Hair that does what you want.

Hair, sorted by the head it's actually on. Six dimensions — type, concern, cut, colour, routine, and tools — written by a beauty editor with strong opinions about heat damage and overwashing, and a working library of texture-led protocols. Practical, decisive, occasionally a little impatient with the bottle on the shelf.

The six dimensions of the hair chapter

Hair Type

Texture, density, porosity, and pattern — sorted on a four-axis read that makes every other decision in this chapter make sense. Straight, wavy, curly, coily across the pattern axis. Fine, medium, coarse across the density axis. Low, medium, high across the porosity axis. Length and current condition as the fourth. The L3 pages teach the read in five minutes and translate it into bottle-buying language, so you walk into a store knowing what to skip. URL: /hair/en/hair-type/

Hair Concern

Breakage, dryness, oiliness, scalp irritation, thinning, frizz, flatness, lack of definition. The diagnostics that separate a symptom from a cause and walk the reader to the right protocol rather than the most-marketed one. Eight concerns in total, each with a probable-cause hierarchy — heat first, wash cadence second, scalp third, product fourth — because that is the order most adult hair complaints actually resolve in. URL: /hair/en/hair-concern/

Cut & Style

The cut that suits the texture, the layers that move on your hair, and the styling protocols that survive past hour two without re-doing them. Twelve cuts mapped across the four pattern types and three density types, with the language to take into a chair so the conversation goes where you want it. Styling protocols paced for real life — the eight-minute morning routine, the fifteen-minute reset, the going-out version that holds. URL: /hair/en/cut-style/

Colour & Treatment

Permanent, demi, semi, gloss, toner, balayage, foils, money pieces, root smudge, bond builder. Seven services translated into outcomes — what lifts, what tones, what fades — with the at-home upkeep that protects the work. Gloss every six to eight weeks. Sulfate-free shampoo. Hot-water cap. The four-step post-salon sequence that decides whether colour holds for ten weeks or three. URL: /hair/en/colour-treatment/

Care & Routine

Wash cadence by texture, conditioner pairing by porosity, leave-ins by climate, oils by length, weekly mask by need. Six full routines mapped end-to-end, with the climate adjustments for high-humidity, low-humidity, hard-water, and soft-water cities. The single biggest fix in most adult routines is fewer washes and more conditioner left on for an actual minute, and the chapter is built around that as a foundation. URL: /hair/en/care-routine/

Tools

Eleven tools — dryers, irons, wands, brushes, combs, diffusers — with the heat settings that protect rather than punish, and the maintenance schedule that keeps tools honest year over year. The dryer worth the upgrade. The iron that punishes hair. The brush that quietly causes most of the breakage you're blaming on shampoo. The comb that prevents it. URL: /hair/en/tools/

How to use this chapter

The dimensions are doors, not boxes. Hair Type is the calibration step every reader should do first. Hair Concern is the diagnostic step that prevents you buying for the wrong cause. Cut and Style is the pivot point that decides how much daily work the rest of your routine requires. Colour and Treatment is the chapter most people are quietly losing money on. Care and Routine is the operational layer that decides whether the day-to-day fits real life. Tools is the chapter's argument with an industry that wants to sell you four irons.

If you only have ten minutes

Click into Hair Type and do the four-axis read. The single best change you can make to a routine is knowing what your hair actually is, in the language the rest of this chapter speaks.

If you have been at this a while

Click into Tools. Most experienced hair routines are over-tooled and under-maintained. Drop the tool count, replace the dryer, and the routine you have starts behaving like the routine you imagined buying.

If your hair is dry no matter what you do

Click into Care and Routine, then Tools. The conditioner is doing its job; the heat is undoing it. The fix is almost never another bottle.

If you have just paid for colour

Click into Colour and Treatment immediately. The first 48 to 72 hours after the salon decide most of how long the colour holds.

Editor's note from Nelly

Most of the hair I see is over-washed and over-heated. The fix is almost always the same: one fewer shampoo per week, thirty degrees off the iron, and an actual conditioner left on for an actual minute. Then come back and tell me your hair is dry. It will not be. Nelly Whitcombe, Beauty Director, Spring 2026.

Frequently asked questions about hair

How often should I actually wash my hair?

