Ohhhhh Shiny! All you ever wanted to know about shiny hair, and probably more.

Let's be honest. We all love shiny things.

After all, diamonds are a girl's best friend, right?

 And, where would Lady Gaga be without a little bling?

     I don't think there is such a thing as too shiny, especially when it comes to your hair. I have never had a client say to me, "My hair is too shiny, can we tone that down a notch?" It is a universally coveted trait.

So let's talk about how to obtain this holy grail of hair. There are two factors that determine the shininess of your hair. 

The Color & The Cuticle

Why is the color important?

     There are two types of pigment found in everyone's hair. One determines whether you are blonde or brunette, and the other whether you have red or no red. For now we are just going to talk about the first one, because that is the one that determines the darkness or lightness of your hair. The difference between a blonde and a brunette is not in the color of the pigment in their hair, it's in the amount of pigment found in the hair.

     Blondes have very little pigment in their hair, where, the darker the brunette is, the more packed in the pigment is in her hair. Light bounces off of this pigment. So in a blonde, most of the light passes right through, where a brunette's hair bounces a lot more light back off. Voilà! There's your shine.

Q: I'm a brunette, why isn't my hair automatically shiny?

A: The cuticle.

     The cuticle is very important when talking about shine. The healthier the hair is the smoother the cuticle will be. Obviously the smoother the cuticle the more light reflects off of it's surface. 

So how does one get shinier hair?

     There are a few options all which involve color. What the chemical in any color does is opens the cuticle, deposits the color, and then closes the cuticle again. If you hair isn't super damaged the cuticle will probably be closed tighter than before the color. Which is why your hair looks extra shiny after coloring it.

If you don't want to change the color of you hair at all or are blonde:

Blonde girls there is some hope. You can get what is known as a Clear Gloss, also known as a Celophane. This will just close the cuticle down. It doesn't deposit any color at all. 

Color you hair darker:

Unless you have greys, use a demi permanent color. By darkening your color you will boost the shine there as well by sealing the cuticle afterwords. And demi permanent does little to no damage to the hair.

Last night, at the Oscars, Sandra Bullocks hair looked beautiful, and extra shiny. I loved her old Hollywood style.

So Sandy B's hair,

Brunette: Check

Healthy: Check

Colored: Check

     Whose Oscar style did you love this year? I didn't get to watch because I am in a different time zone. Tell me who else I should look up. 

Do you have any tricks to keep you hair shiny?

Thanks for reading! Have a great day!

<3 Andi