Hello Nurses, nursing students, pre-nurses, and everyone else,
I am having problems with my hair recently. It looks fine when I leave, but by the end of the day, it looks like I went through a tornado. Okay not literally, but it is pretty bad. I was wondering if you have any problems controlling your hair? What do you do to keep it professional looking all day? Do you spend hours on it before work? I am always fond of the tried and true pony tail.
This is a pretty silly thread, but I find we need a horse of a different color lol.
I have fine, thin hair that I can make curly or straight and at the end of a 12 hr shift it looks so deflated . I go between wearing it down and styled to putting it back in a twist and clip (I think I look old with it up and fresher/younger with it down). I have the kind of hair that does not last for a minute in rain or wind, so I am grateful I have covered parking attached to my workplace . I think I have figured out that really stiff hairspray (Aussie freeze) just weighs down my hair and flattens it after I've been bustling around for hours, whereas a lighter hold hairspray actually worked better (Dove). I haven't figured out how to keep my makeup from sliding off my face and my eyeliner to not smear by the end of my shift, though. I don't think I want to spend $40 on the foundation previously mentioned, but I need to shop around and try some cheaper brands to get a better result than I currently have with Cover Girl Clean foundation.
I've heard that if you rinse your hair at the end of your shower with colder water (don't freeze yourself), it will help to take away the greasiness. If I find my hair is getting too greasy at the end of the day, I will switch shampoos and lay off the conditioner for a while as well as start rinsing my hair with cooler water. It really helps! Good luck and thanks to everyone for the tips on this thread!!!
I have hair down past the middle of my back, and it likes to break off if it's in ponytails too often. I usually wear it twisted into a bun secured with a ponytail holder.
You gotta start off with shampoo and conditioner for frizzy hair...something that says "smoothing" or something similar. To make sure I leave the conditioner on long enough, I brush my teeth in the shower while it's soaking in. Then I use a smoothing serum while it's still damp.
I never use a blow dryer, it kills my hair.
I'm so jealous of the girls who have that straight no-flyaway hair and don't have to do anything to make it that way :)
Add me to the wavy/unruly club. If I wash and let my hair dry natrually, I get waves. If I blow dry with a diffuser, I get curls. If I straighten, obviously I get straight. Great for versatility, but unfortunately my time to blow dry and/or straighten on workday mornings is limited by my 45 minute commute.
I wash my hair and towel dry, then put it back in a bun. I use those spiral thingies pictured earlier in the thread, or a rubber band, or a claw clip to secure it. Yes, my hair is still damp when I put it up, but it is dry by the time I get to work. Sometimes I use a little product in it, maybe a smoothing creme or if I am going to take it down later, some curl enhancing mousse. The key on any product is to go light on it. You can always add more, but the only way to take it out is to re-wash. The touchable hold hairsprays are great too.
Flyaways are the bane of my hairstyling existance. I have found no solution except constantly smoothing them back with my hand. A little water helps reactivate whatever product I have in and helps a little.
For hair that becomes greasy quickly, I have heard that you can switch the order of your shampoo/conditioner routine. Condition first, rinse, then shampoo. You get the benefits of conditioning without the greasy buildup. If the greasiness is actually from your scalp and not your cleaning routine, this might not be as effective, but it's worth a try :)
Specializes in Geri-psych, corrections, wound care, MDS.
It sounds like we have the same hair, lol. I always referred to mine as "wavy-straight" until I realized that, like ky_grl82 said, it really wanted to be curly hair.
I'm a bit of a hair product addict, so my hair has quite the med list (heh):
Head & Shoulders Fresh Shampoo (to knock out some of the greasy-yuck feeling at the roots)
Silk Elements Megasilk with Olive Oil Conditioner (Hands down, the best conditioner ever. It doesn't feel greasy and leaves my hair feeling/smelling amazing. Based on absolutely no scientific evidence except my opinion, it seems like hair that gets greasy is usually dry on the ends; the greasiness is the scalp trying to moisturize, but for whatever reason it doesn't make it to the ends of the hair. )
FX Special Effects Curls Up- After squeezing the water out of my hair, (don't brush! Use your fingers to remove tangles), I use a tiny drop of this and sort of "rake" it through the bottom 3/4.
