We all know what combination skin is. In fact, we’d hazard a guess that most of us fall into the ‘combination’ category, at least during some seasons of the year. Even if your skin is drier than the Sahara desert, you’re still bound to get the odd breakout come summer. Likewise, if you’re usually reaching for the blotting papers every few minutes, when the mercury drops, you might find patches of your face uncomfortably tight. So why is that when we’re sat in the hairdresser’s chair, prepping for our blow-dry, or standing in the aisles of a supermarket trying to choose a new shampoo, we suddenly feel we have to choose between dry, damaged, coloured and oily? Surely our hair, with all the different processes and tools we throw at it, has just as much as room to be ‘combination’ as our skin?
In fact, when you look at all the options – dry scalp, coloured hair, curly waves, split ends, there are over 174 million different hair combinations – rather like unique IDs, for each of us. We’ve rounded up the five top cases of combination hair, and prescribed the perfect regime for you to pick and choose from. System Professional’s new EnergyCodeTM concept and products range is designed with ‘combination hair’ in mind. With natural lipids to add non-greasy moisturisation, caffeine to energise and promote a healthy scalp and histidine to repair oxidative and heat damage, you can pick and choose a combination of products that’s as unique as your hair. The doctor will see you now…
By Daniela Morosini
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1 If you're a product junkie...
We all use a lot more hair products than previous generations (heat protectant spray, mousse, hairspray, hair perfume…), meaning we’re working with a lot more build-up than before. Blame it on the fact that we’re all so indecisive that we want to do a Kylie Jenner and re-style our hair three times a day, but all those sprays and silicones can make for congested hair. Now you don’t have to choose between an exceptionally thorough clean on your scalp and something extra nourishing and caring through the ends. Mix it up by using the P1 Purify Shampoo to help lift away product residue and other gunk, then condition your hair with the H2 Hydrate Conditioner. To touch up your hair on the go, use CC61 Instant Energy to keep it soft, smooth and shiny. Easier brushing, stronger lengths, swishier hair. Win, win, win.
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2 If you can't quit the heat tools
Only the most chaste of us can resist the siren song of straighteners and tongs. We know they fry our hair, but that doesn’t stop us turning back to them three or four times a week (they’re so quick! And reliable!). All that hot hot heat can leave your ends dry, brittle and generally unhappy. Call in the heavy hitters: we suggest the H1 Hydrate Shampoo to quench the hair before applying the L3 LuxeOil Keratin Restore Mask for repair and flexibility. Then, finish with the R5 Repair Perfect Hair: combining heat protection and structural strength with hydrolysed keratin and amino acids to smooth and nourish your locks, it’ll make for easier, safer styling. And for even longer-lasting vitality and damage repair, apply the iconic X4L Liquid Hair, a molecular hair refilling treatment that reconstructs the hair fibre, reinforcing hair for up to 5 washes.
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3 If you have perennially greasy roots and dry ends...
We’re calling this ‘2017 hair’. A combination of bleach abuse, tong-inflicted damage and only trimming about, um, once a year can leave you with oily roots and basically just all split ends from the ears down. While dry shampoo helps in the short term to mop up excess oil, it doesn’t get to the heart of the problem and really treat this tricky combo. Help is at hand though – try the B1 Balance Shampoo (or P1 if you need dandruff control too) which will gently but effective cleanse your scalp to reduce oily roots. Then, work in a healthy dollop of C3 Color Save Mask – even five minutes of this miracle worker will repair your abused ends. Finish with the R6 Repair Perfect Ends Conditioner to seal in moisture and nourish the lengths of your hair.
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4 If your hair's lifeless but mops up conditioner...
If you get through conditioner at a pace of knots, but always find yourself with loads of shampoo left over, this could be you. If your hair absolutely drinks up conditioner at the ends, but still doesn’t have that lovely, swishy, shampooed quality, you could be in need of a bit of scalp stimulation. After all, healthy hair starts with a healthy scalp, and if yours is congested in any way, it can leave your hair lifeless and flat. The solution? Try the P1 Purify Shampoo. This shampoo is like giving your scalp a serious detox – it’ll remove any trace of product build-up or dead skin debris for a healthier, happier scalp. Once you’ve got a clean slate, add in the H3 Hydrate Mask for the perfect hair and scalp regeneration and include X5A Alpha Energy, which is designed to enrich the 3 pillars of hair (scalp, fibre and texture), providing visibly fuller and more manageable strands from root to tip. Finish with V5 Volumize Aerolifter to bring life to your hair. The result? Stronger, more supple hair that’s easier to brush – without any greasy weight.
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5 If you have brittle lengths and zero volume
One of the good things about second-day (or third, or fourth…) hair is that it packs a lot of volume. Hairdressers will rarely wash your hair before doing an updo for this reason – the natural oils and slept-in texture give it more grip. But, if you’ve got all of that slightly dry texture and none of the covetable volume? That’s irritating. Having lots of brittle hair might make it sound like it just need a hydration hit, but the reality is slightly more complex than that. First of all, shampoo your hair with L1 LuxeOil Shampoo for moisture and suppleness, then use a V3 Volumize mask to strengthen your hair fibre without overweighting it. Add a drop of L4 LuxeOil Reconstructive Elixir to help smooth your hair – all those brittle ends can make for annoying frizz – while the mask will help pump up the volume whilst still conditioning. Try sleeping with a coat of LuxeOil Elixir on your ends once or twice a week, too – it’ll help nourish and repair your locks in no time.
