Mary Alamein (pictured), the owner of Royals Hairdressing in Castle Hill is the winner of this year’s Salon Only Stylist of the Year award.

An expert in her field, here are Mary’s tips to help you keep your hair feeling healthy and looking gorgeous this winter:

The cold winter months can leave our hair feeling dry and frizzy. Always use a smoothing moisturizer before blow drying to help defrizz your hair. The moisturizer will also help protect your hair from the heat of the blow-dryer. (A good smoothing moisturizer would be the Salon Only shimmer cream: Milk it through your hair from your mid lengths to ends).

Many stylists won't tell you this, but I recommend you don't shampoo your hair every day. Instead try to shampoo every second or even every third day, depending on your hair. Use a moisturizing shampoo and conditioner that is suitable to your hair type. This will help maintain the moisture in your hair and avoid drying it out.

Use a good thermal protector before straightening or blow drying your hair, and avoid using styling irons over 210 degrees as they can rapidly dry out your hair and leave it feeling damaged. If you can't live without your styling iron, then use one with ceramic plates as they have advanced qualities that help maintain moisture and smoothness in the hair and reduce the effect of heat.

Avoid pulling your hair up or into a pony tail when it's wet as this can cause breakage.

Use an intense Masque treatment once a week. (A good Masque treatment that I find works miracles is the Salon Only masque treatment: Only use a small amount and apply it after shampoo, while the hair is damp. Leave it in for 3 to 10 minutes, and then rinse it out. This should leave your hair feeling silky smooth.

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