SAMI Big Curls Creme Another tiny drop of this through the ends. I try not to scrunch b/c that just causes frizz, but I will wiggle my fingers through my hair and sort of "lift" it.
That's it. After it dries, it stays curly without fuzzing, and I can put it up without having the flyaway issues.
I've heard that if you rinse your hair at the end of your shower with colder water (don't freeze yourself), it will help to take away the greasiness. If I find my hair is getting too greasy at the end of the day, I will switch shampoos and lay off the conditioner for a while as well as start rinsing my hair with cooler water. It really helps! Good luck and thanks to everyone for the tips on this thread!!!
Limp, fine hair= pixie cut for me. My chemo patients love it! While we're talking about looking professional don't forget what you put on your body. Seriously, run an iron over your scrubs it does make a difference and takes almost no time. I know people claim that if they remove them from the dryer immediately they look just as good but they don't. Ironed scrubs tend to wrinkle less during the day. Also I see many nurses with scrub pants that are too long (usually the flared kind) who have walked on the bottoms so much that they are frayed, torn and dirty. How professional is that?
Limp, fine hair= pixie cut for me. My chemo patients love it! While we're talking about looking professional don't forget what you put on your body. Seriously, run an iron over your scrubs it does make a difference and takes almost no time. I know people claim that if they remove them from the dryer immediately they look just as good but they don't. Ironed scrubs tend to wrinkle less during the day. Also I see many nurses with scrub pants that are too long (usually the flared kind) who have walked on the bottoms so much that they are frayed, torn and dirty. How professional is that?
I never iron scrubs, if I had to I wouldn't wear them! I cold wash all my scrubs and hang dry them, ZERO wrinkles .
I pick my scrubs out ahead of time and hang them up in the bathroom while I take my shower. Even if they've been in the closet a little too long, it takes out ALL the wrinkles and just freshens them up.
I used to have long layered hair. But I've now had it hilited and cut about collar length with lots of whispy layers on the sides and bangs. S00000000000 much better for me!! I can go in and out and in and out and in and out... of isolation and never look the worse for wear. I blow dry and use Fredrick Fekkai: Glossing Cream, and Glossing Sheer Shine Mist (especially the mist). I NEVER have to brush my hair at work anymore.
Pet Peeve: People who wear extra long scrubs that were meant for tall people like me. These nurses/techs have no need for the 5 inches of extra length!
Now don't get me wrong. I am not talking about Hobbits who naturally have problems finding a pant that fits. I am talking about average height people who do this on purpose! What happens is they end up stepping on their scrubs all day long. They get permanently stained and quickly get little tears in them.
Yeah, I am talking about you people!!! You look like slobs. Get some pants that fit!
I do the Brazillian keratin treatment as well, the one by Pravada. Otherwise my hair is crazy. The patients will ask, "you know the little girl that never brushes her hair". And I thought I was the only one that wore sunglasses as a headband...they totally stay in place all day. And for makeup, I like Classified Cosmetics spray foundation. Lately, my new fave is Cover Girls Natureluxe. Looks so pretty on.
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NoviceRN10
901 Posts
I have fine, thin hair that I can make curly or straight and at the end of a 12 hr shift it looks so deflated
. I go between wearing it down and styled to putting it back in a twist and clip (I think I look old with it up and fresher/younger with it down). I have the kind of hair that does not last for a minute in rain or wind, so I am grateful I have covered parking attached to my workplace 
. I think I have figured out that really stiff hairspray (Aussie freeze) just weighs down my hair and flattens it after I've been bustling around for hours, whereas a lighter hold hairspray actually worked better (Dove). I haven't figured out how to keep my makeup from sliding off my face and my eyeliner to not smear by the end of my shift, though. I don't think I want to spend $40 on the foundation previously mentioned, but I need to shop around and try some cheaper brands to get a better result than I currently have with Cover Girl Clean foundation.