You may not have known that doing a daily routine could damage your hair so much, but it really does make a difference when you repeat a harmful process everyday. Some straighteners can reach up to 500 degrees in their heat settings, which is hotter than the temperature required to cook a pizza. If your settings are turned all the way up to 500 degrees, you are seriously damaging the ends of your hair. Taking the following steps when straightening your hair daily will help control heat damage, frizzy ends, and can even save you some time.

A clean set of strands is always a good way to begin your styling process. Always remember to brush your hair not too much. As odd as it may sound, it is a proven fact that when women brush their hair too often, they are creating split ends. To prevent this from happening, limit yourself to two brush-throughs everyday. The best way to do this is to brush your hair once before you begin straightening to remove all tangles and brush it once after you straighten so that your hair looks polished and not stringy.

Once you have cleared all tangles from your ends, plug in the straightener. If you plug it in too soon, you’re giving it too much time to heat up. The longer heat-up time the tool has, the harder it must work to stay heated. If you plug in the flat iron just one or two minutes before you’ll be using it, you will be better off. Letting your iron heat up for a couple minutes also saves you time because you can do other things as you wait.

A great way to spend those two minutes is to prep your hair for the heat it’s about to face. When your hair is going straight into contact with heat, you must use a heat protectant spray to at least cut down on the the damage, if not completely prevent it. This part of the process is advised to be completed during the heat up of the iron because your hair should not be wet while you straighten. Spray it thoroughly but allow it those full couple of minutes to dry completely. If your hair is wet when you begin the process, you are basically frying your hair and causing more damage than you ever would if it were dry.

Oddly, the straightening part is the easiest part of the entire process. There is only one thing to remember and that is, as you begin to straighten your dry hair, be sure you don’t hold the iron on one section of hair for too long. Applying too much heat to a certain area automatically causes breakage in the ends. Split your hair into sections so that you can concentrate on straightening each part of your head thoroughly. As long as you pay attention to which strands you’ve already straightened, your heat damage will be kept to a minimum by splitting it up.

Straightening your hair doesn’t really take much thought. As long as you think about whether your process may be damaging, you can keep your hair healthy no matter what. Straightening your hair everyday doesn’t have to be bad, it only becomes bad when you do it without any kind of protection. As long as you have your essential tool – the heat protectant spray – and your tips for preventing breakage, your hair can be healthy and stylish all year round.

There are many things to consider before making a major hair style change.  Although spontaneity seems like a good idea when for the fourth day in a row we can’t get our hair to do anything right and are forced to leave the house with a hat or a pony-tail, overall it’s best to do some planning and consideration before chopping off those locks.

First, consider what you currently don’t like about your hair cut.  Is it too long?  Too layered?  Too top-heavy?  Too dark?  Too light?  Too something else?  Just plain awful?  Whatever your situation may be, keep in mind the specific things you want to change, before you just waltz into a random salon somewhere.

The most important thing to consider when switching your hair style, is finding a stylist that you like and trust.  Because you like and trust your stylist, take his or her word for it when he/she tells you that the hairstyle you’ve selected simply will not work on your hair.  Listen to suggestions of how you might slightly change it to work better with your current cut or type of hair.

All in all, when you decide to have a drastic hairstyle change, wait awhile before you actually go through with it.  This will give you time to consider what you’ve decided to do and make sure that you don’t regret it a few days later.   Trust your stylist and consider all of you options.  You don’t want to end up with a flash-back of the perm/bangs/mushroom cut days.

Wash your hair with a sleek and shine inducing shampoo and condition and blow dry straight.  Hold the hair dryer above your head and dry straight down while combing your tresses straight.  Use a thermal protection spray on your hair and wait for it to dry completely.  Then straighten your hair with a tourmaline hair straightener (try the Karmin G3) for a silky straight look.  This hair style is professional enough for the office, but sexy enough to keep you stylish.

When you’re ready to go out with your girls, pull your hair back into a high pony tail at the crown of your head and secure with an elastic.  Pull a small section of hair from the bottom of the pony, twist it and wrap it around the pony tail to hide the elastic .  Add an extra sheen with a shine serum to complete the look.

To add volume to any other do, there are many techniques to help you out.  Try blow drying your hair upside down after towel drying and applying a thermal protection product.  When it’s dry, give it a quick shot of hair spray before you flip your head back over and DON’T comb it out right away. After you flip your hair back, wait for it to fall naturally and then use a wide tooth comb or pick to help smooth out the top layer.

If the dryer trick isn’t working for you, try to use curlers to help you out.  Dry your hair and apply a thermal protection product.  Use 1 inch hot rollers around your head, especially at the crown and leave them in for the required time.  When you pull out the rollers, wait for the hair to cool completely before trying to comb or style your locks. After your curls are cooled, comb through them with your fingers to turn up the volume.   You can pull your hair back into a messy updo or smooth out the curls for a wavy, tousled look.

There are so many options and varieties of voluminous hair this season.  No more dull, flat hair for you! Try each of these techniques and play around a bit to get the hottest new hair trends for 2010.

Below are some tips to follow while trimming your own hair

It is more convenient to cut wet hair than dry hair. First shampoo your hair properly, dry it with a drier and make it tangle-free. Keep a spray bottle filled with water close by to use if your hair starts to dry. Make sure that the hair cutting shears you are using are very sharp as this will prevent hair shears from pulling your hair. If you intent to cut your hair at home often, it is worthwhile to purchase professional hair cutting shears, clippers, a razor and thinning hair shears.

Read the following to help understand how to use your hair shears and achieve your desired cut.

Normal Straight cut

There is nothing better than simple hair styles. Moreover, it is much easier to achieve a simple hair cut at home.. The easiest among all hair styles is the single-length hair cut.

Determine the length you want and cut your hair accordingly. Once you find a length that is especially flatter, it is suggested that you measure your hair for future reference. Starting small, grab a piece of hair between your index and middle finger. Measure the hair to the determined length and snip off the extra carefully using your hair shears. Repeat this process until you have trimmed all of your hair. You can use this technique with a variety of hair cutting shears and on men’s and women’s hair. Keep in mind that the length of hair may vary from very short to below the shoulders.

Professional Cut

Perhaps you would prefer a more professional or complicated hair style. If this is the case, you may want to start with a professional cut and then just snip off about the same amount of hair from all parts of your head on regular basis, using your own professional hair cutting shears and maintain the style. Generally, hair on different parts of the head grow at different rates. If you decide to follow this technique, it is recommended that you occasionally consult a hair stylist to prevent your hair from becoming uneven.

Another stylish hair-cut

Another idea for a very simple, but attractive hair-cut is to lean over and comb your damp hair straight forward. Smooth our your hair with your fingers and use very sharp hair shears to cut a line straight across. Make sure that you work in small sections and do it from one side to another. After you finish, check to be sure that the hair cut is even. Part your hair directly in the middle of your head. Measure small sections of your hair using your thumb and index finger to check for any long pieces. If there are long pieces, use your hair cutting shears to carefully cut them off.

As you get more practice cutting your own hair at home, you might want to try some complicated yet stylish hair-cuts at home. It is recommended that you purchase a hair cutting video that provides detailed instructions and allows the viewer to replay the video to help him or her learn.