How to start a haircare routine from scratch

“If you’re spending money having your hair coloured, and you’re not spending money on good haircare products to maintain it at home, you’re putting that money down the toilet.”

Everyone has a hair-related horror story that has inflicted some level of emotional damage. Mine personally dates back to 2013. I remember walking into the hairdressers to get my virgin hair coloured, and walking out with bleached orange balayage from my ears down.

Thanks to my mum having the self-assertiveness I lacked, a toner was put in the next day to settle some of the colour. Though I was left with the fall-out of colour-damaged hair and severely split ends, my tragic tale firmly instilled within me the importance of having a good haircare routine.

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But scrolling through a site like Adore Beauty can be intimidating – haircare nowadays has evolved far beyond the standard shampoo and conditioner. There are oils, hair masks, vitamins, co-washes… the list goes on, and it can be difficult to keep up.

So to strip it back to basics I turned to Jaye Edwards, owner of hair salon group EdwardsAndCo, and founder of the hair care brand, Jaye Haircare, for some advice.

Match your shampoo and conditioner with your hair concerns

“I think the first step is identifying your main hair concerns, and I think this is where most people go wrong,” Jaye tells me. “For example, if someone does have fine or thin hair, then they can opt for thickening shampoo or a shampoo that promotes hair growth.”

“If you are washing your hair more than three times a week, you probably are using the wrong shampoo [and] conditioner.”

Healing hair masks

“[The] next product [for] me would be a mask or a treatment, like a rinse-out one that you use once every four to five washes. I think people really underestimate the benefit of having a treatment at home, because especially if you have colour-treated hair, or if you have hair that’s super fine, or hair that’s really frizzy, you’re really [going to] be able to address those main concerns [with a mask or treatment],” Jaye explains.

“My all-time favourite hair treatments, and it can be for any hair type or texture, is the Virtue Labs Restorative Mask. And the reason I like [this] is because of the main ingredient in it. It’s got an ingredient called 60ku keratin, so it’s a real human hair keratin.”

The power of a scalp serum

“I’m a huge believer in scalp serums,” Jaye says. “I think it promotes a healthy scalp to grow your hair. I personally use one every day. Every night before I go to bed, I pop it on. My favourite one is also the Virtue Labs Topical Scalp Supplement… it’s just prepping the base work for healthy hair to grow.”

Air drying vs. heat styling

“If you’re air-drying your hair naturally, then I would probably choose a defrizzing cream or a softening cream, which will just keep the natural texture intact,” Jaye tells me.

“This doesn’t just relate to people with curly hair, if you have a slight natural wave… the Jaye Haircare Defrizz and Fatten Cream is a great option to just apply liberally through roots to ends, and just let it air dry. And it will just keep your hair nice and smooth.”

“If you are heat styling, then you really need to use a heat protection always,” Jaye says. “One of my favourite protections is the Nak Thermal Shield.”

“When you are using heat, though, it’s also really important [to] maintain moisture in your hair. So again, you could use the de-frizz and fatten cream because it’s like a high moisture product or the Virtue Labs Purify Leave-in Conditioner.

“So even though you are using the heat protectant [to] protect your hair against the heat, but it’s still the heat [that] is dehydrating your hair. So it’s really important that you use the moisturising products every time you style your hair or every time you wet your hair.”

Get oily with it

“[For] anyone who has colour-treated hair, [Virtue Labs] have a product called Healing Oil. It’s extremely lightweight [and] contains a high dose of the 60ku keratin in it, and I actually tell my clients to apply that every day. So whether that be before you go to bed or in the morning on your way to work, just put some time and apply it through root to tip.”

Extra tips and tricks

I decided this was also the perfect chance to ask Jaye for more general hair care tips, all in the name of professional research (and not for selfish reasons of course).

Dry shampoo

“The Jaye Haircare Dry Texture Spray doubles up as a dry shampoo,” Jay says. “The key to using it though, [is that] it’s really important that you use it after your blow-dry. So don’t wait until your hair is oily, use it right away [and] spray it through your roots first.

“And that will help to prolong your blow-dry. Once you get to a point where it’s like ‘Okay, I need a couple more days out of this’, then you reapply it to your roots.”

Vitamins

“The Let There Be Hair Vitamin by Évolis is one of my go-to’s,” Jaye tells me. “[Or] if you’re into collagen, one of the brands that we carry [is] Pearl.”

Picking a brand

“I think when you are choosing what brands to use, that it’s important to understand the science behind them,” Jay advises.

“I’m [not] meaning you have to go and research like 40,000 pages, I just mean when [you] pick the brands, understand where it’s coming from and understand what the key ingredients are…

“For example, I love Redken, and it’s science-based, so they are all focused on the PH level of the hair, which to me is really interesting. And then like Olaplex, for example, is based on bond-building… And then you have Virtue Labs, which is based on science with 60ku keratin.”

Why do we need a haircare routine?

“I just think it’s really important, especially when you have colour-treated hair, that you do everything you can from a holistic perspective to look after [it],” Jaye tells me.

“And that really does start from the scalp, to creating a great foundation for healthy hair to grow. And then using products at every step of the way to make sure that you’re not heat damaging it, to make sure you’re keeping it hydrated.

“If you’re spending money having your hair coloured, and you’re not spending money on good haircare products to maintain it at home, you’re putting that money down the toilet.”

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