How to Pump Up Your Hair After the Gym

For most of us, a trip to the gym at lunch is hard because a sweaty workout often ruins our hair and for ladies, it's not always convenient to wash and restyle your hair in the short lunch workout hour. It may sound icky, but your sweat is not dirt - it's actually essentially salty water that you can use to your advantage for styling your hair after a workout. I have found that with a little preparation, your sweaty workout can be turned to your advantage when it comes to your hair. Follow these steps and you'll step out of the gym with hair that is as pumped up and good looking as you are after that workout.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• If you have medium, to longer hair, a pony-tail holder
• If you have short to medium-length hair, a headband to keep your hair off of your face and a barrette
• Spray or powder dry shampoo available from Sephora, the drug store or any other beauty supply store.

1. After your workout, if you're like me, your hair is damp with sweat. This often feels really icky but trust me, we can make it gorgeous. Before you jump into the shower, do the following. First, do not comb or brush your hair at this point. Instead, if you have medium to long hair, wrap your hair loosely into a bun and secure with your ponytail holder or a barrette. If you have short to medium length hair, pull it into a ponytail or pull off of your face with a barrette and headband. The idea is to secure your hair back and up off of your face and shoulders.

2. When you jump into the shower, do not get your hair wet. Instead, your hair will be air drying while you are showering and getting ready. If you need a little help with the drying, use the hand dryers at the gym or lightly blast you hair (while it's still up) with a blow-dryer. What's going on is that the salty water is essentially acting as a setting lotion similar to when you're at the beach. We're going for that fantastic body (in your hair) you get from a day at the beach.

3. Once your roots are dry, gently let down your hair and finger style. Do not brush or comb except maybe with a wide tooth comb. You don't want to break up the new beautiful waves and body you have. Your hair should feel thicker and have a bit more oomph. Work it...you've earned it!

4. If you feel that your roots or hairline are still a bit shiny or you really want to freshen up a bit more use one of the many great powder or spray instant shampoos available. You can grab one at Sephora or Sephora.com, a beauty-supply store and even at your local drug store. Follow the directions on the package.