6 Brilliant Short Cuts to Super Shiny Hair!

Shiny, silky, brilliant hair is coveted by everyone. It sounds a simple-easy kind of thing to achieve, but actually isn’t. Aside from all the serums and treatments making wild claims and promises, did you know there are time-tested, science and stylist approved tricks that you can do in your everyday routine to transform your dull hair into magnificently glossy hair? Intriguing, no? Read on to find out what they are.

1. Upgrade your Shower head
Legend has it that Demi Moore used to wash her hair only with Evian. Probably because the quality the water you’re bathing in can seriously affect your shine factor. Hard water is often full of mineral deposits and creates buildup. Water quality varies from city to city, but if you do have hard-water, try using a mineral-filtering shower head. It works just like a Brita filter and separates the heavy, dull-inducing chemicals, while also letting the good stuff pass through.

2. Use a Clarifier
Just like windows need a good washing from time to time, your hair needs thorough cleansing at least once or twice a month. All your daily hair fixers — volumizer, mousse, hairspray, and even shine serum— over time create a dull buildup. Washing with a clarifying shampoo acts like a window washer for each individual strand, neatly sweeping away all the grime to reveal fresh, clean shiny hair underneath. Another clarifying option is to use an apple cider vinegar rinse every other week, which you can easily make by diluting ¼ cup of vinegar with 2 cups of water. After you’ve shampooed and rinsed, pour it over your hair. Don’t rinse out and skip the conditioner. Your hair will be squeaky clean, product-free and shiny as glass.

3. Try an Icy Cold Rinse
Hair is covered with tiny little scales similar to those on a fish, and the flatter those scales are the more reflective and shiny the hair is. Flat smooth cuticles = shiny hair. Roughed up cuticles = dull hair. The quickest and best way to seal up hair cuticles is by finishing off your shower with a cold-water rinse. As cold as you can stand it, for about 30 seconds (or more if you’re a toughie). Yes, it will make every muscle in your body contract and tighten up, but guess what? It will do the EXACT SAME thing to your hair. “This really does make such a difference,” says stylist Sara Lord from Washington D.C.’s Ury and Associates Salon. “You can see the difference in how shiny the hair is right away.”

4. The Blow-dry: Taut and Downward
When blow drying, pull each section of hair as straight and taut as possible with your hairbrush and then blast the blow dryer downwards. Don’t wiggle the brush around too much — move the hairdryer and brush down the hair shaft at the same speed. This ensures that the scales of the hair stay nice and flat, and thus, shiny. Finish by pressing the "cool" button on your hair dryer — the cold air produces a cuticle-tightening effect similar to that of a cool-water rinse after shampooing.

5. Soak in Indian Olive Oil
Lord advises doing an at home treatment with not just olive oil, but Indian olive oil. “Using olive oil as a deep conditioner is a classic at-home remedy, but I specifically use Indian olive oil. There’s something going on over there — their hair is amazing. It’s the same hair we create extensions from. It’s just long shiny and gorgeous.”

6. Sleep on a Silk Pillowcase
It feels kind of-princess-y AND it makes hair shiny. “At night you toss around a lot and tend to do a lot of damage to hair.  A silk pillowcase is nice and slippery,” says Lord. “There’s no friction or damage, the hair shaft stays smooth and glossy.”  And it must be silk. “Even the most expensive, highest thread-count cotton will rough up the hair cuticle.”