healthy hair central

You’ve probably heard every advice possible from your stylist – keep your hair moisturized, don’t pull your tresses, pay attention to the ends of your hair, and try avoiding stiff protective styles. While these are all great things to keep in mind, none of them can be as effective as making sure to fully avoid the following four practices.

1) Banding

Banding is a common yet very simple technique to lengthen curls in the hair without using a blow dryer or flat-iron. Banding too tight or too frequently cause the roots of the hair to get damaged, leading to hair breakage. To avoid this issue, take down bands in reverse. This will prevent your hair from tangling or becoming damaged.

2) Hair Claws

Hair claws are a girl’s best friend after diamonds as they keep their hair out of the way while they’re working. However, using hair claws too often causes the hair to become fuzzy and stiff, tangling your hair and causing it to break. To prevent this problem, evenly part your hair before sectioning or stop using hair claws.

3) Pineappling

A pineapple is a quick nighttime styling method. However, it leaves your nape hair wide open and ready for breakage. It also exposes the backside of your hair with time, guaranteeing breakage. To counter this, sleep on a satin pillowcase or while covering your hair with a satin bonnet.

4) Heat Damage

Heat may help you get the style you want, but it’ll suck the moisture out of your hair, causing dryness and eventually hair breakage. So go on a hair detox of sorts and avoid using heat styling tools for six months to prevent hair breakage.

So avoid these four habits if you want to enjoy flaunting healthy, great-looking hair. However, remember to also go for a healthy diet as looking good starts from the inside out.

A wild, untamed mane of hair while walking against the wind might look sexy in commercials but we all know in real life, a cold, windy day does a number on your hair. High winds and dropping temperatures can contribute to knotty hair which leads to damage. So how do you go about protecting your gorgeous tresses from those blustery, sharp winds?

Accessorize Your Hair

If you have longer hair that tends to whip you in the face (or worse) sticks to your lip gloss like super glue, it might be time to invest in some hair accessories to keep your hair pulled back. Make sure never to pull hair too tightly as this can lead to hair loss. If you have short hair, you can begin a hat collection to keep your scalp and hair warm, protected and (maybe) in place! Wrapping a scarf or shawl around your neck to cover the ends of your hair is also a good idea and with so many ways to tie a scarf the style possibilities are endless!

Protection From The Cold

When hair gets cold, the shaft of each strand is more susceptible to damage, just like our skin. Deep-conditioning treatments only work on protecting the surface of the hair, but by nourishing your body with healthy fats like those from avocados and salmon, you will notice a difference in your hair. It will look shinier and the oils will help protect your hair from the cold. Studies have found that getting adequate omegas in your diet can even stimulate hair growth, thus preventing extra hair shedding that Swedish researchers found happens more often in the fall.

Moisturize Your Ends

Moisturizing the ends of your hair is as easy as a trip to your kitchen; take a few drops of extra-virgin olive oil and rub in between fingertips and apply to the ends of your hair while hair is slightly damp from the shower. This will seal in some of the moisture already there and help protect the ends of your hair before you go outdoors.

Eat Plenty of Dark Leafy Greens

Dark, leafy greens like spinach, broccoli, Swiss chard and kale are filled with vitamins A and C which helps boost oil production in your scalp, which will in turn, protect and nourish your hair. Not a veggie fan? Never fear; these vitamin powerhouses also can be added to your favorite fruit smoothies!

By protecting our hair early on before any damage occurs, you can rest assured that your hair will look and feel healthy for years to come, with less visits to the salon….and doctor!

Folate and folic acid are two almost identical vitamins that vary slightly in their chemical formula but have essentially the same beneficial effects for one’s nutrition and hair health. The vitamin is found in green, leafy vegetables like spinach or broccoli, in legumes, such as peas, beans or lentils, and in a variety of fruits.

The importance of folate derives from its ability to stimulate the growth and cell regeneration process in the body. It is widely considered to be a factor in growth because it accelerates tissue repair and healing after prolonged disease or intense physical exercise.

Folate is among the most important vitamins not only for humans, but also for other animals and even bacteria. For example, there are antibiotics used for medical purposes to treat bacterial infections that kill bacteria by inhibiting their ability to use folate for their growth and multiplication. Without folate or folic acid, the bacteria stop growing and soon dies.

