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Leading Hairstylist Paul Windle Shares His Tips For Healthy And Full Hair

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London-based hairstylist Paul Windle has a rich history of hair that spans over 35 years. Having started his career as a barber, he then became a teacher and Principal at the renowned Barber and Hairdressing Vidal Sassoon schools and opened his salon in 1988. In tandem, he built two successful haircare brands in the U.K., before establishing his own hair care and styling range, Windle Lab, that’s designed to feed the hair and scalp to strengthen and revitalize.

With all this know-how, Windle shares his top tips for full, healthy hair.

Wash your hair with a gentle surfactant

Although not washing the hair will not have a massively detrimental effect, not washing the scalp can create problems in its ecosystem. Not cleansing the scalp thoroughly of bacteria can create infections such as Folliculitis.

When washing hair use a gentle surfactant, a strong surfactant will produce too much lather, less lather is a good indicator of a gentler surfactant, if you are getting too much lather, dilute the shampoo with water. At Windle Lab, all our shampoos have very gentle surfactant as well as infused teas, rich in antioxidants.

Shampooing your hair twice, will in fact allow you to use less shampoo, apply a small amount and don’t expect any lather on the first shampoo. On the second shampoo, a very small amount of product will give the desired lather experience. Be sure to give your scalp a good, strong scrub with your fingertips in a circular motion for a gentle exfoliation.


Condition your hair

When applying conditioner, apply to the last few inches of the hair or areas you see and feel are dry. Do not comb the conditioner from roots to ends, it doesn't need conditioning as your scalp produces a natural oil called sebum.


Brush your hair before bed

Brushing your hair before bed has a cleansing effect on the hair, brushing out any styling products for a physical cleaning process. Brushing from root to tip will carry your hair’s natural conditioner (sebum) along the hair shafts, be sure to use a soft brush - I would recommend a Denman brush.


Use a leave-in conditioner

At night, I would recommend using a leave-in conditioner. While you sleep, hair rubbing against hair causes friction and damage, not your pillowcase! However, this can be a positive situation if you apply a leave-in conditioner overnight, the friction process, as well as the heat in your bed, aids penetration of the product into the hair, i.e, acting as a conditioning treatment.

Be sure the product you use has a low molecular weight though to penetrate hair strands vs heavy silicone conditioners which only coat the hair. I love anything with Monoi oil in it, it has a low molecular weight and penetrates the hair to nourish and condition. You can find Monoi oil as a key ingredient in our Windle Lab Invisible Day & Night Spray and Windle Lab Day & Night Cream.


Take responsibility for your hair care

Experiment and observe! Hair is very personal to each individual, try different products and treatments and see what works best for your hair. Observe how your hair looks and feels, try shampooing more or less frequently and try light leave-in conditioners. I would highly recommend using a leave-in conditioner, only applying to the dry parts and ends of your hair, the product acts as a hair moisturizer - you wouldn’t wash off a facial moisturizer so why do that with your hair? A leave-in conditioner can protect your hair throughout the day, the Windle Lab Invisible Day & Night Spray contains a UV filter to protect hair against harmful UV damage.


Prepare before your trip to the salon

Before you go to the salon make sure you prepare and know exactly what you want from your appointment. Think about how you want your hair to look and feel, think about how to communicate this to the hairdresser, be opinionated, know what you want, and perhaps take pictures with you.

Make sure your hairdresser is listening and that they spend time with you before starting the appointment to make sure they understand exactly what you want. A good hairdresser will indulge in active listening and make suggestions. Don’t be shy.


Blow drying

If you want some volume, keep the hairdryer on its lowest setting, apply our Windle Lab Thickening Cream to the roots, tip your head upside down and apply gentle heat at a slow pace, moving the dryer around the roots. This will give you a lot of lift with minimal heat damage, in fact, a lower setting on the dryer, used at the roots, can give more volume than the dryer at full speed.


Don’t over style

Over-styling hair is rather like using too much makeup. Make sure the fabric of the hair is in great shape with good products. Take a look at high fashion imagery, hair usually looks effortless, and embrace your natural texture.

Celebrate and empower your natural beauty. Take care of your hair and when wanting a certain look, scrunch some product gently into the hair to create separation. Stay away from too much blow-drying and heat styling, this is not good for the condition of the hair.


Cut your hair

The most common comment I get from clients is that their hair has gone flat. For volume, you should get your hair cut frequently, it doesn't have to be a lot but the weight needs to be taken out to encourage volume. However, be careful that the layers are not cut too short.

See the full Windle Lab collection on windlelondon.com.

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