It took the Covid lockdown for me to realize among all of my personal care and hygiene routines, hair was getting the least attention. In fact, not unlike my knees, you could argue I was not practicing hair care, but hair abuse. Let me explain.
Early last year when businesses, schools and work saw many of us shelter in place, limited or no access to barber shops and salons meant we all fended for ourselves. Sales of at home hair coloring and clippers spiked. In our house we were no different. I went from let’s call it a regular clean cut parted one side to… shaggy. By the springtime, my son and I had had enough, and we went out to the driveway one early spring day and shaved each other’s heads. It was liberating, we loved the clean-cut feeling, and we lost our tangled mops.
Billy Power with his Covid haircut
As the year wore on, of course it grew back. My son looked like Jim Morrison, and I looked like… Shaggy from Scooby Doo. By spring of this year, as the world began to open up a bit, I rescheduled my superbike school track day gifted by my wife the year before, and to help get psyched for the long awaited experience, I asked my wife to cut me a Ragnar (essentially, fat width mohawk). And it’s grown on me.
Bill Power with his Ragnar
But maintaining longer hair, in the vicious Palm Springs sun, mixed with pool saline and let’s face it, thinning hair as I’m now middle age, I was noticing the increase on hair on my pillow and in the shower drain. The split ends and straw feeling would temporarily get better with my usual drugstore men’s brand shampoo and conditioner 2-in-1, but it felt temporary. As with many things, I took to YouTube to find not just a product recommendation, but a new routine. I don’t eat like I used to, I’m far more conscious and aware of diet and cardio than I knew or cared when I was younger, and it was about time I upgraded my haircare routine if I wanted to have any hope of holding on to it for another fifty years. Here’s what I discovered and have since adopted.
I thought it was a joke when I read about pillowcases designed to be good for your hair. And now I know why people buy them. Many fabrics, even the nicest cottons, can be coarse enough to pull and break your hair strands when you’re in bed. I ordered Herb + Flora’s silk pillowcase and barely see any hair on it if at all, and I’m not going to lie, it feels pretty luxurious.
Over the years I’ve tried many of the high end, vegan, super science shampoos and conditioners my wife brings (or has shipped) home. Somehow when it’s my turn to restock, or I’m traveling, I reverted to old habits and bought the low-priced familiar detergents. Not anymore. It’s easy to overlook, but you’re not just treating your hair itself, it’s also about the skin on your scalp. Above your brain. Your scalp is one of the most absorbent parts of your body. And I was giving it $5 worth of thought and using the same old detergent toxins. Now I’m using MASAMI’s Mekabu shampoo, based on a centuries old Japanese tradition and understanding of seaweed and all of its incredible health benefits. I barely even use conditioner any more, this stuff is miracle juice.
Finally, through my exploration for an upgraded hair care routine, I learned about caring for your hair from the inside out, not just outside and on top of it. Not wanting to introduce any new kind of pharmaceutical or toxin or prescription solution, I went with the Hush & Hush vitamin that adds an extra dose of happy juice (i.e. Biotin and antioxidants) into your skin and hair follicles so that they grow up big and strong.
It took Covid for me to evolve from regular guy hairstyle to whatever floats my mood and along the way realized that my haircare routine had not evolved and improved at all since I was a teenager, where so many other aspects of my life have. If you haven’t upgraded your routine yet, go exploring. There’s so much more you can do for yourself, and you probably deserve it.
About Bill Power: Bill was an executive vice president in the advertising industry and now collects sports cars. He’s bi-coastal with his family, bouncing between The Berkshires and Palm Springs. @billpowered
