I tend to forget to get regular haircuts all the time. My intention and goal is to go no less than 4 months between cuts, but I often will go 6 months and even more because I simply forget. Let me rephrase that, I forget until I suddenly go “oh I’ve given myself about 3 micro-trims, I guess I should get into the salon” Related: Micro-Trims for Consistently Fresh Ends

When You Have Long Hair, It’s Easier to Go Longer Periods Between Cuts

It’s easy to forget to get to the salon for a professional cut when you have long hair that doesn’t really have much of a “style” to it. But that’s the way I tend to like my hair. Simple long layers complement my hair type which is a fine hair texture but lots of hair.

That may seem like a contradiction, but it is a real hair type to have a finer consistency of texture while still having a large volume of actual hairs on the head. It makes layering and bangs pretty complicated because lots of layers or construction can quickly give way to cowlicks and unintended consequences in shape with my hair type.

So long hair without hugely defined layers tends to be the easiest upkeep for me. Don’t forget while some think having short hair is much lower maintenance, that’s because their hair type is probably conducive to this type of more precise style.

It’s actually less work to have longer hair because you can throw it up in a pony tail or a bun and you’re done. But I digress. Let’s just say I go longer between professional hair intervention than I should because I don’t have a whole lot of “style” happening.

Scalp Health – It’s Not Just About Staying Dandruff Free

A healthy scalp is really important for vibrant, healthy hair. It’s the foundation from which new hair growth springs, and keeping the scalp environment friendly to strong new hair strands is crucial to help encourage good volume and abundance.

One of the most common problems is yeast growth on the scalp. If you go too long between washes then you know what I’m talking about. You can start to experience itchy patches of scalp, and sometimes those itchy patches will even blister into irritation bumps from yeast overgrowth.

Keeping your scalp clean and healthy by using products that contain beneficial, anti-fungal ingredients like rosemary essential oil, mint, clary sage and more, can be useful in helping combat this effect of yeast overgrowth. Some of these natural oils help to kill yeast and foster a clean, healthy ecosystem for your scalp.

Scalp Scrubs – Luxury Combined with Utility

This was all a very long way to get to the point of this story. My stylist was offering a Mint essential oil-based scalp scrub for a limited holiday period of time, and it sounded like exactly what the doctor ordered for my long overdue professional hair attention.

Not only for the relaxing part of a scalp scrub and massage, but also to help address any scalp health concerns since my scalp does tend to get itchy after even day two of not shampooing. The astringent qualities of some of the oils recommended, plus the mechanical exfoliation of the abrasives recommended provide for a clean, fresh scalp that is free of buildup and otherwise pore-clogging debris. 

This can really feel amazing when you’re done. It can also provide a sort of reset, much like a clarifying shampoo can reset your hair by removing dulling buildup. Related: Should You Occasionally Use a Clarifying Shampoo?

If you don’t want to pay for a professional scalp scrub, it’s really easy to make one of your own. It just might be more difficult to actually rinse it all out without their special high pressure sprayers that gets everything off the hair and the scalp quickly with a high pressure stream of water.

Here are some common ingredients you can include in a home-made scalp scrub:

1.)  Baking Soda

2.)  Black Walnut Hulls, finely ground

3.)  Essential oils that are astringent in nature like rosemary, peppermint, clary sage, and other herbal types of oils. The key here is what do you like to smell the most? Because there’s a huge list of herbal-smelling oils that also have astringent, anti-fungal and cleansing effects on the scalp

4.)  Oatmeal

5.)  Medium grain sea salt

6.)  Honey

7.)  Coconut Oil (Related: Why Coconut Oil is So Beneficial in Skin and Hair Care)