Lifestyle Choices

One of the simplest and most effective ways of changing your appearance is to change the color of your hair. As we get older, the color of hair tends either to fade or to go darker, so that a once shimmery golden mane or deep mahogany tresses can become lackluster and dull. One of the best ways of remedying the situation is with a color boost. Hair coloring these days is effective and reasonably priced and can look even better than most natural hair—provided, of course, it is done correctly. Otherwise it can end up looking like a burnished haystack.

There are two categories of hair colorants: permanent colorants, which enter the cortex and cannot be washed out, and the temporary and the semipermanent, which can be used to highlight and intensify your own hair color but won’t alter the cortex.

The Temporary Colorants

These are the easiest to use. They coat the cuticle of the hair with color that washes away with the next shampoo. You can get temporary highlighting shampoos and color rinses in a great variety of colors that don’t disturb the cuticle imbrications. Most of them have a shine- promoting pH, too. But what you can do with them is limited, for while they will darken the hair—say from blond to red or to black—they are really designed for minor color changes only. If you try to go too many shades away from your natural color, they tend to streak and give uneven coverage. They also cannot make your hair lighter than it is, because they have no action on the cortex, where the melanin granules are —they merely coat the outside of the hair shaft. (more…)

What Kind of Shampoo is for You?

Taking into account the things already said, you can choose the cheapest one you like the smell of, since your hair will carry the scent in it of your shampoo for a day or so afterward. But there are certain kinds that are particularly good for certain kinds of hair.

Lemon: These shampoos are especially good for oily hair, because they help remove the oil without leaving the hair lackluster and lank.

Balsam: This is a good ingredient to choose if your hair is very fine or lacks body. Balsam is a resinous substance from the bark of certain trees. In a shampoo, it coats the hair shafts, lending them thickness and strength. (more…)

Each hair on your head is made beneath the surface of your skin in a little bulbous structure called a follicle. There, a clump of cells called the papilla, at the base of the follicle, produces the keratinous cells that become a strand of hair. The papillae get good supplies of food and oxygen, since they are well furnished with blood vessels, on which the growth and health of every hair depends. When, for any reason, circulation to your scalp is decreased or interfered with, the papillae get fewer nutrients and less oxygen than they need, and your hair suffers. The function of a follicle is to produce keratin, just as your pancreas produces insulin or your stomach hydrochloric acid. The follicle also contains an oil gland, which produces oil to coat each hair and to protect it from water loss. How efficiently and how well it does this depends on a number of things such as the level of androgenic and estrogenic hormones in your system, your genetic inheritance, and your general health. (more…)

The shine of your hair depends on the condition of the cuticle. Made up of transparent keratin, the cells of your hair’s cuticle should form a clear, flat surface that refracts light, making your hair look shiny. But in order for these fish-scale-like plates to lie flat, the cuticle has to be healthy and contracted. This means that the imbrications—the natural shingles of the cuticle—need to be closed. When they are closed, your hair is protected from much physical and chemical damage and light catches it beautifully. Many things can disrupt the cuticle and lead to the opening of the imbrications: very alkaline shampoos, for instance, which make the hair shaft swell. The swelling pushes out the scaly cells, making them stand away from the shaft. Very strong alkaline substances such as permanent wave solutions and bleaching agents can even dissolve some of the cuticle, leaving holes and tears in it, which makes your hair look permanently dull. (more…)

When Hair is too Fragile

You need to stop any processing you have been doing to it (such as coloring with permanent tints or permanent waving) for several weeks and go on to a pH-balanced protein shampoo plus a protein conditioner. You can use a heavy protein pack on the hair for twenty minutes twice a week. This will close the imbrications of the cuticle and help heal whatever damage you have done to the cortex, which is the cause of fragility. You should have split ends cut off and steer clear of very hot blow drying, overbrushing, and heated rollers. Wear your hair in a simple, easyto-care-for style until it has responded to the treatment and healthy hair is showing at the roots (usually about three months). Then you can consider having a gentle permanent (but it should be professionally done). Stay out of the sun.

If Your Hair is Dull, What are the Remedies?

This depends on the cause. Some hair has become dull as a result of pigment changes associated with age or illness. Some is dull because of raised cells in the cuticle, which poorly reflect light. Usually dull hair is dry hair, so much of the problem and advice for dryness goes for you, too. If the dullness is a color problem, it is best to seek professional advice, since correcting it is usually easy, provided you know how. The hot oil treatment can help dull hair, as can an intense protein treatment every two weeks. (more…)