Everyone would like to have beautiful hair. When hair is healthy, people notice. Whether you are a man or a woman, have long tresses or a short cropped hairdo, healthy hair can set you apart from the crowd. You don't need to spend your days in a salon to have healthy hair. It is the little things you do every day for your hair that add up over time to give you the healthy locks you long for.
Ways to Keep Hair Healthy
Step 1
Watch your diet. Healthy hair starts on the inside of the body. According to a report from CBS News, to maintain strong hair eat a diet high in protein, vitamins, iron and silica. Protein choices should be lean cuts of meat and fish, as well as eggs and nuts. Fresh fruits and vegetables are excellent sources of vitamins, and silica can be found in strawberries, sunflower seeds and almonds.
Step 2
Keep hair shiny by adding Vitamin A and C foods, Omega 3 fatty acids and selenium. These foods help promote the production of sebum, which is released through the scalp and gives hair a natural glow. Food choices for these ingredients are berries, melons, salmon, sardines, mushrooms, broccoli and carrots. The increased sebum production aided by these foods also helps avoid a dry, flaky scalp and brittle hair. If you have a hard time eating fish, take an Omega 3 supplement.
Step 3
Avoid over-heating your hair. Whether it is direct sunlight, or hair styling products such as hair dryers or straighteners, heat is a major cause of damaged hair. According to Dr. John Gray, heat first damages the keratin of the hair, which weakens the hair strand and makes it susceptible to breaking. Limit your use of heat styling products to keep hair healthy.
Step 4
Cut back on the use of chemicals on your hair. Hair treatments such as coloring, perming or chemical straightening damage and burn the hair shaft much the same way that direct heat does. If you have chemically treated hair, be sure to apply a conditioning treatment regularly to counteract the damage the chemicals have done to the hair. Oil treatments and hair masks, whether homemade or store bought, both help fight chemical damage.
Step 5
Deep-condition your hair once a week. If you have chemical damage as mentioned in step 4, you may want to do this twice a week. If your hair is otherwise healthy, a deep conditioning treatment will help keep it that way. You can purchase a conditioning treatment at a store, or use a handful of mayonnaise or olive oil, cover with a shower cap for 30 minutes, then rinse out.
Step 6
Give yourself a scalp massage. Better yet, have someone do it for you. A scalp massage stimulates blood flow to the scalp. This helps with the production of the scalp's natural oils, which coat and maintain the health of the hair. You can also use a specialized shampoo brush that gently massages the scalp while you are shampooing your hair. Shampoo brushes are inexpensive and can be found in most stores or online.
Step 7
Get a regular trim. Having your hair trimmed every three months helps prevent split ends. As the ends split, they split up the hair shaft and cause a great deal of damage, making hair look unhealthy.
Step 8
Drink lots of water. We see how water affects hair from the outside of the body. When the air is humid, hair can become frizzy. Water content within the body affects hair as well. Water is necessary for all cells of the body to regenerate, even hair cells. Lack of water causes dehydration, which can lead to dry, brittle hair.
Step 9
Protect your hair from sun and wind damage by wearing a hat or a scarf on harsh weather days.
Step 10
Don't comb or brush your hair when it is still wet. Wet hair is very vulnerable, and if it is pulled or tugged while wet, it can easily stretch and break, causing it to look split and unhealthy. If you must comb it when wet to work conditioner through, use a wide-tooth comb. This prevents the hair from getting caught and pulled with the comb.
Tips and Warnings
- Never share combs, brushes or scarves, especially if you have children who have had contact with lice.
- If you notice abnormal hair loss when washing or brushing, see your physician, as this can be a sign of an underlying medical condition.
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