In the same manner, the human body needs folate to grow, repair its cells, and replace old cellular structures and components. For example, the hair contains a specific protein called keratin, which offers strength and flexibility.

Folate deficiency in one’s diet can cause the hair to become fragile or grey, and greatly accelerates hair loss. Introducing enough folate in the diet usually results in adequate hair growth. Folate is also very important for individuals who engage in physical work or exercise because it helps repair the muscles and recover faster by stimulating protein production and replacement. Athletes, military personnel and other physically active individuals are encouraged by nutritionists to increase their ingestion of folate or folic acid to satisfy the growing demands for healing, cellular repair and regeneration in their bodies.

A diet rich in “green” vegetables, legumes, and fruits usually provides enough folate for one’s nutritional needs. Fresh juices made from a variety of fruits or vegetables are especially rich in folate.

Resources

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002408.htm http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/folate/NS_patient-folate

Dealing with dandruff isn’t easy, especially after you have tried every treatment in the book. However, there are a few things you can do to bring back all your black clothes and be less conscious about pesky white flakes. Here are ten easy tips to incorporate into your daily routine.

1. Shampoo Your Hair Every Day –

Keep your scalp clean by washing it daily. You will get rid of the excess oil, dirt particles, and flakes that come with dandruff.

2. Change Your Shampoo –

If your regular shampoo is useless, buy a new one that contains either zinc pyrithione, selenium sulfide, salicylic acid, or ketoconazole. These ingredients fight off the main cause of dandruff: the malassezia fungus.

3. Pick Three Different Shampoos –

Don’t stick to a single brand of shampoo. A resistance may form with the constant use of active ingredients, so it’s better that you use three shampoos and rotate them monthly.

4. Lather Twice While Washing Your Hair –

By lathering twice, you’ll be able to wash off the oil accumulation and flakes first, allowing the ingredients to penetrate further into skin cells.

5. Use Tar Shampoo –

Consider switching to tar shampoo as it helps decrease the hair cell turnover. Its drawbacks, however, are its odor, ability to stain light hair, and irritation of scalp.

6. Rinse Your Hair –

Rinse your hair with a conditioner, crème, or even with lemon juice. A good conditioner will make your hair manageable, reduce its stiffness, and seal its moisture.

7. Check The Sensitivity Of Your Scalp –

If you have sensitive skin, avoid harsh chemical shampoos as they might inflame your hair follicles and cause folliculitis, the inflammation of one more hair follicles.

8. Don’t Irritate Your Scalp –

If you scratch your scalp, wounds will begin to appear. With wounded skin, you shouldn’t use a medicated shampoo until your head is healed.

9. Avoid Sweat –

Workouts or exercises can make you perspire excessively, leading to skin cells flaking. So shower after a workout to curb your dandruff.

10. Don’t Use Sticky Stuff Often –

Using hair styling gels, mousses, sprays or any such product support oil buildup. So avoid applying them often.
With these tips, you can kiss dandruff goodbye once and for all. What has and hasn’t worked for you? Comment with your thoughts or tips.

When you are looking to get healthy hair, bamboo extract appears to be a great way to get there. Bamboo extract is essentially from some edible grass. This grass is full of silica, something that is great for people, as well as animals. Silica is known for being good for both hair and skin, as well.

Believe it or not, bamboo extract is so good for people, that it can actually help people who have psoriasis or eczema to have fewer symptoms. So, you know this stuff has to be good.

Here’s how the bamboo extract works. The skin is actually one of the body’s organs and it needs to get nutrients into it to keep you healthy. When you get bamboo extract, you are giving your skin nutrients like potassium and calcium. The bamboo extract is very good as a lotion or gel on the skin to help with soothing it. Bamboo extract can help with wrinkles and just improving the overall look of the skin.

Now, onto what you came here for. How does this help with my hair? In shampoos, the bamboo extract can serve the purpose of clearing the hair ducts so that hair can grow. It’s also good because it helps to wash build up from your hair. It can really help to get rid of all the gunk that we put into our hair during the day and make our hair look shiny and new. That’s why it’s great for your hair.

In addition to all that it can do for your hair and skin, it can also help with your fingernails and the health of your teeth. It helps to reduce cholesterol, as well. You really can’t go wrong with bamboo extract in just about any form that you can get it in.

