Dancer Hair: What a Girl Needs To Know, Part 1

Part of the dancer life includes having pretty dancer hair! No matter how healthy your hair may be, you won’t be able to keep it up without giving your hair some extra TLC! If you’re pulling your hair up into a classic “ballerina bun” day after day, you’re putting a lot of tension on both your hair and your scalp. After all that abuse, you’ll need to pamper your hair and scalp in order to allow them to remain strong and healthy. From bobby pins and elastic bands to sweat, the dancer life puts a lot of stress on your hair and scalp.

Strengthening Your Hair

Let’s start with the effects of pulling your hair up into a bun, multiple times a week. This kind of repeated tension in the same direction can cause hair shafts to become weak and eventually break. One way to strengthen your hair and to avoid breakage is to treat your hair periodically with leave-in conditioners. Look at the label and make sure the conditioner you choose includes quinoa protein, which helps strengthen hair from the inside.

Before you pull your hair into a bun, simply spray it with water and pull the conditioner through it from the scalp to the ends. To avoid added breakage, be sure to use a paddle brush instead of a comb. Once your hair is detangled, use a soft bristled brush in order to achieve the smooth, tight coif you’re after.

Avoiding Damage from Sweat

Because it’s naturally salty, sweat dries the scalp. Shampooing daily can actually intensify the drying because frequent shampooing strips the scalp of natural oils that will otherwise help keep your scalp and hair healthy. You can keep your hair clean by using dry shampoo, and you can restore moisture to your scalp by adding oils.

Whether or not you choose to shampoo your hair each day, be sure to at least rinse and condition it after each rehearsal or performance. This ritual will help remove sweat and retain your hair’s strength. If your scalp is dry or itchy, you can relieve that issue by massaging natural oils from your hair or coconut oil into your scalp before bed. Then sleep with a bandana wrapped around your hair before shampooing the oil out in the morning.

A coconut wrap can be easily made by heating organic virgin coconut oil in the microwave. Once liquefied, coconut oil can be applied to the hair and scalp and covered with plastic wrap or a shower cap.

Caring for your dancer hair takes more than simply adding products such as leave-in conditioner and coconut oil. In Part 2 we’ll look at a couple more ways to ensure that your hair stays in tip-top shape.

JackrabbitDance

JackrabbitDance.com is the leading dance studio software for more than a decade. More than 11,000 studios use Jackrabbit because the system saves them so much time, keeps them organized and simplifies communication with their customers. The beauty of Jackrabbit is the ability to grow and scale your business without outgrowing your software.