Whatever the bottle says, ignore it. Most adults overwash. Fine straight hair tolerates every other day. Wavy and curly hair almost always wants less — twice a week, sometimes once. Coily hair often wants weekly. The signal is not a calendar; it is the scalp. If the scalp is itchy or oily at the roots, wash. If it is not, do not. Co-washing in between is a tool, not a substitute. The single biggest fix to most adult hair complaints is washing one fewer time per week and conditioning more thoroughly when you do.

Why is my hair dry no matter what conditioner I use?

Almost always heat. The conditioner is doing its job; the heat is undoing it. Daily blow-drying on high, an iron passing more than twice on a section, a curling wand at 230°C — that is what is drying your hair, not the wash. Drop the iron temperature by 30 degrees. Cap the dryer on medium for the last third of the dry. Skip styling tools two days a week. The conditioner you already own will start working again.

What is hair porosity and does it actually matter?

Porosity is how readily the cuticle absorbs and releases moisture. Low porosity hair resists products sitting on the surface; high porosity hair drinks them in and lets them go again just as fast. It matters because the same conditioner behaves differently on each — low porosity wants lighter, water-based formulas worked through with warmth; high porosity wants richer, sealed-in formulas with an oil layer on top. The float test in a bowl of water is folklore; the better signal is how your hair responds in the first ten minutes after a wash.

How do I stop heat damage without giving up styling?

Three rules. One: hair must be fully dry before any iron touches it — water inside a cuticle plus 200°C is how a strand splits open. Two: heat protectant on every pass, every time, no exceptions. Three: lower the temperature than the manual suggests. Most fine hair styles at 150 to 170°C. Most medium hair at 170 to 185°C. Most coarse hair at 185 to 200°C. Above 200°C is for one-off occasions and protected sections, not Tuesday.

Should I cut my hair when it is wet or dry?

Depends on texture. Straight and wavy hair cuts cleanly wet because the strand drops to the same length under tension. Curly and coily hair almost always cuts better dry — wet, it stretches, and the cut you got at the chair is two inches shorter once it dries and springs back. A stylist who insists on cutting curly hair wet without seeing it dry first is a stylist to leave.

Why is my colour fading so fast?

Hot water and over-shampooing, almost always. Colour molecules wash out faster from a cuticle that has been swollen with heat. Drop the shower temperature on hair days. Use a sulfate-free shampoo, not because of marketing but because sulfates strip colour twice as fast. Wait at least 48 hours after the salon before the first wash, ideally 72. Layer a gloss between full colours every six to eight weeks; it is the single highest-leverage product in coloured-hair upkeep.

Do I need a separate scalp routine?

If your hair is fine, oily, thinning, or itchy — yes. The scalp is skin. It responds to the same things facial skin responds to: gentle exfoliation, climate-aware cleansing, and not stripping it raw. A weekly scalp cleanse, a leave-on serum if shedding is a concern, and a gentle bristle brush before each wash do more for hair density over a year than any topical product applied to the lengths.

What is the single biggest mistake people make with their hair?

Buying for the result they want and ignoring the texture they have. The cut, the colour, the routine, the tools — all of them work better when matched to the head they are sitting on. The reader whose hair always looks right has stopped fighting their texture and started working with it. Almost everything else flows from that one decision.

Related dimensions across the network

Skin — the canvas the hair frames. Routines, ingredients, technique. URL: /skin/en/.

Makeup — what sits on the skin once the hair is up. URL: /makeup/en/.

Body — the skin from the jaw down: exfoliation for keratosis pilaris, hyperpigmentation protocols, self-tan that keeps up with the face above it. URL: /en/body/.

The longer view of the hair chapter

Why the dimensions are organised this way

Most hair libraries are organised the way the industry sells, which is to say by hero ingredient and aspirational result. That is a packaging brief, not a way of thinking. The hair chapter is organised by the way a stylist actually reads a head — type first, concern second, cut third, colour and care in two adjacent layers, tools as the variable that decides whether any of it lasts. The six dimensions answer the questions a real person asks when they look in the mirror at the end of a wash day and wonder why the bottle is not living up to the picture on the front.