Resources

Saw palmetto berry extract can be the ace your sleeve when it comes to your health. Why? Let’s get into the common uses of saw palmetto berry extract right now. It is known for having been good for the prostate, reproductive health, and the urinary tract. It’s also been used in the past as an antiseptic. This remedy has been used since ancient times, and really works.

You are probably wondering what makes it work. Well, inside the saw palmetto berry extract, there are a ton of phytosterols. This is a big word for something that comes from a plant, but it is something that can really help people to control their cholesterol. This extract also has many fatty acids. As you may or may not know, fatty acids are really good for energy, and they promote the good function of the body.

What about My Hair?

Saw palmetto berry has also been a topic of research in the past in terms of how it works on the hair. Luckily, for people who suffer from hair loss, the saw palmetto berry can help with hair loss, and can even reverse some of these conditions that cause hair loss.

Let’s take a closer look at this. There is a hormone called Dihydrotestosterone, which is often blamed for causing baldness in men. It can also be the cause of hair that is thinning. The reason for this is that this hormone causes problems in the follicles of the hair. The saw palmetto berry extract works to calm down some of the hormone, so that they hair can grow correctly. Saw palmetto berry extract is that it can help stop the absorption of the hormone into the scalp.

It’s for these reasons that saw palmetto berry can be good for your body and hair, and should be a part of your daily nutrient intake regime.

Resources

If you are losing your hair, adding a little bit of Gingko Biloba could help you slow down the process, and may help you begin growing healthy, beautiful, long, and luscious hair. There are various reasons why one may experience hair loss; however no matter the cause, Gingko Biloba can help.

Gingko Biloba has been used in China for Centuries

The use of Gingko Biloba originates from China. For centuries the Chinese have used it for a number of health ailments, and for aiding the growth of hair. Gingko Biloba has an anti-clotting effect which increases the circulation in the body. With this increased circulation, hair growth can occur. The increased circulation introduces more oxygen into the body, which is needed for hair to grow properly. This also makes it easy to treat the conditions that actually cause hair loss – there are quite a few of them out there.

Are There Side Effects of Using Gingko Biloba?

Gingko Biloba can be used by anyone who is looking to gain health benefits, one of them being healthy, beautiful hair. It is an all-natural product so it is safe to use for almost anyone. Only those who have other medical conditions that affect their blood or blood clotting should avoid taking Gingko Biloba. Always check with your doctor before you plan to start taking any supplement, even those that are deemed safe.

Gingko Biloba can help everyone to grow hair and look great. It works naturally to make this happen, and since it is practically side-effect free, anyone can take it with complete confidence. There are many ways in which you can reward yourself with the use of Gingko Biloba. Be sure to add the supplement to your life and watch as it helps you grow a beautiful head of hair.

Resources

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977378461

When it comes to men’s health there are few subjects as touchy as hair loss. It seems that since the first man lost his hair, others have begun looking for ways to avert the problem. Since that time, numerous tales have been developed promising natural ways to prevent hair from falling out. One of the most fantastic of these stories surrounds the myth that the way you sleep actually has influence over the amount of hair that you will lose.

If you have not heard of these myths in the past, it goes something along the lines of sleeping in a certain position will cause the hair on that side to fall out at a faster rate. While there is some good evidence showing that sleep loss or deprivation will lead to hair loss, none of this evidence suggests that your sleep position will have a similar effect. The people that tell these stories usually have found them from a forwarded e-mail or pulled them from the depths of the internet. If in doubt you should always consult a doctor or a website that can actually be trusted. In other words, look for sources that you know to be reputable for real information about hair loss.

If you are still wondering about hair loss and what really causes it, you can find quality information in this regard. Your genes actually play a large part in determining how much hair you will lose as the follicles in your hair are essentially pre-programmed already. In other words, lying with your head in one position versus another will not make a shred of difference. The best thing that you can do when it comes to sleeping is to make sure that you are getting enough of it and that you are comfortable throughout the night.

Resources

When it comes to matters of the hair there is a big difference between the truth and what you choose to believe in. Today there are so many people who choose to believe in lies instead of believing in the truth. There are lots of people who have in the recent past come to claim that there is a connection between clogging of the pores and hair loss. In such a case therefore you need to make sure that you have the truth on that matter. Well, it is a fact that there is no relation between these two things. As a matter of fact, scientists have over the years come to prove that the clogging of pores can only cause acne, and in no way does this cause baldness. Therefore you need to make sure that you get your facts straight.

