Top 7 tips for keeping your Hair & Scalp fabulous while working from home! 

We are all living; this is a new way of life. Wake up, get ready, exercise (maybe) and go to your home office. No travel, no public transport or traffic. Do you wash your hair as much? Do you style your hair each day? We are living in this video conference world, what does this mean for your hair? 
Here are our top 7 tips for keeping your Hair & Scalp fabulous while working at home! 

1: Identify if anything has changed about your hair and scalp.  
It is essential to take a close look at your hair, roots to ends. Feel the strands, brush it, massage your scalp. Things to notice, is your hair feeling more oily or drier? Is your scalp itchy or bumpy or smooth? Are you wearing your hair up more or washing it less? These changes are essential to note because working from home means less time travelling, less time out in pollution, less time around other people and less time in large offices with industrial air conditioners and heaters. 
2: What are you liking and not liking? 
Are you liking the changes you are noticing in your hair and scalp? Or are you not loving them? An example is if you are wearing your hair tied up more maybe you are getting scalp sensitivity when you take your hair down? Or a positive could be less washing leads to less styling, and your hair may not be feeling as dry. Notice the change and identify the issue then fix that is what we are going to focus on.
3: I am washing my hair less than ever before. Is this ok?
If you are feeling no scalp irritation or discomfort, of course, this is ok. Hair is porous meaning it absorbs elements of its surroundings. An example is going to a Korean BBQ restaurant, and your hair smells for days after even if you shampoo it, there can still be a lingering smell of smoke. But being home and inside more means less exposure to the world. Here are some reasons why you may not need to wash your hair as much:

• Staying home or being out in the world less means that there are fewer particles that attach to your hair and your hair is just not as dirty.
• You are not experiencing as many temperature fluctuations and sweating as much.
• You are not around as many people.
• You are not out in pollution as much.
• Your home is a more constant environment.

4: It is all about self-care for your hair. 
How do you keep your hair and scalp feeling great for longer? 

• Brush your hair and scalp or give it a good massage. Brushing your hair removes dead hairs and stimulates blood flow to the scalp. 
• Give your hair a rinse under cool water. The cool water is excellent for the scalp, it is invigorating, and the hair cuticle closes a little under cool water which minimises absorption of impurities. 
• Sleep with your hair in a plait or loose bun. This reduces your hair touching your skin or face when sleeping. 
• Mix up the ponytail. Tie your hair up in a different spot on your head each day. This will minimise the stress to the roots of your hair and reduce the heat spots on your scalp. 

5: I wash my hair, but it still feels oily. Best practice for hair washing!
Sebum is the oil that the scalp produces in combination with sweat. This oil is a barrier for the hair and scalp, and it is vital for a healthy hair and scalp biome. It protects the follicles as well as the skin on your scalp. Washing your hair less or tying your hair up more means that the sebum can build-up on areas of the hair and scalp. It is not a matter of reducing the oil on your scalp; it is making sure that when you cleanse your hair and scalp, all the built-up sebum is removed. Follow this process for the best results: 

• Massage or brush your hair and scalp before cleansing. This will lift off dead skin, remove loose hairs and start to loosen any of the build-up on the scalp. 
• Use warm water to rinse your hair well before shampooing and move the hair with your fingers to rinse. 
• Shampoo your hair twice. Aveda shampoo does not have artificial foaming agents, so it will not foam up if the hair is not clean. Your first shampoo should focus on the scalp area. Then rinse and complete a second shampoo working from roots to ends. 
• Squeeze out as much moisture as you can before conditioning. 
• Apply conditioner from mid-lengths to ends with your hands then use a comb or tangle teezer to distribute your conditioner through your hair. 
• Rinse your hair with luke-warm or cold water to close the hair cuticle and refresh the scalp. 

6: Zooming in all day every day! What are they looking at, me or my hair? 
We used video conference software before but never like we are now. And most people don’t look at themselves all day when they are at work unless you are a hairdresser and work in front of a mirror all day. With all this video conferencing, you are looking at other people closer than ever as well as looking at yourself. Zoom and brands alike are discussing the removal of the see yourself window in meetings, as it is causing fatigue. 
We don’t look at ourselves in face-to-face meetings, and with video conferences, we are not only focusing on who we are meeting with but also on ourselves every day! 
For your hair, please keep it simple and easy. Wear it in a style that you won’t touch a lot or in a way that you won’t look at all day and analyse. Less is more. If you can remove the ability to see yourself from a video conference, do so. You will be more focused on who you are talking too and less focused on yourself and how you look. We will be in this world for a long time, so creating good habits now will bring long term success. 
7: Be kind to yourself. 
We are all stressed in some way. Our whole world has changed, and we are all adjusting. Stress can bring on physical changes to our skin, nails, hair, weight, and organs too. It is common to shed hair when we are in a state of stress or distress. It is ok. Firstly don’t stress about your hair loss. We have a whole post on hair loss management to aid you. https://zucci.com.au/secret-weapons-for-thinning-hair/
And another post about your scalp. https://zucci.com.au/scalp-care/
The stress comes and hopefully goes. It is how we manage the time during and after that will have the most significant impact on our hair and scalp. 
Working from home is a reality that we are all going to be living with for the foreseeable future. We are here to support you on this journey. The best way to learn more about how to manage your hair and scalp is to visit us in-salon. To book an appointment, click here. 
We have so much more knowledge to share with you. 
Thanks for reading. 
Zucci.