The chapter's editorial register

Every page on the hair chapter is written in the practical register. Where the makeup chapter is opinionated and the skin chapter is clinical-warm, the hair chapter is plain-spoken and a little impatient. Nelly will tell you that you are washing too much. She will tell you the iron is on too high. She will tell you the brush you bought last year is the reason for half your breakage. The voice is allowed to argue with the bottle, allowed to disagree with the salon, and allowed to recommend three things by name and dismiss four others. The reader is presumed to be intelligent, busy, and ready for an answer that does not require buying anything new today.

What the chapter deliberately does not include

We do not run trend chasers. We do not rank brands by quarter. We do not pretend a viral product is a good product if the formula does not back it up. We do not promise transformation in a single wash. We promise translation — translating the technique a working stylist uses behind the chair into the bathroom-counter version a real reader can do in under fifteen minutes a day.

Hair Type — what to expect on the L2 page

The Hair Type page opens with the four-axis read. Pattern is the first axis: straight, wavy, curly, coily, with sub-classifications inside curly and coily because the variation inside those families matters. Density is the second axis: fine, medium, coarse. Porosity is the third: low, medium, high. Length and current condition are the fourth. The page walks the reader through the read in under five minutes, with photographs at every step, and outputs a four-letter shorthand the rest of the chapter speaks. That shorthand makes every product decision later in the chapter faster.

Sub-techniques inside Hair Type

The L3 routes inside hair type include /hair/hair-type/straight/, /hair/hair-type/wavy/, /hair/hair-type/curly/, /hair/hair-type/coily/, /hair/hair-type/fine/, /hair/hair-type/medium/, /hair/hair-type/coarse/, /hair/hair-type/porosity/. Each L3 page carries the diagnostic test for that axis, the product types that suit it, and a do-not-do list. The do-not-do lists are deliberately the longest section, because most unhappy hair routines are unhappy because of a product decision the reader could simply have skipped.

Hair Concern — what to expect on the L2 page

The Hair Concern page is the diagnostic layer of the chapter. Eight concerns — breakage, dryness, oiliness, scalp irritation, thinning, frizz, flatness, lack of definition. Each concern carries a probable-cause hierarchy that walks the reader from the most-likely-and-cheapest-to-fix cause to the least-likely-and-most-expensive. Heat is almost always the first probable cause, because it is almost always the answer. Wash cadence is the second. Scalp condition is the third. Product choice is the fourth. The page is built so most readers solve their concern at step one or two, without buying anything new.

The probable-cause hierarchy

The probable-cause hierarchy at /hair/hair-concern/probable-cause/ is the L3 page that resolves more reader emails than any other on the chapter. The discipline is to check the cheap and obvious causes before the expensive and exciting ones. Most people start at step four — buying a new bottle — when the answer is at step one. Heat too high. Wash too often. Scalp ignored. The hierarchy makes that visible.

Cut & Style — what to expect on the L2 page

The Cut and Style page is the chapter's pivot point. Twelve cuts mapped to texture and density: blunt bob, layered bob, lob, shag, long layers, curtain bangs, fringe, pixie, undercut, modern mullet, taper, regrowth-out plan. Each cut is photographed across at least three textures so you can see what it does on a head close to yours. Styling protocols are paced for real life — the eight-minute morning, the fifteen-minute reset, the going-out version that holds. The page also covers the language to take into a chair, because most disappointing cuts are disappointing because the conversation went wrong, not because the stylist did.

Cutting curly and coily hair

The cutting-curly page at /hair/cut-style/curly-cutting/ is the L3 page that prevents the most common avoidable haircut mistake — losing two inches of length you did not agree to because the cut was made on wet, stretched hair. The page covers the dry-cut protocol, the curl-by-curl method, and the questions to ask before sitting down. A stylist who insists on cutting curly hair wet without seeing it dry first is a stylist to leave, and the page gives you the language to leave kindly.

Colour & Treatment — what to expect on the L2 page

The Colour and Treatment page translates a salon menu into outcomes. Permanent, demi, semi, gloss, toner are mapped to what they actually do: lift, deposit, refresh, neutralise. Balayage, foils, money pieces, root smudge are mapped to look-and-maintenance ratios — how it photographs, how often you have to be back in the chair. The chapter also covers bond builders honestly. They help. They do not save badly damaged hair. The post-salon sequence — wait 48 to 72 hours, drop the shower temperature, switch to sulfate-free shampoo, book the gloss — is the single highest-impact maintenance move in the chapter.