It is also important for you to note that regular shampooing is one of the main ways of handling the clogging situation. This is so as long as you can ensure that it is vigorous. There are so many credible reports to this end, and for the same reason you need to make sure that you read widely before you make a decision based on such knowledge. You can always feel free to consult also since there are lots of people who can also assist you on the same.

Baldness is not in any way caused by clogged hair. As a matter of fact it has been proven time and again that baldness is caused pretty much through anxiety and stress. These are some of the major causes of baldness in the human hair system. Well of course there is also the fact that hair loss usually happens as a result of deficiency in iron content in meals. These are some of the main reasons why the hair loss happens in people. Besides that for guys it might be a matter of hormonal growth while it has also been proven that those who are on body building steroids also are at risk of suffering the same thanks to the fact that the bodies experience an increase in hormone production.

For the average woman, it’s all too easy to look at the opposite sex with pity when one of them becomes yet another victim of hair loss. “Poor guys,” they often think. “Thank goodness hair loss in females isn’t genetic. For us, curing hair loss is reversible. That’s because when we lose hair, it’s usually due to aggressive hair care techniques, malnutrition, stress, or medical illness. Once we treat these conditions, our hair instantly goes back to normal.”

If you’re one of those women who subscribes to this notion that the fair sex is impervious to genetic hair loss, you’re going to want to sit down for this one. Hair loss (otherwise known as androgenetic alopecia) is indeed hereditary – not only just for men but for women as well. Initially, this may seem hard to believe, because baldness in women doesn’t look the same as it does in men. After all, it’s not like when a woman suffers from genetic hair loss, she’ll start sporting the classic receding hairline often seen in balding men.

Unfortunately, the fact that a woman does not have a receding hairline does not mean that she is not suffering genetic hair loss. This is because androgenetic alopecia in women expresses itself in a way very differently from men. Whereas men will exhibit classic signs of “male pattern baldness”, women do not. What they experience is thinning all over the scalp. It’s this thinning that gives the illusion that whatever baldness they’re experiencing must only be either stress, medical, or beauty-treatment related.

This is not all to say that if you yourself are beginning to see signs of thinning, you should fall into a panic and assume the worst. As you’re already well aware of, there could be many reasons why you’re balding, so it’s always best to go to your physician to find out why this is happening. Just don’t rule out the possibility that if you’re suffering from thinning, it could be genetic and decide to resort to self-treatment to reverse or cure it. That’s because no amount of vitamin pill popping or spending a relaxing day at the spa will reverse androgenetic alopecia. In the case of genetic hair loss, only medical intervention will help.

Resources

http://www.livestrong.com/article/143011-hereditary-hair-loss-women/ http://www.ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/androgenetic-alopecia

healthy hair central

Category Archives: Fact or Fiction?

Practices That Cause Natural Hair Breakage

1) Banding

2) Hair Claws

3) Pineappling

4) Heat Damage

How To Protect Your Hair During The Fall Season

Accessorize Your Hair

Protection From The Cold

Moisturize Your Ends

Eat Plenty of Dark Leafy Greens

Folate is an Essential Vitamin for Hair Health

10 Easy Tips for Fighting Dandruff

1. Shampoo Your Hair Every Day –

2. Change Your Shampoo –

3. Pick Three Different Shampoos –

4. Lather Twice While Washing Your Hair –

5. Use Tar Shampoo –

6. Rinse Your Hair –

7. Check The Sensitivity Of Your Scalp –

8. Don’t Irritate Your Scalp –

9. Avoid Sweat –

10. Don’t Use Sticky Stuff Often –

The Benefits of Bamboo Extract for Skin and Hair

Saw Palmetto Berry Extract Is Great For Your Health

What about My Hair?

Boost Blood Circulation to your Scalp with Gingko Biloba

Gingko Biloba has been used in China for Centuries

Are There Side Effects of Using Gingko Biloba?

Your Sleeping Position and Hair Loss

Can Clogged Pores Cause Hair Loss?

Only Men Suffer From Genetic Hair Loss – Fact or Fiction?