Lifestyle tips for great autumn hair
If your hair is falling out all over the place as autumn sets in, you need to observe a few good lifestyle rules to get your great hair back again.
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When the body is tired and neglected, the first cells to suffer are those that renew themselves all the time, those of the skin and hair.
And every autumn, hair falls out like dead leaves on trees. Even if this seasonal moulting lasts only a few weeks, it’s usually enough to affect your morale. So how do you deal with this? By keeping a close eye on your lifestyle.
To help you get your hair back on track, here are 6 excellent tips from hair specialist Hélène Clauderer.
1. Yes to nutrition!
The best diet for great hair contains the following five dietary nutrients:
- Protein, Sulphur, Zinc, Iron, B vitamins
There are two foods in the modern day diet that top the charts in hair care: egg yokes and lentils. These two contain significant quantities of these five indispensable nutrients.
Take care to avoid overdoing the saturated fats as well. Consume as little small goods (apart from cooked ham) as you can, as well as fast food, cooked fats, cakes and baked goodies, white sugar and white bread as possible… and avoid drinking too much alcohol.
2. No to stress!
Stress is enemy n°1 when it comes to your hair. As soon as stress manifests itself, it sets off a series of reactions in your scalp such as the compression of blood capillaries, slower blood supply to the hair’s roots and stimulation of androgen hormones… Ultimately, these reactions lead to the hair strands becoming weakened and premature shedding of hair.
If you can’t manage to get your daily stress under control, try treating your stress with magnesium: it’s a natural mood regulator and has an excellent anti-stress effect.
3. No to smoking!
Among all its other crimes, tobacco also reduces elasticity of blood vessels, particularly the numerous, narrow vessels in the scalp. It can thus reduce blood flow to the hair roots and scalp. 5 or 6 cigarettes a day should be your absolute maximum, but the damage it does to your hair should be another good reason to stop smoking altogether.
4. Yes to a spot of sport!
Contrary to popular misconceptions, sport is beneficial for your hair; it helps the body to eliminate toxins through perspiration and sebum (secreted from sebaceous glands). But there are some precautions you should take all the same: sweat should not be allowed to rest on the scalp as this runs the risk of upsetting the pH balance in this area.
So after intensive sport, you need to your rinse hair well and wash it using gentle, low-lather products.
5. Yes to a hair workout!
And yes, like every other part of your body, the scalp needs a bit of exercise to stimulate blood circulation and encourage activity in the hair’s roots. Massage will work on dry hair and your whole head through stimulating blood flow:
- Start from the nape of the neck working upwards and from the ears upwards to the top of the head, concentrating on the front of your head and the base of the cranium.
- To get the most out of your massage, place finger tips slightly splayed on your scalp and apply strong pressure, then make a back and forth movement or small circles.
- Take your fingers off and then begin again on a different area. Pay attention as the principle involves moving the skin of the scalp around on your head and not your fingers.
6. Yes to good hair care!
Good shampooing is an integral part of a good lifestyle, and even more important if your hair is losing its volume. Just like when you brush your teeth, you need to adopt the right technique when shampooing in order not to upset the natural defences of your scalp.
- Don’t skimp on expense: it is not the number of times you shampoo you hair each week that makes the difference, it is the quality and gentleness of the product you use.
- Don’t skimp on rinsing: even if you wash your hair every day or if you are in a rush, a thorough rinsing is the key to healthy hair and scalp. Without this, hair will be dull and lifeless, and the scalp and hair will both be more vulnerable to atmospheric pollution.
- Don’t overdo it: If you wash your hair daily/frequently, only shampoo once: the first application will cleanse the hair, the second will strip it.
Copyright © 2011 Doctissimo
Posted 15.09.2011
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