Make sure you’re protecting your hair from environmental factors while inside your home too, dah-ling! The following three common problems can wreak havoc with your hair. But we have solutions for them:

Problem: Certain types of central heating can cause your hair to become brittle and exacerbate existing scalp and skin conditions.

Solution: Consider a humidifier in your home to passively keep your hair and skin hydrated.

Problem: Overwashing your hair with shampoo can strip beneficial oils that protect and strengthen strands naturally.

Solution: When you do shampoo, use a gentle, sulfate free product like the N4 Hydrating Shampoo, follow up with the Hydrating Condition, then seal in all that hydration with the Fluoro5 Elixer to ensure your hair stays moisturized and magnifique.

Problem: Cotton or synthetic pillowcase fabrics can draw out moisture during the night, undoing all the effort you put in.

Solution: Invest in a couple of silk or silk effect pillowcases and wash them regularly to prevent product building up.

3. Plan A-head for Going Out

Switching between your warm apartment and the cold outdoors suddenly can take its toll on your hair. Try not to flit in and out of doors without covering your hair or placing it in a protective style like a tight French braid or even a light silk scarf over a lightly tied bun. Invest in a hat with a silky lining to prevent frizz and hat hair, and if you know you’re going to be out for the day, make sure to pack some essential products in your handbag for touch-ups to keep your locks protected and prevent dulling. If you don’t want to wear a hat, try the N4 mini essentials range for handy pocket-sized products - like the Texture Styling Crème Mini 1.5oz - that can be re-applied to dry hair throughout the day to reduce frizz from environmental changes. Parfait!

4. Make a Plan and Stick to It

There aren’t many things worse for your hair than going out into cold weather with wet or damp hair. Aside from the potential for a stuffy nose and headache, leaving the house with wet hair can cause it to break! Make sure you have a decent haircare routine set up, pre-order, and plan out your week - if you can - so that you have enough time to complete your necessary hair care routines. Allocate yourself enough time in the morning and at night before bed, and don’t forget to set aside an hour or two to wash, condition, and blow-dry your hair thoroughly on days when it needs to be done. When you blow dry, use a protective cream like this Blow Dry Lotion to protect your tresses from heat styling, reducing blow dry time. And speaking of heat…

5. Keep Calm and Cool Down

Turn down the temperature on everything you use inside your home if you know it will come into contact with your hair. We all know heating tools such as blow dryers, straighteners, and hair curlers can cause hair breakage, but did you know that even hot showers can weaken the roots of the hair, causing breakage? As can frequent use of steam rooms and saunas at the spa. Desole (we’re sad about this too). Reducing high-temperature exposure means washing and rinsing with cooler water in the shower, lowering the temperature on your flat irons, and generally avoiding heat styling. If you cannot avoid using heat during drying and styling, do use a protective spray beforehand - like this Super Comb Prep & Protect - to strengthen your strands and protect them from some of the adverse effects of heat styling and environmental effects damage. Merci!

6. If Split Ends Appear, Seek Professional Help

Friction, freezing temperatures, and frequent saunas can stress out your tresses, and sometimes the only thing that can be done is to remove the damaged hair and move on. Needs must, and if your strands have split, there’s nothing you can do to save them. Try and pre-book trims in advance, every couple of months, to keep the ends of your hair in tip-top condition. If your salon offers a deep conditioning treatment, treat yourself and your hair too, you’ll thank yourself later. If you need more advice for styling and using N4 products, tune in to N4’s tutorial videos or check out some other articles on the N4 Blog. All N4 products mentioned are squalene free , gluten free, paraben free, cruelty free, and vegan, so you can enjoy them consumer guilt-free. They also do not contain sulfates, or sodium chloride. Au Revoir!