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The riding helmet is taken off and on. The dust from the riding arena settles in the scalp, and the cold weather of autumn makes the hair dry and electric. And then the whole thing is washed thoroughly when you get home in the shower. Life for a rider's hair is not easy, whether we are in the spring, summer, or autumn months. Therefore, we have gathered five beauty tips that can save your hair from the dull existence as a haystack.
Like your horse, your hair also needs a day off now and then. Not from the riding helmet – that must stay on, even though it wears on your hair. But it needs a day off from the bath, and especially from the shampoo. Every time you wash your hair, some of it falls out, it may become tangled and worn, and the enzymes in the shampoo destroy the hair strands if you use it every single day. If you ride a lot and want to bathe every time you come home, you should sometimes just rinse your hair or maybe even leave it completely. Instead, you can use dry shampoo, which gives the hair a fresh breath and dries out greasy hair strands without damaging them.
Read also: Here you should remove droppings from the paddock
If you are not already on board, then you should, faster than your horse can eat a carrot, make it a habit to use conditioner when you have washed your hair. And it should be every time you are in the shower. Let it sit for at least 5 minutes, but preferably for about fifteen minutes, before rinsing it out. In addition, once a week you can give the haystack a proper treatment with the hair mask by putting it in damp hair, after you have been in the shower. For example, you can do this in the evening and wrap a towel around the whole thing. Sleep with it overnight and rinse it out in the morning – then you will have the most delicious, soft hair.
Moreover, a good leave-in conditioner is nothing short of fantastic to own as a rider. Every time you have been in the shower, apply a good layer, from root to tip. Then your hair will be less prone to break, and the hair that may already have broken will stick out less. If you can also find a variant with UV protection in the summer months, then you have reached the top in rider hair care!
Hair in the eyes when cleaning hooves or hair in the mouth on the way over a jump is just not the coolest. If you have long hair, then you are guaranteed also a frequent user of hairties. And maybe you have also noticed that some of your hair strands have broken, right where the tie usually sits? This is because every time you put a hairtie in your hair – and especially every time you take it out or tighten it – the tie wears on the hair. This does not mean that you should stop using hair ties altogether, but you can greatly benefit from buying a few that are more sparing on the hair. For example, it could be spiral ties made of rubber-like materials.
At the same time as you switch out your hairties, you can make it a habit to put up your hair in new ways. By not always putting your hair up in the same ponytail, you avoid the hair always being worn in the same place. If you belong to the ponytail type, then the very best thing is actually to use braiding as a substitute. Then the hair elastic will sit right at the bottom of the hair, far from the broken hairs in the middle of the head. Remember, it is also a sin for the hair to always put it up in a random bun; it gets tangled, and you often end up pulling out many hairs when the bun is loosened and the hair is combed out. Here, ponytails and braids are better, which tangle the hair less.
Read also: Q&A: Severo Jurado López on being the master of his own stable
Last but not least, it is not only horses that can benefit from a dietary supplement. The rider also needs to boost the reserves occasionally. Everything we have gone through so far deals with external care of the hair, and it does not affect the new hair that grows out. To make the new hair strong, it needs to be cared for from the inside, and this is done with a supplement of the right vitamins. And just like B-vitamin makes the horses' hooves stronger, it also makes human hair and nails more resistant. So when you are going out to buy b-vitamins for your horse, remember to swing by the pharmacy or supermarket and get some for yourself too.
