Bad Hair Day? Tips for Healthy Hair and Why Hair Matters!

How Can I Have Healthy Hair?

 

 

 

 

Healthy Scalp, Healthy Hair

The missing link for healthy hair is the scalp. The hair outside of the hair follicle is made up of dead cells. It's state is more or less permanent if you take away chemical and heat treatments. However the scalp contains the hair follicles where the hair originates from, and the sebum glands which produce the oil that coats the hair.

The health tips below have a direct influence on the state of our hair:

Exercise - This increases your circulation and more oxygen reaches the cells in the body - including the hair follicle. The hair will grow strong and well-formed from a healthy follicle.
 
Omega 3 - This stops dry skin and improves circulation, which are both vital for a healthy scalp. The oil the skin produces is in the best quality with Omega 3 in your diet. this coats the hair shaft and protects it, making it super super soft and shiny! Omega 3 is in fish such as salmon, mackerel and tuna. It is also in some nuts.
 
Green leafy vegetables - These increase the skin's sebum-production (your natural oils). Guess what - this also works on the scalp! for oily and greasy hair this isn't a problem, just make sure you shampoo the hair twice when washing. Spinach is excellent for producing more sebum.
 
Fluids - Drinking water stops us becoming dehydrated - we are 70% water, including our skin, which of course includes the scalp. Again, your hair can't grow strong and healthy if it's growing from a damaged follicle.
 
Alcohol and Smoking - Nasty toxins pollute the skin and hair from within. If the scalp is not is good condition due to dehydration and toxins, the hair being produced will not start its life in the best condition - just think how it will look at the end of its life!
 

How Else Can I Make My Hair Shiny and Soft?

The 'shininess' of hair is down to the cuticle. These are tiny little scales, or layers seen under the microscope, on the surface of the hair shaft (the outside of the strand of hair). The flatter these cuticles are against each other, the shinier the hair looks, as it is smoother and reflecting more light (think of a shiny surface - it is smooth is it not?) Also, the closer the cuticles are against each other, the less moisture (water content) can get out - this is the opposite of 'dry' hair.
 
The cuticles are far too small to just 'flatten.' The chemical state of the hair and its physical state on a microscopic level need to be just right for the cuticles to be in good health.

The hair care tips below help you keep the hair shaft and cuticles in good condition:

Don't use too much product - a build-up on the hair shaft of product isn't good for the cuticles. Good products protect the cuticles but a build-up of plastic-based ingredients (usually ending in cone) is not good, and stops the natural oil getting through and nourishing the hair.
 
Do a cold rinse - The cold water after a hot wash does wonders to close the cuticle. The reasons are probably too geeky to describe, so just do it and see!
 
Stop straightening (or frying!) - Hair straighteners are the hair's frenemy! Thy make us look and feel great i the short term, but in the long term they are bad for us. The hair dries out and all the moisture is cooked away. This makes the hair brittle and dry. It might break off, and of course, what about the cuticles - they are not happy! Without the moisture and natural oils they lift up and even more moisture comes out.
 
Don't comb or pull when wet - This stretches the hair beyond its natural shape because hair is most fragile when it is wet. The hair becomes stretched and brittle if it is pulled at when wet. You can guess what that does to the cuticles. That's right, it messes them right up!
 
Tie hair up when its windy, and when sleeping - Avoid anything that gets the hairstrands rubbing together. This doesn't do the cuticles any favours.
 
Condition with a hydrating conditioner - A good quality hydrating conditioner locks in moisture and smooths the cuticle. Don't get conditioner near the scalp - it clogs the follicles and hinders the strength and health of new hair growth.
 
Look after coloured hair - Permenant and semi-permenant hair colour works by lifting the culticle so the colour molecules can go underneath. The cuticle has already been lifted so if we aggravate it further, it is not good. Colour shampoos are specially designed to keep the cuticle closed to lock in the colour molecules.
 
Apply neat shampoo only to scalp - The rest of the hair should only be cleaned with the lather. The shampoo works by lifting the cuticle a little, to get the grime and dirt away from underneath. If it is applied directly it can be too harsh on dry or brittle hair.
 
Use an acidic shampoo - An acidic balance helps to close the cuticle.
 
Macadamia oil - This is a very good natural oil to put on the hair to smooth the cuticles and protect the hair shaft. It helps stop the hair becoming tangled, which in turn stops the cuticles becoming stressed due to the hair strands rubbing and knotting together.

Why do I Care So Much About My Hair?

For the truth, look to Science - so let's look at this from a geeky perspective:

Evolution says 'survival of the fittest' - simply put, we choose our partners based on their health, youth, reproductivity and sexuality, and the best way we can tell this is by the way they look. We reproduce with partners who have these 'looks', and pass these genes down to our offspring and so on... 'How is this relevant to my hair' I hear you ask...

Well if we are healthy, we have shiny hair. Think of a pet dog - any good pet care book will tell you that your cat or dog's (or even chipmunk's) coat should be shiny if they are in good health. Well it is the same for humans.

Strong, shiny, abundant hair is a sign of good health and men are generally attracted to women who look healthy, reproductive and youthful. Men are generally 'programmed' to look for female partners with traits such as good skin, bright eyes, shapely figures, and of course, shiny healthy hair.

Women also look for certain traits in men including health, so we still pay attention to hair, but research shows this may be less so.

Text and Images Copyright © Lise Griffiths, 2012
All Rights Reserved