How to Maintain Your Platinum Blonde Mane

I've been platinum blonde for the better part of a year now, and I love it! It's been a huge learning curve learning how to take care of it properly - from how often to deep condition to what supplements to take to keep my hair as healthy and long as possible. Read on for a breakdown of my favorite products and techniques that I use to keep my platinum blonde mane in top condition.

Step 1: Healthy Hair From the Inside Out

Great hair starts with great health. I take either a biotin or general B-complex vitamin supplement o keep my hair growing healthy and fast - because the reality is, highly-processed hair will break off at some point, and if it's breaking off faster than it grows in, you'll end up with the "chemical bob." Right now I like the Tropical Oasis Liquid B Complex, but honestly I think regular drugstore biotin supplements work just as well. Biotin will make your nails grow faster as well.

I also drink horsetail tea multiple times a week. Horsetail is a plant that is very high in silica, a mineral crucial for building healthy hair, skin, and nails. To brew horsetail tea, I bring a pot of water and about 2 tablespoons of horsetail to a rolling boil, then let it cool.

Finally, I wear a headscarf every night. Wearing a scarf protects my hair from damage caused by rubbing up against pillows. I pull my hair back, tie it all up in a scarf, and bobby pin the scarf so it stays put overnight. Good for your hair, plus it looks cute.

Step 2: Shampoo & Conditioner

• Shampoo: I use Paul Mitchell's Platinum Blonde Shampoo. It contains purple pigment to help my platinum toner last longer (the purple cancels out the yellow undertones of blonde hair in its un-toned state). I try to shampoo as little as possible to help keep my color last longer and instead opt to do every other wash with conditioner, which I discuss in the next bullet point.
• Leave-in conditioner: Leave-in conditioner is a MUST for highly-processed hair. I use Paul Mitchell's Original Leave-In Conditioner. There's something really retro about this conditioner that I love - the conditioner is a medicinal blue color that reminds me of the 90s, and it has a clean, androgynous scent. After shampooing, if I'm not deep-conditioning that day, I apply a ton of it to my hair while still in the shower after towel-drying.
• Deep conditioners: I have a few deep conditioning treatments that I use for different purposes. My go-to is Joico's K-Pak Intense Hydrator, which I use about once a week for about 20 minutes at a time while I take a bubble bath. It's fabulous and you need it. It will make your hair SO soft and shiny. Once a month or so, I'll strengthen my hair with thePaul Mitchell Awapuhi Keratin Intensive Treatment. My hair feels so strong and healthy after I use this. Be careful not to overdo keratin treatments - your hair will become brittle and break off if it becomes over-keratinized. Finally, every couple months I use Olaplex Hair Perfector. I have no idea how the Olaplex products work, but they claim to rebuild hair bonds, which is... pretty mindblowing. The Hair Perfector is their take-home product, and it is gold in a tiny bottle, a total must-have. The only downside of it is you can only buy it through a cosmetology professional - or student like myself.

Tips: Shampoo with lukewarm water and rinse with cold water, as cold as you can stand it. When towel-drying hair, try not to rough your hair up at all - be as gentle as possible to avoid breakage.

Step 3: Styling Necessities

• Strengthening: After every single wash, I spritz my hair with Paul Mitchell Super Strong Liquid Treatment. It strengthens and repairs hair, and I just apply it to the ends which are the weakest point of the hair shaft.
• Heat protectant: If you heat style at all, either with a blowdyer, flat iron, etc, you need a heat protectant product. I use Paul Mitchell Heat Seal. It literally is just a barrier around the hair shaft to buffer the heat. You can feel how it works by spraying it onto your arm and hitting that area with a blowdryer. You'll be able to feel that the area with the Heat Seal doesn't feel the heat as much. It has no styling properties and I use this before every single heat styling session. It's a must-have.
• Moisturizing: I lovePaul Mitchell Awapuhi Moisture Mist in so many ways. If my hair is just generally feeling dry, I spritz it with a bit of Moisture Mist and it's immediately softer and silkier. If I pull my hair out of a ponytail and there's a kink from the hair tie, I'll spritz the area with Moisture Mist and hit it with a blowdryer and that takes care of it. If my face is dry, I spritz Moisture Mist like a toner - it's made for skin too! It's such a versatile and effective product. I love it.
• Styling: I am obsessed withBed Head After Party. I probably go through a bottle of it a month. After applying Super Strong Liquid Treatment and Heat Seal, I rub a pump of After Party into my palms and coat my hair with it before blowdrying. It gives my hair that shiny, healthy texture that unprocessed hair has. Like if I were to let my processed hair air-dry without After Party, it would dry this puffy, amorphous mass. After Party makes it look like actual healthy hair. If I wake up in the morning and don't have time to style, a bit of After Party applied to dry hair revives it and gives it that freshly-styled gloss. It's fantastic. Plus seeing the bottle on my shelf makes me giggle.
• Finishing: I love styling oils and experiment with a bunch of different ones. My all-time favorite isPaul Mitchell Awapuhi Styling Oil - it smells so amazing and my hair just drinks it up - but I'm out and haven't had a chance to pick up more. So I'm working my way throughMarc Anthony Oil of Morocco Argan Oil Treatment, which isn't pure argan oil but does the job. And in a pinch, I just use baby oil! To use styling oils, rub a drop of the oil into your palms and fingers and run your hands through your hair in all directions, focusing on the ends where the hair is driest.

Step 4: Closing Thoughts

I know, it's a lot. Those are just my favorite products, not even the full list of products that I experiment with and keep on rotation. Call me ridiculous, or call me passionate - my platinum blonde hair looks great if I say so myself, and with proper commitment and care, yours will too. Try these products and experiment with others to figure out what works for you! I hope my recommendations help!

Thanks for reading! Feel free to email me at [e-mail] or follow me on Instagram at @KirikoKikuchi.