"My hair is so dry in winter." 🥶

I hear this every year around this time.

Women messaging me in a panic because their hair suddenly feels like straw.

Frizzy. Brittle. Breaking. Static everywhere.

And they all say the same thing: "It's the cold weather. Winter always does this to my hair."

But here's what I need you to understand:

It's not just the cold.

It's the combination of dry air everywhere - outside AND inside - and how you're trying to fix it.

Let me explain what's actually happening.

Outside: Cold dry air

When it's freezing outside, the air is naturally very dry. Cold air physically holds less moisture than warm air.

So every time you step outside, that cold dry air is pulling moisture out of your hair.

Your hair, which normally maintains moisture from ambient humidity, can't. There's no humidity to pull from.

Inside: Heated dry air

Then you come inside where it's warm and cozy.

But your heating system - whether it's central heating, space heaters, or radiators - takes that already-dry winter air and heats it up, making it even drier.

Now you're in an environment that's pulling moisture from your hair even faster than the cold air outside was.

The double hit:

You're getting dehydrated outside. You come inside and get dehydrated more.

You're going back and forth between freezing dry air and hot dry air, constantly.

The low humidity is everywhere. The temperature swings stress your hair. And you're exposed to this cycle all day, every day, all winter long.

Your hair doesn't stand a chance.

So it feels dry. Looks dull. Gets staticky. Breaks more easily.

And what do most women do?

They pile on more products.

They think: my hair is dry, so I need to add more moisture.

But here's the problem:

If the air everywhere around you is constantly pulling moisture OUT of your hair, adding more moisture won’t go very far. 

It's like trying to fill a bucket with a hole in it.

You can keep pouring water in, but it's still going to leak out.

On top of that, if you add too much moisture in your hair and go outside, that moisture freezes and damages the structure of your strands. 

You're not actually solving the problem.

You're just compensating for it in a way that creates new problems.

My friend texted me last week: "Saaaarah, it’s not even December yet and my hair is so dry. I bought a bunch of products at Sephora. They’re not working tho. Can you help me figure out what my hair needs during Winter?"

I asked her: "What's the humidity in your house?"

She had no idea.

I told her to check.

Turns out it was 22%.

Your hair needs ambient humidity of at least 40-50% to maintain proper moisture balance.

At 22%? Your hair is being dehydrated by the air around you, constantly, every moment you're inside.

No amount of oil or leave-in conditioner can compete with that.

Here's what actually works for winter dryness:

1. Add humidity to your indoor environment

Get a humidifier. This is the single most effective thing you can do.

A proper one that can actually change the humidity level in your room.
Run it in your bedroom at night. Run it in your living spaces during the day if you’re around if possible.

Aim for 40-50% humidity.

This isn't just for your hair - it's for your skin, your sinuses, your eyes, your lips, your overall comfort.

But here's the important part: don't make it TOO humid.

If you push the humidity above 60%, some hair types will get frizzy and fluffy inside.

And if your hair absorbs too much moisture indoors and then you go outside into freezing temperatures? That moisture can freeze inside your hair shaft and break the structure.

So monitor it. 40-50% is the sweet spot for most people.

2. Protect your hair when you go outside

The right protective styles and oils depend on your specific hair profile.

Some hair types do better with a braid that’s hanging down or bun placed at the top of their head and some will need head wear and others may not.

Some need a light oil barrier on the ends before going out and some will need a heavier one.

Some need to cover up their hair completely from the cold.

There's no one-size-fits-all here - it depends on your hair's structure and how it responds to cold.

But the principle is the same: minimize how much cold dry air your hair is exposed to.

3. Be strategic about washing

In winter, you might not need to wash as frequently because you're not sweating as much.

But if your scalp is dry and over-producing oil, this needs to be addressed because sebum that loses moisture will harden and clog the pore. If your scalp feels congested, you will need a stronger shampoo to cleanse your scalp. 

The key here is when you do wash, make sure you're using the right shampoo for your scalp's current state.

Because if your scalp is also dry from the low humidity everywhere, stripping it more with harsh cleansing will make everything worse.

Use your maintenance shampoo more often, and save the reset shampoo for when you actually have buildup.

4. Internal hydration matters

Drink water.

If your body is dehydrated (which happens more in winter when you're inside heated spaces all day), your hair will be too.

You can't hydrate your hair from the outside if you're dehydrated on the inside.

My friend got a humidifier and set it to 45%.

Within three days, her hair felt completely different.

Not because she added more products.

But because she stopped fighting against an environment that was constantly dehydrating her hair.

The air inside her house had moisture. Her hair could maintain its moisture balance. Everything stabilized.

She actually removed two products from her routine because she didn't need them anymore.

Saved time. Better results.

That's what happens when you address the actual problem instead of just treating the symptoms.

Here's what most people don't realize:

"Winter dryness" isn't inevitable.

It's not something you just have to suffer through until spring.

It's a specific environmental problem - low humidity everywhere, hot and cold temperature swings, constant moisture loss - with specific solutions.

But the beauty industry doesn't want you to know that.

Because if you buy a $30 humidifier once and learn the right protective styles for YOUR hair, you're not buying five new hair products every winter.

They'd rather sell you the oils, the masks, the serums, the leave-ins - all the things that make you feel like you're doing something but don't actually fix why your hair is dry in the first place.

The real solution is environmental and strategic.

Not product-based.

Inside the 14-Day Haircare Challenge, I teach you:

• How to optimize your haircare routine to avoid things that will harm your hair despite good intentions

• A DIY gentle shampoo that will soothe your scalp (even more important in winter)

• How to boost your hair growth from inside so the winter season won’t trigger shedding

• How to protect your hair from damage to retain moisture and shine at all times

Because the goal isn't to have more products for winter and more products for summer.

It's to understand what your hair actually needs in different conditions.

And to know that sometimes the solution isn't another bottle - it's understanding your environment and working with it instead of against it.

So if your hair feels like straw right now, before you buy another oil or another mask.

Check the humidity in your house.

Add moisture to your environment, not just to your hair.

Learn what protective strategies work for YOUR hair when you go outside.

And watch how much of your "winter hair problem" disappears when you address the actual cause instead of just compensating for it.

If you’d like to learn more, here’s a link to my best offer to the Challenge.

With love, Sarah