Photo Credit: Ali Pazani via www.pexels.com

Can you work out at the gym and still have beautiful curls afterward? The answer is yes. It is possible to have beautiful-looking curls without having to wash your hair after every gym session. Preserve your curly hair while getting those gains with these 5 helpful tips.

Invest in dry shampoo and no-rinse shampoo

Dry shampoo and no-rinse shampoo are some of the best products for hydrated curls. If you have oily hair, use dry shampoo because they often contain oil-absorbing ingredients such as starches and powders that will prevent your hair from looking so shiny. The benefit of dry shampoo is also that it’ll add more volume to your hair in addition to moisturising your locks.

The no-rinse shampoo is the type of stuff astronauts use when they’re in space. All you have to do is apply and massage it on. It doesn’t need any water to work.

Now the problem with these shampoos is that all of the product you apply is going to sit there. So eventually you’re going to have to wash your hair and cleanse the dirt and grime off thoroughly. Plus, if you don’t sweat a lot, then you don’t necessarily have to use dry shampoo.

Don’t wash your hair too often

Washing your hair all the time can damage it and even lead to hygral fatigue. This refers to the damage done to your hair when you consistently wet and dry them. That’s because every time you wet your hair, the cuticles swell up and absorb moisture and that process of opening and closing wears down your hair strands causing them to become more porous and dry.

The less often you wash your hair, the less damage you’ll be doing to it. You can mildly clean and refresh your hair without having to wash it every day.

Ideally, you want to wash your hair once or twice a week so that you’re not stripping your hair of its natural oils. If you have more of a dry scalp and don’t want to irritate your scalp, you can use other refreshing sprays that are dedicated to preserving the smell and cleanliness of the hair.

Try low manipulation styles

To preserve the curly shape, place your hair in low manipulation styles that won’t alter your curl pattern while you workout. Examples of styles like this include tying your hair up in a loose hairstyle with a silk scrunchie or an invisible scrunchie.

Once you’re done working out, immediately let your hair down so that it dries in the shape that you want it in.

If you have very long hair and you don’t want it to wave around all over the place, loosely braid it in a very simple brad to keep all of the hair together. You can also wrap your hair in a bonnet or tie it with a satin scarf.

The quick refresh

If it’s not wash day yet and your hair needs a quick refresher after the gym, here’s what you can do;

• Section the hair into four parts.
• Spray your hair with a little bit of water then apply your favorite leave-in refreshing spray.
• The objective is to not saturate the hair but to dampen it a little bit just so it can absorb the products.
• Then, apply a small amount of styling gel using the praying hands method to smooth it onto the hair.
• Then release it and shake it out.
• Leave it to air dry and after a few minutes, your hair should look more defined and less frizzy.

This quick routine will definitely tide you over until wash day while preventing tangles.

Extra Pro Tip!

Once you’re done working out, your scalp is usually sweaty and some of your hair is wet. Leave it up until it’s mostly dry and then take it out of the ponytail. And remember to leave the crazier and more intense workouts for wash day!