The gloss schedule

The gloss schedule at /hair/colour-treatment/gloss/ is the chapter's quietest revelation. A gloss every six to eight weeks between full colours refreshes tone, smooths cuticle, and extends the life of your colour by months. Most readers do not know this exists as a service, because the brand they buy from would prefer they buy a new permanent colour every six weeks instead. The page walks the reader through asking for it, what it should cost, and how to spot whether the salon does it well.

Care & Routine — what to expect on the L2 page

The Care and Routine page is the operational layer. The wash matrix maps cadence to texture: fine straight every other day, medium wavy twice a week, curly twice a week with co-washes between, coily weekly. The conditioner pairing maps porosity to formula. The leave-in maps climate to weight. The oil maps length to placement — mid-lengths and ends, never roots, unless you are scalp-oiling on purpose before a wash. The weekly mask is the discipline that pays the most. Most readers know they should be doing it. Most are not.

The climate adjustments

The climate-adjustments page at /hair/care-routine/climate/ is one of the most-read pages on the chapter, because the same routine performs differently in Atlanta than in Edinburgh. Humidity, water hardness, sun exposure, and seasonal temperature swing all change how the hair responds. The page covers the high-humidity finishing layer that prevents frizz, the low-humidity hydration boost that prevents static, the hard-water clarifying schedule that prevents mineral build-up, and the seasonal swap most readers should make twice a year.

Tools — what to expect on the L2 page

The Tools page is the chapter's argument with the industry. Eleven tools — not forty. The dryers worth the price are named. The dryers that are not are also named. The irons worth the upgrade are named. The wands that are quietly cooking your hair are flagged. The brushes are sorted by texture and intent: paddle for straight blow-outs, round for body and bend, denman for definition on curly hair, wide-tooth comb for detangling. The maintenance schedule — clean the brush weekly, descale the dryer monthly, check the iron plates every six months — is the part most adult routines are skipping.

The heat protocol

The heat protocol at /hair/tools/heat/ is the L3 page that prevents the single most common cause of hair complaints — heat damage hiding inside what reads as dryness. The protocol is simple. Hair fully dry before any iron. Heat protectant every pass. Temperature lower than the manual suggests. Two days a week with no styling tools. Replace the iron when the plates start to drag. Done correctly, the same iron lasts five years and the same hair holds three more inches of length than it would have otherwise.

A note on cumulative routines

The chapter is built on the premise that a hair routine behaves as a cumulative tool. The hair you have today is the result of the last six months of decisions, the last six years of trends, and the last six bad shopping nights. The protocols on this chapter are therefore reductive, not additive. They prioritise fewer products used better over more products used worse. The reader who takes nothing else from this chapter should take that.

How the chapter relates to the rest of the network

The hair chapter sits inside the Beauty Edition, which sits inside the HowTo Network — six editions covering Home, Food, Beauty, Travel, Tech, and Family. The methodology is the same across every edition: protocols over products, dimensions over categories, expert voices written in a register that fits the surface. The hair chapter cross-references the skin, makeup, and body chapters of the Beauty Edition, because the head you are washing sits on the body you are caring for, and the routines should know each other.

The chapter's expert team

The hair chapter is led by Nelly Whitcombe, the Beauty Director of HowTo Beauty Edition. Nelly has tested chairs in salons across four continents and brings a backstage register: practical, decisive, occasionally a little impatient. She is supported by named contributors — working stylists who do the wedding and editorial circuit, colourists who run their own books, trichologists who consult on the scalp and shedding pages, formulation chemists who consult on the longevity claims, and longstanding beauty journalists who have watched the trend cycle through more iterations than most. Every L3 page on the chapter carries the contributor's byline. No page is anonymous. The opinion is named.

Closing note

If you are new to the chapter, start with Hair Type. If you are diagnosing a problem, start with Hair Concern. If you are about to book a chair, start with Cut and Style. If you have just paid for colour, start with Colour and Treatment. If your routine is not delivering, start with Care and Routine. If your tools are older than two years, start with Tools. The chapter is built so any of those entry points is a complete, self-contained beginning. Read what you need. Ignore what you do not. Come back when the routine shifts, because the routine will shift. The protocols will be here.