Having dry, damaged hair feels terrible and looks awful. But there’s some simple ways to both prevent and treat your hair to bring it back to its natural glory!
Dry Hair Prevention Tips -
1. Wash less
There are oil glands (sebaceous glands) in your scalp that naturally help keep your hair moisturized. This oil makes its way down each strand of hair. But if your washing daily, then you’re actually stripping your hairs of these natural oils. And yes, by using conditioner you’re re-applying synthetic oils (but it’s not the same). By limiting your washing to only 1-2x/week, you could help improve your hairs moisture levels and prevent it from getting too dry and damaged. Something else to note is oil production is different for everyone and affected by androgen (hormone levels). Typically younger people have more oily hair and as you get older (especially after menopause), your hair gets a lot dryer due to a reduction in androgens. Also, ethnicity can play a strong role in oil levels. Caucasians tend to suffer more from dandruff (extremely dry scalp), and African Americans also tend to have dry hair. In some extreme cases people may want to only wash 1-2x/ month. Shower caps are a cheap and easy solution to maintaining your shower schedule without worrying about washing your hair or getting it wet.
2. Blow Dry Less
Extreme Heat from blow drying, flat irons and curling irons cause the water under the cuticles (outer layer of hair) to form bubbles. This leads to split ends and hair so brittle it will break right off. And the natural oils that were moisturizing the strands there before are long gone, evaporated by the heat. The less you can do heated styling methods, the better. Maybe reserving fabulous hair days for special events, versus every day use, would give your hair the much needed break it deserves to heal. Coming up with alternative hair styles that require less heat could help too, like cute buns or braids etc.
3. Trim
The bottom of your hair follicles takes the longest for the natural oil to reach. This is why it’s often the most brittle and damaged. Regularly trimming your hair to remove that portion can help keep the full strands of hair as healthy as possible.
4. Supplements
Taking supplements can help boost your hairs health. Below are the most commonly consumed supplements to improve hair (skin and nail) health.
Collagen
Biotin
Silica
Vitamin E
Omega - 3’s
Iron
Vitamin C
Eating a really healthy, well balanced diet can actually provide some of these vital minerals and nutrients too. But collagen and biotin are more difficult to get through diet. There’s also a number of products available now that contain a combination of the above list for an easier to consume, all-in-one approach.
Dry Hair Repair Treatments
There’s a lot of simple and effective hair masks you can buy or make at home with food supplies you likely already have. Check out some cool hair treatments to help restore your hair back to its thick, strong natural glory.
1. Olive Oil
Hailed as liquid gold since BC times in Athens Greece, Olive oil has been used as a hair and skin mask for literally thousands of years. It’s high in vitamin E, antioxidants and a compound called squalene which has been found to act as a strong moisturizer and is used in a number of cosmetics. Olive oil can not only reduce damaged and breakage in dry hair, but has also been found to increase hair growth and even reduce dandruff on the scalp.
2. Argan Oil
This oil, derived from the kernels of the argan tree is a common household cooking oil in Morocco. This oils “magic” ingredients come from it being rich in vitamins (E), minerals, essential fatty acids and antioxidants. Using this oil is known to restore shine and bring health back to dull, dry hair. This oil or organ based hair masks are relatively inexpensive and easy to find. Leaving the oils on your hair for 20-30 min (covered with shower cap) then rinsing, once a week could really help re-hydrate and restore your hairs health.
3. Coconut oil + Honey
Coconut oil has similar properties to Argon oil in restoring your hairs moisture and strength. Its loaded with fatty acids and is able to penetrate more deeply into hair follicles that just conditioner alone. Honey is a natural humectant (retains moisture) and emollient (softness skin and hair). An easy homemade mask is to add 2 tables spoons of honey and organic coconut oil, heat up over a stove and then apply evenly to hair. Let it sit for 20-30 min then rinse.
4. Egg Wash
People have been documented using egg yolk as a hair treatment since the early 11th century. Its theorized that eggs can stimulate hair growth by nourishing the roots with its high sulfur content. The other claim is that it helps with dry hair based on the proteins and fats it contains. The fat called lecithin is supposed to help moisturize the hair to help get rid of dry, damaged hair. A typical mask would be 2-3 eggs beaten until frothy, applied to hair and left (under shower cap) for 20 min. Then you’d rinse with COOL water. Just note, if you rinse with warm or hot water, you could actually cook the egg and it might clump in your hair and be more difficult to get out.
Hopefully one of these approaches will help enrich the health of your hair, and bring it back to its beautiful glory.
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