A few days ago, I went to the salon to have my hair colored to cover the regrowth. To my surprise, my colorist suggested a much darker tone. I asked her why, and she replied, “Well, it’s not summer anymore!”

 

Our hot, humid weather can be quite harsh on our hair, and here’s my take on revitalizing it for the rainy season, and a few more beauty tips to boot.

 

Healthy diet

 

1. A healthy diet helps. If your hair is thinning, try eating food that contains iron. If thinning is caused by genes, eating healthy food will help you grow thicker locks.

 

2. There are a lot of treatments to straighten and curl your hair, but the truth is, these will also dry and weaken your hair eventually. The trick is to find how to best style your natural hair. Look for a stylist who will know how to do it. Embracing your hair texture will also save you a lot of cash that, in turn, you can spend on other beauty products.

 

3. Cutting your hair will do more good than washing it. Shampoo dries the hair, so try to limit it to three times a week. Getting a trim every six to eight weeks will make your hair stay healthy by cutting out unwanted split-ends and removing dry, damaged hair.

 

4. There are a lot of deep-conditioning products available on the market, so there is no excuse for dry, limp hair. My go-to brands are Phyto, Kerastase and Kiehl’s. You don’t even have to go to the salon anymore; just stay in the comfort of your own bathroom.

 

Coconut milk from the wet market also does wonders for the hair and you don’t have to spend much.

 

5. Check your hair color. It may still have light-blonde highlights that are great for summer. But that tone doesn’t look healthy in the rainy season; sometimes it just makes our hair look fried.

 

Darker hues are easier to maintain and also hide frizz and flyaway hair. They are also less damaging to the hair since they don’t require bleaching.

 

Add some shimmer

 

Since the weather can be gloomy, try using eye shadow with a little shimmer. Shimmer goes with matte eye shadow when you apply it on your brow bone and the inner corner of the eyes. This highlights the brow bone and will make your eyes look more open.

 

Shimmer eye shadow comes in every color imaginable, but the general rule is to match the makeup tones to your skin tone. You want to stand out with your makeup, but you don’t want your makeup to stand out.

 

Be label-conscious

 

Read the labels on beauty products. If we are what we eat, we are also affected by the products we put on our skin. I don’t support products that still do animal testing. It has been proven unnecessary, and their practices are barbaric.

 

Try new products

 

I have been using the same cleanser because I am a creature of habit. Luckily, my friend gave me Shu Uemura Skin Essentials right when my cleanser ran out. I begrudgingly used its skin purifier cleansing oil.

 

I have actually used this product but stopped—for about six years, actually—because, like I said, I am a creature of habit. Well, I am now happy I tried it again because I absolutely love it!

 

I am also using Shu Uemura Tsuya skin, which generates youthful radiance. Although I use different moisturizer brands, I was very narrow-minded when it came to my cleanser. But not anymore.