The Comprehensive Hair-Care Guide

Far too often, when speaking of healthy living and herbal remedies, our heads of hair are entirely overlooked for such maladies as bad skin, belly aches, migraines and muscular tension. While these are of course issues worth considering a variety of remedies for, hair can sometimes be overlooked. This comprehensive hair-care guide aims to bring together a few hair-care hints and tips that should help you maintain the vibrant, full and healthy head of hair you desire all the way into old age.

Washing Hair

It’s fairly well known that washing your hair is a double-edged sword: on one hand it removes the grease and dirt that can leave your hair looking a little lank and undesirable, though on the other hand it can strip the natural oils that your scalp creates to protect your hair, leaving each strand a little more dry and brittle than it was before, which over time will split ends and create a head of hair that’s fuzzy and not all that healthy.

There are several tips for the adequate washing of hair, and they revolve mostly around routine-building. For instance, it is possible, if you can go a month or two without washing your hair, for your hair and scalp to develop a ‘self-washing’ ability that negates the need for shampoo. If you don’t feel that’s possible, ensure you follow a regular hair washing schedule with the same natural shampoo each time you shower or bathe. Finally, avoid hot showers, as hot water removes essential oils the quickest; instead, opt for a shower around body temperature, which is what your hair is used to.

Diet 

Whatever you put into your body in the form of food and drink will have its place in growing and maintaining a healthy head of hair. There’s a wealth of healthy natural tips online where dietary advice for hair growth is concerned, though a balanced diet including the right level of hydration through water is a good bet to kick off with. Avoiding the greasiest and fattiest of foods will likewise ensure that you’re less greasy on the outside, which in turn means that your hair won’t require washing as frequently, saving it from the slightly damaging effects of frequent washing.

More specifically, you’ll find that eating seafood – and especially salmon – can enhance your hair’s shine factor, while wonderful raw vegetables and fruit will enhance growth, battle split ends and brittle hairs, and overall provides the kind of vitamins and minerals that your hair needs to grow healthily. Finally, to accelerate growth, you can’t go wrong with one of yogurt and iron-enhanced cereal at breakfasts, and a diet that includes regular doses of eggs.

Natural Products 

Other than shampoos and any other soap substitutes you use in the shower, applying some natural products to your hair in the interim can make a huge difference to its shine, shape, fullness and general healthy appearance. From beer to eggs, pouring and rubbing these ingredients into your hair can achieve remarkable results, especially in terms of moisturizing a dull-looking and dry head of hair. The same can be said of lemon juice, which has the added bonus of helping slightly bleach your hair lighter if that’s the sort of thing you’re interested in doing through natural sources.

Another top tip for massaging naturally-occurring and easy-to-find ingredients into your hair – other than the off-the-shelf chemical-filled pots and tubes that you’ll find in drug stores – is to use olive oil as a protective sleeve around your hair for half a day, after which washing it out will leave it sleek and shiny without any of the horrible lank greasiness that can be so unattractive, suggesting poor hygiene. Likewise, egg yolk and honey can provide a thick glaze to leave on your hair for an hour or two while you read a book or watch a film, after which the wash-off results look amazing.

Brushing Maintenance 

Whether you’ve chosen to cease washing your hair, or you’re someone who washes three or four times a week, brushing your hair is an important part of your complete hair routine; and routine is key when it comes to training your hair as to what it is to expect from you in terms of care, treatment, product use and tangle-teasing. Itchy scalps that result in dandruff are partially a result of not brushing out any knots in your hair that prevent your scalp from breathing, so bear this in mind when you next get a little flakey.

It seems unlikely, but plastic-bristled brushes can actually cause minor electrostatic shocks that break and damage hair. Avoiding plastic for metal or wood is the advice here. When it comes to technique, brush from the bottom first to work out the small knots lower down, before moving higher up, until you’re at the scalp. Avoid great rips as you’ll remove a good deal of hair violently; be patient as you comb. Once finished, run your brush through your hair from top to bottom to spread your head’s essential oils all the way down the length of your hair.

Hair Loss Prevention 

For women as well as men, hair loss can be a cripplingly sad problem that can result in lost confidence and dejection. Avoiding the use of hair dryers, chemical-packed products, hair sprays, gels, and waxes is a good place to start to avoid hair loss, as these are processes that are unnatural to your head of hair. If you do find yourself going through hair loss, there are prevention and regrowth techniques out there that will help rebuild your confidence and your hair’s thickness and health right away.

One option is to look into products such as Capillus who provide all kinds of hair treatment products to help with hair loss, including a curious-looking laser cap for hair regrowth. Ensure you are eating good helpings of iron-rich foods to prevent further loss, and other hair growth foodstuffs that will help accelerate your hair’s regrowth so that you return to rich, full, healthy-looking hair without having to undergo invasive and expensive surgery.

Take these tips away with you to ensure your hair never looks anything short of fantastic.